Cowell SA 5602
Located in South Australia, Cowell sits 490 km from Adelaide CBD, around 5 hours 25 minutes by car. The town has 1,124 residents, a median age of 53, and a median household income of $60,372 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the bottom 20% nationally. The town grew 1.4% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $200 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,040. Cowell is characterised by high coastal erosion risk. All 1 school within the town boundary rank above the state average, and walkability is moderate.
Is Cowell a good town?
Cowell scores a D (28/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on community.
Mixed results
1 school · 1 above peer schools
Some car dependence
Walkability 42/100 · 490 km · 323 min drive to Adelaide
Median available
Median $350K
Moderate crime risk
Fire 34/100 · Crime 54/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 2/10 · median age 53 · 1,124 residents
Liveability Rating
28 / 100 · Ranked #452 in SAEach bar is Cowell's rank among SA suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better). Scored on 4 of 5 factors: no school data, so the other factors carry its weight.
How do you rate the liveability in Cowell?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
28 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataCowell's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $350,000, roughly 15% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$350,000
Based on 40 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 36 days — median across 11 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 3 bed 24 sales $345K
- 4 bed 8 sales $445K
Land
$86,500
Based on 22 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 50 days — median across 4 sales that recorded a listing period
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Cowell are currently listed at around $450,000 on average. Based on 13 houses listed in the past six months.
$450K
13 houses listed in the last 6 months.
13 of the suburb's 434 dwellings (3.0%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Is Cowell safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Cowell sits in the moderate band, with 31 incidents recorded in 2026 — up roughly 24% on the prior year.
31 offences
24.0% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20254 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 1 of them fatal
Crashes are counted where they happened, so a main road through the town carries people passing through; this is not a measure of risk to residents. This state’s crash data does not name the road.
Coastal Erosion
Shoreline Change Summary
1988–2025Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 545 m
- Rate
- -0.22 m/yr
- Net Movement
- -3.4 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
One school serve Cowell, and the cohort skews above peer-suburb performance. Cowell Area School leads the pack.
- • 169 students in one school (avg 169)
Combined
Walkability
Cowell is car-dependent on foot — at 42/100, most errands require a car. Within the town there are 1 supermarket, 7 parks and 5 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
NBN connectivity
The internet access technology available across NBN premises in Cowell.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 0%
- Premises covered
- 663
NBN Co fixed-line and fixed-wireless premises, as at 30 December 2025. Higher-quality technologies (full fibre) score above copper, wireless, and satellite. Actual speeds depend on your plan.
Amenities
Franklin Harbour: council population
The three add up to the change above. These are council-wide figures from the ABS, not figures for this town alone — this town's own population is in the census section above.
Socio-economic profile
Cowell is home to about 1,100 residents, with a median age of 53 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $60,000 a year, with unemployment at 2.9%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
1,124
Median Age
53
Median Household Income
$60,372/yr
Census Median Rent
$200/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,040/mo
Avg Household Size
2.2
Median Personal Income
$34,788/yr
Unemployment Rate
2.9%
Unoccupied Dwellings
29.5%
Total Dwellings
434
Owner-Occupier Rate
75.7%
Houses
81.3%
Rental Stress
17.2%
Mortgage Stress
20.7%
Work From Home
6.3%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
4 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 16 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 99 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 81.4%
- English Spoken at Home
- 87.8%
- Employment Rate
- 48.1%
- Completed Year 12
- 26.0%
Occupations
Religion
Country of Birth (overseas)
Largest overseas birthplaces, as a share of all residents.
When They Arrived
Share of all residents by the year they arrived in Australia. Periods cover different numbers of years, so compare the shape rather than the bar widths.
5 residents (0.4%) arrived since 2016. Australia’s borders were closed to most arrivals from March 2020, so the last two years of that period are much smaller than the ones before them — nationally 260,799 people arrived in 2019 against 28,521 in 2021.
Where New Residents Came From
Where residents aged five and over lived five years before the 2021 Census, for those who lived somewhere else.
5.2% of residents (56) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Adelaide (36).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 1,085 residents aged five and over. Areas are ABS statistical regions. Small counts are approximate: the ABS adjusts every figure slightly to protect privacy.
Age Distribution
Family & Household Composition
Commute to Work
Education
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,072 a year through Franklin Harbour based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 78%
- Environmental 21%
- Zones under 1% 1%
Zoning sets what may be built, not what is there today. A single address can sit in a different zone to the town around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Franklin Harbour
In the year to August 2026, 5 new dwellings were approved across Franklin Harbour. Almost all of the pipeline is detached houses. Approvals are down 66.7% on the same period a year earlier.
Climate & Setting
from Cleve Aerodrome, 39.1 kmDry climate — hot summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 8 m
- above sea level, at the town centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 546 m
- Annual rainfall
- 326 mm
- 61 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 28.3°C
- 23 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 7.7°C
- 0 frost days ≤ 0°C
Elevation is the ground at the town centre, from Geoscience Australia's National Digital Elevation Model. Approximate — it reads high in dense built-up areas. It is a measure of height above sea level and not an indicator of flood risk, which depends on height above nearby waterways.
EV adoption
In postcode 5602, 3 of 1,466 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.2% (18 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 1.4%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 5602, 510 rooftop-solar systems totalling 3.4 MW have been installed since 2001, against 800 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 21 went up in the last year.
Counts every system certified since 2001, so a roof re-fitted with a newer system is counted twice, and small commercial systems are included alongside houses — useful for comparing postcodes, not an estimate of how many homes have working panels today.
2026 covers part of the year only, to 2026-07.
First Home Owner Grant
FY2026-27$15,000 for new homes.
No purchase-price cap. Stamp duty is fully exempted for eligible first-home buyers as a separate concession.
Mortgage repayments
Conveyance duty at the owner-occupier rate, and it excludes first home buyer concessions — those can cut it substantially or remove it entirely. Excludes legal, inspection and lender fees. Check with RevenueSA
A deposit under 20% usually attracts Lenders Mortgage Insurance, which this doesn't include.
Principal and interest over 30 years, fixed rate. Excludes fees, offset, redraw and LMI. Default rate is the median comparison rate across 1788 advertised products as at 2026-10-27 — indicative only, and not an offer. Your rate depends on the lender, your deposit and your circumstances. Not financial advice.
Federal Electorate
Currently held by Tom Venning Liberal
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Tom Venning | 45.4% | 54.6% | +5.4 |
| 2022 | Rowan Ramsey | 39.9% | 60.1% | -3.2 |
| 2019 | Rowan Ramsey | 36.7% | 63.3% | +5.6 |
Results are per division — federal electoral boundaries are redrawn periodically, so the history reflects this division's past, not necessarily the exact town's voters across time.
State Electorate
Currently held by Sam Telfer Liberal Party
Next state election: 16 March 2030.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sam Telfer LP | 59.6% |
| 2022 | Sam Telfer LP | 53.0% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2024, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this town's voters. Results: Electoral Commission of South Australia.
Looking at a specific address in Cowell?
Every figure above is a town average, and an average smooths over the difference between a street of family homes and a block of flats. Look up one address and you get the census for the few hundred people around it, its own nearest schools and stops, and what the state has mapped for that block.
- The census for a few hundred neighbours, not all 1,124 residents
- Nearest and zoned schools, with the walk from that door
- Flood, bushfire and noise mapping, where the state publishes it
Free to look up. Subscribers see every section in full — $29/month.
Nearby suburbs
Compare Cowell to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other SA suburb — type a name and pick one.
Or jump straight to a nearby comparison:
Common questions about Cowell
Is Cowell a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Cowell is moderate (54/100, ranked against other SA suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Cowell?
Cowell has a low recorded bushfire history (34/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). These are town-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Cowell a good place to live?
Cowell has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (28/100), ranked against other SA suburbs on school quality (25%), safety (25%), SEIFA socio-economic advantage (25%), walkability (15%) and CBD access (10%). Whether it suits you depends on what you weigh — each of those is on this page.
What is the population of Cowell?
Cowell, SA had a population of 1,124 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Cowell, SA?
The postcode for Cowell, SA is 5602.
How far is Cowell from Adelaide?
Cowell is 490 km from Adelaide CBD by road, about 323 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Cowell?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Cowell was $60,372 a year. It is the most recent suburb-level income figure until 2026 Census results are released in 2027.
What is the median weekly rent in Cowell?
There are too few current rental listings in Cowell for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $200, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in Cowell?
The median age of residents in Cowell was 53 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Cowell at risk of bushfire?
Cowell has a low recorded bushfire history (34/100). The score comes from Geoscience Australia's historical bushfire boundaries, with planned burns excluded: the area of recorded fires touching the town relative to its size, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history. It records where fire has burned, not a bushfire-prone land designation, which your council's planning scheme sets.
How are the schools in Cowell?
There is 1 school inside the Cowell boundary: 1 above similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Cowell walkable?
Cowell scores 42/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it car-dependent. The score is a weighted average of public transport, schools, parks, supermarkets, GPs, pharmacies, childcare, and hospitals within walking distance.
What is the weather like in Cowell?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Cowell, Cleve Aerodrome (39.1 km away), summer days average 28.3°C, winter nights 7.7°C, 326 mm of rain a year over 61 rainy days, and 23 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Cowell?
First-home buyers in SA may be eligible for $15,000 towards new homes. The grant is administered by RevenueSA; confirm current eligibility before signing a contract — state rules and amounts can change.
What council does Cowell belong to?
Cowell sits within the Franklin Harbour local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Cowell?
The average residential rates bill through Franklin Harbour is $1,072 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Cowell?
Across Franklin Harbour, 5 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 66.7% on the same period a year earlier. These are LGA-level totals — every suburb in the council shares the same figure.
Which federal electorate is Cowell in?
Cowell sits within the federal Division of Grey, currently held by Tom Venning (Liberal).
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Data freshness
- Census · 2021
- Median sale prices · Oct 2026
- For-sale & rental market · Oct 2026
- Council rates · FY 2024–25
- Building approvals · Aug 2026
- Schools · 2025
- NBN connectivity · Dec 2025
- Crime · 2026
- Road crashes · 2021–2025
- Climate · 2006–2026
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- State electorate · 2026
- Amenities · Sep 2026
- Health & emergency facilities · Sep 2026
- Industrial emissions (NPI) · 2024/2025
- Coastal erosion · 1988–2025
- Aircraft noise · 2024
Vintages show when each source's data is from. See all data sources.
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Information shown is provided as-is from Australian government and commercial data sources.
Always verify with the relevant authority before making property decisions.
See Data Sources and How We Calculate for details.