East Kempsey NSW 2440
East Kempsey sits 421 km from Sydney CBD in New South Wales, around 4 hours 40 minutes by car. Census data records 1,336 residents with a median age of 41 and a median household income of $58,032 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the bottom 20% nationally. The suburb fell 1.6% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $300 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,252. East Kempsey is characterised by high crime risk and no recorded bushfire exposure. 1 school sits within the suburb boundary, and walkability is low.
Is East Kempsey a good suburb?
East Kempsey scores a D (29/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on safety and community.
Mixed results
1 school
Some car dependence
Walkability 37/100 · 421.4 km · 282 min drive to Sydney
Around the state median
Median $630K · Cheaper than 82% of NSW
High crime risk
Fire 0/100 · Crime 90/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 41 · 1,336 residents
Liveability Rating
29 / 100 · Ranked #1287 in NSWEach bar is East Kempsey's rank among NSW suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better). Scored on 4 of 5 factors: no school data, so the other factors carry its weight.
No flood data is published for New South Wales — a blank here means we hold no data, not that there is no risk.
How do you rate the liveability in East Kempsey?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
29 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataEast Kempsey's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $630,000, roughly 35% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$630,000
Based on 27 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 39 days — median across 10 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 3 bed 12 sales $610K
- 4 bed 10 sales $578K
Units
$415,000
Based on only 7 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 6 sales $410K
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in East Kempsey are currently listed at around $687,000 on average. Based on 10 houses listed in the past six months.
$687K
10 houses listed in the last 6 months.
10 of the suburb's 547 dwellings (1.8%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in East Kempsey rent for around $565 a week on average, based on 6 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
$565/wk
6 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
7 rentals advertised against an estimated 193 rented homes (3.6%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $520/wk
- 34 bonds
- +34% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $430/wk
- 15 bonds
- +33% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2440 (NSW publishes bonds by postcode, which can cover several suburbs). Change since 2021 compares the median of the first four quarters with the last four. Asking rents above come from advertised listings.
Rental affordability
June quarter 2025122 Acceptable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 25% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2440.
SGS Rental Affordability Index: a score of 100 means rent takes 30% of income, the usual housing-stress line; lower scores are less affordable. "Region" is the capital city or the rest of the state.
Gross rental yield
Indicative$565/week ($29,000 a year) on a $687,000 median
Based on a small sample (6 listings) — indicative only.
Gross yield — before strata, rates, management, insurance and vacancy. Calculated from median advertised rents and median asking prices over the last 6 months. How we calculate.
Short-Stay Rentals
6 active Airbnb listings: 1 whole home and 5 rooms. Whole homes are about 0.2% of the suburb's homes.
Airbnb only, as at Jun 2026; other platforms are not included. Active means reviewed in the past 12 months. The share is against private dwellings at the 2021 Census.
Is East Kempsey safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in East Kempsey sits in the high band, with 160 incidents recorded in 2025 — up roughly 18% on the prior year.
160 offences
17.6% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20251 crash
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital
Crashes are counted where they happened, so a main road through the suburb carries people passing through; this is not a measure of risk to residents. Roads are listed with 3 or more serious crashes.
Council Flood Studies
Kempsey Shire Council has published 9 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Schools
One school serve East Kempsey, and the cohort is trailing peer-suburb performance.
- • 180 students in one school (avg 180)
Primary
Walkability
East Kempsey is car-dependent on foot — at 37/100, most errands require a car.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside East Kempsey.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 9.5 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 4.6 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 0.0 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 2 min
- Span of service
- 10.0 hours
Scheduled service only, based on the 21 October 2026 timetable. Reliability (delays, cancellations) not measured.
NBN connectivity
The internet access technology available across NBN premises in East Kempsey.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 29%
- Premises covered
- 666
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
Kempsey: council population
The three add up to the change above. These are council-wide figures from the ABS, not figures for this suburb alone — this suburb's own population is in the census section above.
Socio-economic profile
The ABS scores 5 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 2 different deciles — a narrow range, so the average describes the suburb closely.
East Kempsey is home to about 1,300 residents, with a median age of 41, broadly in line with the national figure. Median household income runs at $58,000 a year, with unemployment at 4.6%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
1,336
Median Age
41
Median Household Income
$58,032/yr
Census Median Rent
$300/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,252/mo
Avg Household Size
2.2
Median Personal Income
$33,020/yr
Unemployment Rate
4.6%
Unoccupied Dwellings
9.0%
Total Dwellings
547
Owner-Occupier Rate
64.8%
Houses
84.3%
Rental Stress
26.9%
Mortgage Stress
25.9%
Work From Home
7.4%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
8 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 3 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 187 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 86.4%
- English Spoken at Home
- 90.3%
- Employment Rate
- 50.6%
- Completed Year 12
- 28.5%
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.
13 residents (1.0%) 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.
3.8% of residents (47) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (24).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 1,249 residents aged five and over. Areas are ABS statistical regions. Small counts are approximate: the ABS adjusts every figure slightly to protect privacy.
Languages Spoken at Home
Top languages other than English, as a share of all residents.
Age Distribution
Family & Household Composition
Commute to Work
Education
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,447 a year through Kempsey based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 65%
- Residential 19%
- Environmental 12%
- Infrastructure and transport 4%
- 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 suburb around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Kempsey
In the year to August 2026, 144 new dwellings were approved across Kempsey. That mix is 83 houses and 61 units. Approvals are up 380.0% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Kempsey Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Local Aboriginal Land Councils are statutory bodies under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, responsible for land claims and land management for their members. Their boundaries are administrative and are not a statement of whose Country this is. NSW does not publish a register of Aboriginal parties by area — they are registered for each project.
Setting
- Elevation
- 5 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 14.7 km
Elevation is the ground at the suburb 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.
Industrial Emissions Nearby
4 facilities within 5 km- 2.2 km
- 2.3 kmPetroleum Product WholesalingTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds · n-Hexane · Toluene (methylbenzene)
- 2.7 km
- 4.2 km
EV adoption
In postcode 2440, 24 of 18,636 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.6% (295 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 1.7%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2440, 4,823 rooftop-solar systems totalling 31.2 MW have been installed since 2001, against 9,086 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 222 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$10,000 for new homes priced up to $600,000.
Off-the-plan or contracted-build value cap is $750,000 (vs $600,000 for completed new homes). Stamp duty concessions are a separate scheme (First Home Buyers Assistance).
Mortgage repayments
Transfer 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 Revenue NSW
The First Home Owner Grant applies to newly built homes only, so it isn't available on an established purchase. A first home buyer building or buying new under $600,000 may qualify for $10,000 — see what qualifies with Revenue NSW.
At $630,000 this is $30,000 above the $600,000 First Home Owner Grant cap. A first home buyer may qualify for $10,000 on a newly built home — check eligibility with Revenue NSW.
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 Pat Conaghan The Nationals
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Pat Conaghan | 40.9% | 59.1% | +0.5 |
| 2022 | Pat Conaghan | 40.5% | 59.5% | -2.4 |
| 2019 | Pat Conaghan | 38.1% | 61.9% | -0.7 |
Results are per division — federal electoral boundaries are redrawn periodically, so the history reflects this division's past, not necessarily the exact suburb's voters across time.
State Electorate
Currently held by Michael Kemp The Nationals
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Michael Kemp NP | 62.8% |
| 2019 | Melinda Pavey NP | 64.9% |
| 2015 | Melinda Pavey NP | 60.9% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2021, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this suburb's voters. Results: © State of New South Wales through the NSW Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0, adapted.
Looking at a specific address in East Kempsey?
Every figure above is a suburb 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 1,336 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 East Kempsey to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other NSW suburb — type a name and pick one.
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Common questions about East Kempsey
Is East Kempsey a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in East Kempsey is high (90/100, ranked against other NSW suburbs on offences per resident). Offences against shops, venues and visitors are divided by the people who live here, so suburbs with large daytime or visitor populations rank higher than living there may feel.
What natural hazards affect East Kempsey?
East Kempsey has no recorded bushfire history. These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is East Kempsey a good place to live?
East Kempsey has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (29/100), ranked against other NSW 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 East Kempsey?
East Kempsey, NSW had a population of 1,336 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for East Kempsey, NSW?
The postcode for East Kempsey, NSW is 2440.
How far is East Kempsey from Sydney?
East Kempsey is 421 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 282 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in East Kempsey?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in East Kempsey was $58,032 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 East Kempsey?
The median advertised rent in East Kempsey is $565 a week for houses (6 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in East Kempsey?
The median age of residents in East Kempsey was 41 at the 2021 ABS Census.
How are the schools in East Kempsey?
There is 1 school inside the East Kempsey boundary: 1 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is East Kempsey walkable?
East Kempsey scores 37/100 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.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in East Kempsey?
First-home buyers in NSW may be eligible for $10,000 towards new homes with a purchase price up to $600,000. The grant is administered by Revenue NSW; confirm current eligibility before signing a contract — state rules and amounts can change.
What council does East Kempsey belong to?
East Kempsey sits within the Kempsey local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in East Kempsey?
The average residential rates bill through Kempsey is $1,447 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near East Kempsey?
Across Kempsey, 144 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 380.0% 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 East Kempsey in?
East Kempsey sits within the federal Division of Cowper, currently held by Pat Conaghan (The Nationals).
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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
- Public transport · Oct 2026
- NBN connectivity · Dec 2025
- Crime · 2025
- Road crashes · 2021–2025
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- Short-stay rentals · Jun 2026
- State electorate · 2023
- 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.