Mount Gambier SA 5290
Located in South Australia, Mount Gambier sits 437 km from Adelaide CBD, around 4 hours 50 minutes by car. The suburb has 25,591 residents, a median age of 41, and a median household income of $62,244 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the bottom 20% nationally. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $220 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,083. The area shows high crime risk. 11 schools sit within the suburb boundary, and walkability is moderate.
Is Mount Gambier a good suburb?
Mount Gambier scores a D (20/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on schools, safety, and community.
Trailing peer schools
11 schools
Some car dependence
Walkability 54/100 · 437.3 km · 292 min drive to Adelaide
Median available
Median $556K
High crime risk
Fire 31/100 · Crime 75/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 41 · 25,591 residents
Liveability Rating
20 / 100 · Ranked #508 in SAEach bar is Mount Gambier's rank among SA suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better).
How do you rate the liveability in Mount Gambier?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
20 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataMount Gambier's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $556,000, roughly 15% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$556,000
24% below its 5 neighbours (median $732,320)
Based on 323 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 35 days — median across 167 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 24 sales $441K
- 3 bed 191 sales $533K
- 4 bed 85 sales $645K
- 5 bed 17 sales $635K
Units
$420,000
Based on 58 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 20 days — median across 29 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 42 sales $415K
- 3 bed 13 sales $455K
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Mount Gambier are currently listed at around $599,000 on average. Based on 180 houses listed in the past six months.
Houses
$599K
180 houses listed in the last 6 months.
Units
$424K
24 units listed in the last 6 months.
204 of the suburb's 10,528 dwellings (1.9%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Mount Gambier rent for around $480 a week on average, based on 152 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$480/wk
152 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$335/wk
18 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
170 rentals advertised against an estimated 3,601 rented homes (4.7%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Apr–Jun 2026- 3-bed houses
- $475/wk
- 145 bonds
- +51% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $330/wk
- 55 bonds
- +42% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies. 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 2025123 Acceptable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 24% of its income on the median rent in postcode 5290.
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$480/week ($25,000 a year) on a $599,000 median
$335/week ($17,000 a year) on a $424,000 median
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.
Is Mount Gambier safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Mount Gambier sits in the high band, with 1,495 incidents recorded in 2026 — down roughly 18% on the prior year.
1,495 offences
18.1% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202538 crashes
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. This state’s crash data does not name the road.
Schools
Eleven schools serve Mount Gambier, and the cohort is trailing peer-suburb performance.
- • 5,519 students across 10 schools (avg 552)
- • Sectors: 8 Government, 2 Independent, 1 Catholic
- • ICSEA 882-1031, median 950 (below the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Tenison Woods College (1,552 students)
Primary
Secondary
Combined
Walkability
Mount Gambier is somewhat walkable on foot — at 54/100, a short cluster of errands work on foot but most trips still benefit from a car. Within the suburb there are 8 supermarkets, 19 parks and 23 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Mount Gambier.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 58.8 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 79.7 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 0.1 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 0 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 Mount Gambier.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 20%
- Premises covered
- 13,913
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
Mount Gambier: 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 60 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 7 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this suburb rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Mount Gambier is home to about 25,600 residents, with a median age of 41, broadly in line with the national figure. Median household income runs at $62,000 a year, with unemployment at 4.9%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
25,591
Median Age
41
Median Household Income
$62,244/yr
Census Median Rent
$220/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,083/mo
Avg Household Size
2.2
Median Personal Income
$35,932/yr
Unemployment Rate
4.9%
Unoccupied Dwellings
11.0%
Total Dwellings
10,528
Owner-Occupier Rate
65.8%
Houses
76.8%
Rental Stress
18.4%
Mortgage Stress
20.9%
Work From Home
4.1%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
773 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 97 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 3,426 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 82.8%
- English Spoken at Home
- 87.5%
- Employment Rate
- 55.3%
- Completed Year 12
- 31.1%
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.
460 residents (1.8%) 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.
4.5% of residents (1,100) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Adelaide (741).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 24,186 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
Local Jobs
People who work in this suburb against employed people who live here, 2021 Census.
About 13,097 people work here; 11,622 employed residents live here.
Roughly as many jobs as working residents (1.1 per resident). At least 6% of the people who work here must live elsewhere.
Counts are by place of work and place of usual residence. The ABS counts jobs in zones; where a zone spans several places, its jobs are shared out by land use. The ABS also adjusts every figure slightly to protect privacy.
Education
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,726 a year through Mount Gambier based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Residential 57%
- Industrial 15%
- Environmental 14%
- Rural and farming 4%
- Parks and recreation 4%
- Commercial 4%
- Infrastructure and transport 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: Mount Gambier
In the year to August 2026, 167 new dwellings were approved across Mount Gambier. That mix is 147 houses and 20 units. Approvals are down 45.2% on the same period a year earlier.
Climate & Setting
from Mount Gambier Aero, 9.6 kmModerate rainfall — hot summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 86 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 23.6 km
- Near high-voltage lines
- 0.5% of addresses
- 74 within 100 m of an overhead line of 110 kV or more
- Annual rainfall
- 724 mm
- 117 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 25.8°C
- 12 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 5.8°C
- 3 frost days ≤ 0°C
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
9 facilities within 5 km- 1.0 kmReconstituted Wood Product ManufacturingTop reported: Carbon monoxide · Total Volatile Organic Compounds · Oxides of Nitrogen
- 2.3 kmPetroleum Product WholesalingTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds · n-Hexane · Toluene (methylbenzene)
- 2.4 kmPetroleum Product WholesalingTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds
- 2.4 kmPetroleum Product WholesalingTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds · n-Hexane · Toluene (methylbenzene)
- 2.5 kmReconstituted Wood Product ManufacturingTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds · Carbon monoxide · Oxides of Nitrogen
EV adoption
In postcode 5290, 54 of 23,079 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.8% (424 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 2.1%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 5290, 3,866 rooftop-solar systems totalling 26.3 MW have been installed since 2001, against 11,690 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 199 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
10 mortgage brokers are registered in this suburb.
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 Tony Pasin Liberal
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Tony Pasin | 37.0% | 63.0% | +3.6 |
| 2022 | Tony Pasin | 33.4% | 66.6% | -2.3 |
| 2019 | Tony Pasin | 31.1% | 68.9% | +5.1 |
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 Travis Fatchen Independent
Next state election: 16 March 2030.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Travis Fatchen IND | 60.4% |
| 2022 | Troy Bell IND | 63.1% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2024, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this suburb's voters. Results: Electoral Commission of South Australia.
Looking at a specific address in Mount Gambier?
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 25,591 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 Mount Gambier to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other SA suburb — type a name and pick one.
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Common questions about Mount Gambier
Is Mount Gambier a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Mount Gambier is high (75/100, ranked against other SA 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 Mount Gambier?
Mount Gambier has a low recorded bushfire history (31/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Mount Gambier a good place to live?
Mount Gambier has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (20/100), 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 Mount Gambier?
Mount Gambier, SA had a population of 25,591 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Mount Gambier, SA?
The postcode for Mount Gambier, SA is 5290.
How far is Mount Gambier from Adelaide?
Mount Gambier is 437 km from Adelaide CBD by road, about 292 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Mount Gambier?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Mount Gambier was $62,244 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 Mount Gambier?
The median advertised rent in Mount Gambier is $480 a week for houses (152 listings) and $335 a week for units (18 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Mount Gambier?
The median age of residents in Mount Gambier was 41 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Mount Gambier at risk of bushfire?
Mount Gambier has a low recorded bushfire history (31/100). The score comes from Geoscience Australia's historical bushfire boundaries, with planned burns excluded: the area of recorded fires touching the suburb 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 Mount Gambier?
There are 11 schools inside the Mount Gambier boundary: 6 at and 3 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Mount Gambier walkable?
Mount Gambier scores 54/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it somewhat walkable. 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 Mount Gambier?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Mount Gambier, Mount Gambier Aero (9.6 km away), summer days average 25.8°C, winter nights 5.8°C, 724 mm of rain a year over 117 rainy days, and 12 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Mount Gambier?
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 Mount Gambier belong to?
Mount Gambier sits within the Mount Gambier local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Mount Gambier?
The average residential rates bill through Mount Gambier is $1,726 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Mount Gambier?
Across Mount Gambier, 167 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 45.2% 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 Mount Gambier in?
Mount Gambier sits within the federal Division of Barker, currently held by Tony Pasin (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
- Public transport · Oct 2026
- 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.