Nambucca Heads sits 485 km from Sydney CBD in New South Wales, around 5 hours 15 minutes by car. Census data records 6,675 residents with a median age of 57 and a median household income of $43,628 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the bottom 20% nationally. The town grew 5.5% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $280 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,300. Nambucca Heads is characterised by high coastal erosion risk and high crime risk. Of 4 schools within the town boundary, 1 ranks above the state average, and walkability is high.
Is Nambucca Heads a good town?
Nambucca Heads scores a D (29/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on transit, weaker on prices, safety, and community.
Mixed results
4 schools · 1 above peer schools
Very walkable
Walkability 71/100 · 485.2 km · 317 min drive to Sydney
Above the state median
Median $730K
High crime risk
Fire 51/100 · Crime 85/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 57 · 6,675 residents
Liveability Rating
29 / 100 · Ranked #1299 in NSWEach bar is Nambucca Heads's rank among NSW suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better).
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 Nambucca Heads?
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 dataNambucca Heads's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $730,000, roughly 14% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$730,000
12% below its 5 neighbours (median $825,000)
Based on 126 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 42 days — median across 50 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 19 sales $560K
- 3 bed 58 sales $702K
- 4 bed 44 sales $798K
Units
$530,500
Based on 20 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 56 days — median across 8 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 14 sales $506K
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Nambucca Heads are currently listed at around $849,000 on average. Based on 64 houses listed in the past six months.
Houses
$849K
64 houses listed in the last 6 months.
Units
$555K
23 units listed in the last 6 months.
87 of the suburb's 2,947 dwellings (3.0%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Nambucca Heads rent for around $650 a week on average, based on 27 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$650/wk
27 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$420/wk
11 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
38 rentals advertised against an estimated 1,029 rented homes (3.7%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $590/wk
- 13 bonds
- +35% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $450/wk
- 11 bonds
- +46% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2448 (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 2025110 Moderately unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 27% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2448.
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$650/week ($34,000 a year) on a $849,000 median
$420/week ($22,000 a year) on a $555,000 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.
Short-Stay Rentals
91 active Airbnb listings: 80 whole homes and 11 rooms. Whole homes are about 2.4% of the town'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 Nambucca Heads safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Nambucca Heads sits in the high band, with 601 incidents recorded in 2025 — down roughly 16% on the prior year.
601 offences
15.5% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202511 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital
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. Roads are listed with 3 or more serious crashes.
Council Flood Studies
Nambucca Valley Council has published 3 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Coastal Erosion
Shoreline Change Summary
1988–2025Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 1.2 km
- Rate
- -0.17 m/yr
- Net Movement
- -4.5 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
Four schools serve Nambucca Heads, and results are mixed — some outperforming peer-suburb schools, some below. Nambucca Heads Public School leads the pack.
- • 1,242 students across 4 schools (avg 310)
- • Sectors: 3 Government, 1 Independent
- • ICSEA 886-1042, median 897 (below the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Nambucca Valley Christian Community School (555 students)
Primary
Secondary
Combined
Walkability
Nambucca Heads is very walkable on foot — at 71/100, most daily errands can be done on foot. Within the town there are 3 supermarkets, 14 parks and 18 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Nambucca Heads.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 27.5 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 14.4 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 3.2 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 1 min
- Span of service
- 14.6 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 Nambucca Heads.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 30%
- Premises covered
- 4,315
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
Nambucca Valley: 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
The ABS scores 16 small areas inside this town and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 3 different deciles — a narrow range, so the average describes the town closely.
Nambucca Heads is home to about 6,700 residents, with a median age of 57 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $44,000 a year, with unemployment at 7.9%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
6,675
Median Age
57
Median Household Income
$43,628/yr
Census Median Rent
$280/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,300/mo
Avg Household Size
2.0
Median Personal Income
$25,948/yr
Unemployment Rate
7.9%
Unoccupied Dwellings
11.1%
Total Dwellings
2,947
Owner-Occupier Rate
65.1%
Houses
72.3%
Rental Stress
33.4%
Mortgage Stress
35.8%
Work From Home
9.9%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
80 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 149 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 981 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 78.3%
- English Spoken at Home
- 87.9%
- Employment Rate
- 33.6%
- Completed Year 12
- 27.6%
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.
45 residents (0.7%) 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.
6.2% of residents (398) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (242).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 6,390 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
1% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (13 of 1,937).
City centre: the ABS area around each capital's CBD, such as Sydney Inner City or Perth City (which takes in Subiaco and Leederville). 2021 Census place of work.
Local Jobs
People who work in this town against employed people who live here, 2021 Census.
About 1,923 people work here; 1,937 employed residents live here.
Roughly as many jobs as working residents (1.0 per resident).
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 $1,175 a year through Nambucca Valley based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 49%
- Environmental 21%
- Residential 19%
- Parks and recreation 6%
- Infrastructure and transport 3%
- Industrial 1%
- 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: Nambucca Valley
In the year to August 2026, 109 new dwellings were approved across Nambucca Valley. That mix is 101 houses and 8 units. Approvals are down 64.4% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Nambucca 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
- 7 m
- above sea level, at the town centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 1.2 km
- 3.1 km to a named beach
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 2448, 21 of 7,344 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.9% (141 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 2.2%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2448, 2,442 rooftop-solar systems totalling 12.9 MW have been installed since 2001, against 4,585 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 114 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
2 mortgage brokers are registered in this town.
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 $730,000 this is $130,000 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 town'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 town's voters. Results: © State of New South Wales through the NSW Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0, adapted.
Looking at a specific address in Nambucca Heads?
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 6,675 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
Valla Beach NSW 2448
Valla NSW 2448
Scotts Head NSW 2447
North Macksville NSW 2447
Gumma NSW 2447
Hyland Park NSW 2448
Compare Nambucca Heads to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other NSW suburb — type a name and pick one.
Or jump straight to a nearby comparison:
Common questions about Nambucca Heads
Is Nambucca Heads a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Nambucca Heads is high (85/100, 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 Nambucca Heads?
Nambucca Heads has a moderate recorded bushfire history (51/100, 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 Nambucca Heads a good place to live?
Nambucca Heads 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 Nambucca Heads?
Nambucca Heads, NSW had a population of 6,675 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Nambucca Heads, NSW?
The postcode for Nambucca Heads, NSW is 2448.
How far is Nambucca Heads from Sydney?
Nambucca Heads is 485 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 317 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Nambucca Heads?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Nambucca Heads was $43,628 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 Nambucca Heads?
The median advertised rent in Nambucca Heads is $650 a week for houses (27 listings) and $420 a week for units (11 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Nambucca Heads?
The median age of residents in Nambucca Heads was 57 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Nambucca Heads at risk of bushfire?
Nambucca Heads has a moderate recorded bushfire history (51/100). 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 Nambucca Heads?
There are 4 schools inside the Nambucca Heads boundary: 1 above, 2 at, and 1 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Nambucca Heads walkable?
Nambucca Heads scores 71/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it very walkable. 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 Nambucca Heads?
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 Nambucca Heads belong to?
Nambucca Heads sits within the Nambucca Valley local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Nambucca Heads?
The average residential rates bill through Nambucca Valley is $1,175 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Nambucca Heads?
Across Nambucca Valley, 109 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 64.4% 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 Nambucca Heads in?
Nambucca Heads sits within the federal Division of Cowper, currently held by Pat Conaghan (The Nationals).
Search another suburb or address
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.
Was the information on this page useful to you?
Thanks! Anything we could improve?
We hate spam as much as you do — we'll never use your email for marketing, and we might not be able to reply to everyone.
Thanks for your feedback! 🙏
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.