Located in Northern Territory, Nhulunbuy sits 1,041 km from Darwin CBD, around 16 hours 25 minutes by car. The town has 3,350 residents, a median age of 33, and a median household income of $144,404 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the top 20% nationally. Population grew 3.4% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $120 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,741. The area shows high coastal erosion risk. Of 4 schools within the town boundary, 1 ranks above the state average, and walkability is low.
Is Nhulunbuy a good town?
Nhulunbuy scores a B (63/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on schools and community, weaker on transit.
Above the state average
4 schools · 1 above peer schools · Top 12% in NT
Car-dependent
Walkability 4/100 · 1040.7 km · 984 min drive to Darwin
Very advantaged
SEIFA decile 9/10 · median age 33 · 3,350 residents
Liveability Rating
63 / 100 · Ranked #36 in NTEach bar is Nhulunbuy's rank among NT suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better). Scored on 4 of 5 factors: no safety data, so the other factors carry its weight.
No bushfire or crime or flood data is published for Northern Territory — a blank here means we hold no data, not that there is no risk.
How do you rate the liveability in Nhulunbuy?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
63 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Crime in the Nhulunbuy area
Crime recorded across the whole area over the 12 months to Aug 2026, not in Nhulunbuy alone. NT Police publish by town and district, not by suburb, and recent months can take several months to settle.
| Type | Count | Per 1,000 residents |
|---|---|---|
| All offences | 341 | 89.6 |
| Assault | 111 | 29.2 |
| Domestic violence assault | 68 | 17.9 |
| Sexual offences | 16 | 4.2 |
| House burglary | 52 | 13.7 |
| Commercial burglary | 18 | 4.7 |
| Theft | 55 | 14.5 |
| Property damage | 78 | 20.5 |
| Robbery and extortion | 1 | 0.3 |
| Endangering people | 10 | 2.6 |
Rates use the Nhulunbuy area’s 3,806 residents. The latest month is preliminary and may be revised.
Coastal Erosion
Shoreline Change Summary
1988–2025Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 2.7 km
- Rate
- -0.21 m/yr
- Net Movement
- -4.8 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
Four schools serve Nhulunbuy, and the cohort skews above peer-suburb performance. Nhulunbuy Primary School leads the pack.
- • 766 students across 3 schools (avg 255)
- • Sectors: 2 Independent, 2 Government
- • ICSEA 903-1056, median 946 (below the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Nhulunbuy Primary School (349 students)
Primary
Secondary
Combined
Walkability
Nhulunbuy is very car-dependent on foot — at 4/100, nearly all errands require a car.
We hold no public transport timetable data for this area, so public transport is not rated here and the score is spread across the remaining components. It is not counted as zero.
NBN connectivity
The internet access technology available across NBN premises in Nhulunbuy.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 100%
- Premises covered
- 1,987
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
Socio-economic profile
The ABS scores 11 small areas inside this town and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 5 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this town rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Nhulunbuy is home to about 3,400 residents, with a median age of 33, broadly in line with the national figure. Median household income runs at $144,000 a year, with unemployment at 2.3%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
3,350
Median Age
33
Median Household Income
$144,404/yr
Census Median Rent
$120/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,741/mo
Avg Household Size
2.8
Median Personal Income
$76,180/yr
Unemployment Rate
2.3%
Unoccupied Dwellings
23.1%
Total Dwellings
853
Owner-Occupier Rate
9.5%
Houses
84.6%
Rental Stress
4.3%
Mortgage Stress
14.5%
Work From Home
2.7%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
34 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 11 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 516 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 64.2%
- English Spoken at Home
- 64.9%
- Employment Rate
- 63.7%
- Completed Year 12
- 34.2%
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.
89 residents (2.7%) 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.
12.6% of residents (391) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Darwin (158).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 3,113 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 (8 of 1,567).
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 1,526 people work here; 1,567 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 $3,294 a year through East Arnhem based on 2026 figures.
Building Approvals: East Arnhem
In the year to May 2026, 13 new dwellings were approved across East Arnhem. That mix is 5 houses and 8 units. Approvals are down 100.0% on the same period a year earlier.
Climate & Setting
from Nhulunbuy, 0.8 kmHigh rainfall.
- Elevation
- 6 m
- above sea level, at the town centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 2.7 km
- Annual rainfall
- 1,464 mm
- 74 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- —
- Winter min (Jul)
- —
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 0880, 3 of 2,563 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.4% (36 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 1.5%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 0880, 48 rooftop-solar systems totalling 0.9 MW have been installed since 2001, against 1,418 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 4 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$50,000 for new homes.
Administered as the HomeGrown Territory Grant. Established-home buyers may also be eligible for the separate BuildBonus Grant.
Federal Electorate
Currently held by Marion Scrymgour Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Marion Scrymgour | 58.1% | 41.9% | +6.5 |
| 2022 | Marion Scrymgour | 51.0% | 49.0% | +4.5 |
| 2019 | Warren Snowdon | 55.5% | 44.5% | +2.7 |
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 Yiwarr McGrath Labor — elected at the Sep 2026 by-election, after the results below
Next state election: 26 August 2028.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Yingiya Mark Guyula IND | 75.2% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2023, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this town's voters. Results: Northern Territory Electoral Commission.
Looking at a specific address in Nhulunbuy?
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 3,350 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.
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Common questions about Nhulunbuy
Is Nhulunbuy a safe place to live?
NT does not publish suburb-level crime statistics, so there is no crime figure for Nhulunbuy.
Is Nhulunbuy a good place to live?
Nhulunbuy has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of B (63/100), ranked against other NT 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 Nhulunbuy?
Nhulunbuy, NT had a population of 3,350 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Nhulunbuy, NT?
The postcode for Nhulunbuy, NT is 0880.
How far is Nhulunbuy from Darwin?
Nhulunbuy is 1,041 km from Darwin CBD by road, about 984 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Nhulunbuy?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Nhulunbuy was $144,404 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 Nhulunbuy?
There are too few current rental listings in Nhulunbuy for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $120, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in Nhulunbuy?
The median age of residents in Nhulunbuy was 33 at the 2021 ABS Census.
How are the schools in Nhulunbuy?
There are 4 schools inside the Nhulunbuy boundary: 1 above similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Nhulunbuy walkable?
Nhulunbuy scores 4/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it very 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 Nhulunbuy?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Nhulunbuy, Nhulunbuy (0.8 km away), 1,464 mm of rain a year over 74 rainy days over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Nhulunbuy?
First-home buyers in NT may be eligible for $50,000 towards new homes. The grant is administered by Territory Revenue Office; confirm current eligibility before signing a contract — state rules and amounts can change.
What council does Nhulunbuy belong to?
Nhulunbuy sits within the East Arnhem local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Nhulunbuy?
The average residential rates bill through East Arnhem is $3,294 a year (2026). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Nhulunbuy?
Across East Arnhem, 13 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to May 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 100.0% 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 Nhulunbuy in?
Nhulunbuy sits within the federal Division of Lingiari, currently held by Marion Scrymgour (Australian Labor Party).
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Data freshness
- Census · 2021
- Council rates · FY 2026–27
- Building approvals · May 2026
- Schools · 2025
- NBN connectivity · Dec 2025
- Climate · 2006–2026
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- State electorate · 2024
- 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.