Located in New South Wales, Old Bar sits 316 km from Sydney CBD, around 3 hours 40 minutes by car. The town has 5,126 residents, a median age of 50, and a median household income of $60,840 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the lower-middle tier nationally. The town grew 16.8% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $358 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,690. Old Bar is characterised by high coastal erosion risk and high bushfire risk. 1 school sits within the town boundary, and walkability is low.
Is Old Bar a good town?
Old Bar scores a D (21/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on transit and safety.
Mixed results
1 school
Car-dependent
Walkability 16/100 · 316.2 km · 218 min drive to Sydney
Around the state median
Median $795K
High bushfire risk
Fire 84/100 · Crime 51/100
Below-average income
SEIFA decile 3/10 · median age 50 · 5,126 residents
Liveability Rating
21 / 100 · Ranked #1449 in NSWEach bar is Old Bar'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 Old Bar?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
21 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataOld Bar's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $795,000, about 7% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$795,000
Based on 160 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 43 days — median across 79 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 14 sales $576K
- 3 bed 72 sales $738K
- 4 bed 62 sales $898K
- 5 bed 6 sales $1.21M
Units
$469,000
Based on 35 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 43 days — median across 11 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 20 sales $446K
- 3 bed 10 sales $602K
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Old Bar are currently listed at around $855,000 on average. Based on 71 houses listed in the past six months.
Houses
$855K
71 houses listed in the last 6 months.
Units
$608K
14 units listed in the last 6 months.
85 of the suburb's 2,109 dwellings (4.0%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Old Bar rent for around $620 a week on average, based on 40 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$620/wk
40 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$450/wk
11 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
51 rentals advertised against an estimated 576 rented homes (8.9%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $550/wk
- 92 bonds
- +37% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $420/wk
- 43 bonds
- +37% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2430 (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 2025112 Moderately unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 27% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2430.
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$620/week ($32,000 a year) on a $855,000 median
$450/week ($23,000 a year) on a $608,000 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
32 active Airbnb listings: 29 whole homes and 3 rooms. Whole homes are about 1.3% 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 Old Bar safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Old Bar sits in the moderate band, with 179 incidents recorded in 2025 — down about 5% on the prior year.
179 offences
5.3% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20259 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital
Where they happened
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
Mid-Coast Council has published 38 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
- REVIEW OF BULAHDELAH FLOODPLAIN RISK MANAGEMENT STUDY AND PLAN 2026
- Gloucester Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan 2021
- Final Port Stephens Foreshore (Floodplain) Risk Management Study and Plan Review 2021
- Karuah River and Stroud Floodplain Risk Management Study 2020
- Manning River Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan 2020
Coastal Erosion
Shoreline Change Summary
1988–2025Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 2.7 km
- Rate
- -1.18 m/yr
- Net Movement
- -33.2 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
One school serve Old Bar, and performance is broadly on par with peer-suburb schools.
- • 480 students in one school (avg 480)
Primary
Walkability
Old Bar is very car-dependent on foot — at 16/100, nearly all errands require a car. Within the town there are 1 supermarket, 8 parks and 4 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Old Bar.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 31.0 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 6.3 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 0.0 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 1 min
- Span of service
- 9.1 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 Old Bar.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 46%
- Premises covered
- 2,910
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
Mid-Coast: 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 13 small areas inside this town and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 4 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this town rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Old Bar is home to about 5,100 residents, with a median age of 50 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $61,000 a year, with unemployment at 5.8%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
5,126
Median Age
50
Median Household Income
$60,840/yr
Census Median Rent
$358/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,690/mo
Avg Household Size
2.3
Median Personal Income
$31,876/yr
Unemployment Rate
5.8%
Unoccupied Dwellings
9.4%
Total Dwellings
2,109
Owner-Occupier Rate
72.7%
Houses
82.2%
Rental Stress
30.6%
Mortgage Stress
33.3%
Work From Home
11.4%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 84.2%
- English Spoken at Home
- 91.2%
- Employment Rate
- 44.9%
- Completed Year 12
- 29.9%
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.
19 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.
7.9% of residents (385) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (338).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 4,846 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 (20 of 1,888).
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.
Education
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,560 a year through Mid-Coast based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 39%
- Residential 30%
- Environmental 25%
- Parks and recreation 6%
- 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: Mid-Coast
In the year to August 2026, 743 new dwellings were approved across Mid-Coast. That mix is 672 houses and 71 units. Approvals are up 327.0% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Purfleet/taree 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.
Climate & Setting
from Taree (Patanga Cl), 11.7 kmHigh rainfall.
- Elevation
- 16 m
- above sea level, at the town centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 2.7 km
- 3.1 km to a named beach
- Annual rainfall
- 1,331 mm
- 106 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.
Industrial Emissions Nearby
1 facility within 5 km- 2.4 km
EV adoption
In postcode 2430, 112 of 30,621 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.8% (566 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 2.2%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2430, 8,684 rooftop-solar systems totalling 54.8 MW have been installed since 2001, against 15,935 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 432 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
1 mortgage broker is registered in this town, 7 across postcode 2430.
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 $795,000 this is $195,000 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 Alison Penfold The Nationals
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Alison Penfold | 40.2% | 59.8% | +4.0 |
| 2022 | David Gillespie | 36.2% | 63.8% | -1.4 |
| 2019 | David Gillespie | 34.8% | 65.2% | +3.5 |
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 Tanya Thompson The Nationals
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Tanya Thompson NP | 65.8% |
| 2019 | Stephen Bromhead NP | 59.2% |
| 2015 | Stephen Bromhead NP | 58.7% |
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 Old Bar?
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 5,126 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
Wallabi Point NSW 2430
Mitchells Island NSW 2430
Pampoolah NSW 2430
Oxley Island NSW 2430
Koorainghat NSW 2430
Bohnock NSW 2430
Compare Old Bar 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 Old Bar
Is Old Bar a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Old Bar is moderate (51/100, ranked against other NSW suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Old Bar?
Old Bar has a high recorded bushfire history (84/100, 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 Old Bar a good place to live?
Old Bar has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (21/100), 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 Old Bar?
Old Bar, NSW had a population of 5,126 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Old Bar, NSW?
The postcode for Old Bar, NSW is 2430.
How far is Old Bar from Sydney?
Old Bar is 316 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 218 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Old Bar?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Old Bar was $60,840 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 Old Bar?
The median advertised rent in Old Bar is $620 a week for houses (40 listings) and $450 a week for units (11 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Old Bar?
The median age of residents in Old Bar was 50 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Old Bar at risk of bushfire?
Old Bar has a high recorded bushfire history (84/100). 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 Old Bar?
There is 1 school inside the Old Bar boundary: 1 at similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Old Bar walkable?
Old Bar scores 16/100 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 Old Bar?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Old Bar, Taree (Patanga Cl) (11.7 km away), 1,331 mm of rain a year over 106 rainy days over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Old Bar?
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 Old Bar belong to?
Old Bar sits within the Mid-Coast local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Old Bar?
The average residential rates bill through Mid-Coast is $1,560 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Old Bar?
Across Mid-Coast, 743 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 327.0% 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 Old Bar in?
Old Bar sits within the federal Division of Lyne, currently held by Alison Penfold (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
- Climate · 2006–2026
- 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.