Port Pirie West SA 5540
Port Pirie West is a suburb in South Australia, 228 km from Adelaide CBD, around 2 hours 30 minutes by car. Population is 2,556; the median age is 45 and the median household income is $42,744 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the bottom 20% nationally. The suburb fell 2.4% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $180 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $693. Port Pirie West is characterised by high crime risk and high flood risk. 1 school sits within the suburb boundary, and walkability is moderate.
Is Port Pirie West a good suburb?
Port Pirie West scores a D (25/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on transit, weaker on safety and community.
Mixed results
1 school
Very walkable
Walkability 67/100 · 227.8 km · 152 min drive to Adelaide
Median available
Median $290K
High crime risk
Fire 0/100 · Crime 81/100 · Flood 64/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 45 · 2,556 residents
Liveability Rating
25 / 100 · Ranked #474 in SAEach bar is Port Pirie West's rank among SA suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better). Scored on 4 of 5 factors: no school data, so the other factors carry its weight.
How do you rate the liveability in Port Pirie West?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
25 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataPort Pirie West's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $290,000, roughly 19% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$290,000
Based on 93 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 19 sales $230K
- 3 bed 51 sales $300K
- 4 bed 13 sales $385K
Land
$55,000
Based on only 5 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Port Pirie West rent for around $450 a week on average, based on 5 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
$450/wk
5 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
5 rentals advertised against an estimated 502 rented homes (1.0%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Apr–Jun 2026- 3-bed houses
- $425/wk
- 10 bonds
- +18% since 2024
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies. Change since 2024 compares the median of the first four quarters with the last four. Asking rents above come from advertised listings.
Rental affordability
June quarter 2025149 Acceptable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 20% of its income on the median rent in postcode 5540.
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.
Is Port Pirie West safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Port Pirie West sits in the high band, with 188 incidents recorded in 2026 — down about 2% on the prior year.
188 offences
1.6% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20252 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 1 of them fatal
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
One school serve Port Pirie West, and performance is broadly on par with peer-suburb schools.
- • 201 students in one school (avg 201)
Primary
Walkability
Port Pirie West is somewhat walkable on foot — at 67/100, a short cluster of errands work on foot but most trips still benefit from a car.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Port Pirie West.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 4.2 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 4.1 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 1.2 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 1 min
- Span of service
- 10.1 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 Port Pirie West.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 27%
- Premises covered
- 1,508
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
Port Pirie: 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 9 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. Every one of them ranks in that same decile, so the average describes the whole suburb.
Port Pirie West is home to about 2,600 residents, with a median age of 45, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $43,000 a year, with unemployment at 13.6%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
2,556
Median Age
45
Median Household Income
$42,744/yr
Census Median Rent
$180/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$693/mo
Avg Household Size
2.0
Median Personal Income
$24,700/yr
Unemployment Rate
13.6%
Unoccupied Dwellings
16.6%
Total Dwellings
1,157
Owner-Occupier Rate
56.6%
Houses
86.3%
Rental Stress
21.9%
Mortgage Stress
19.5%
Work From Home
3.1%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
161 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 18 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 481 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 85.2%
- English Spoken at Home
- 89.2%
- Employment Rate
- 37.7%
- Completed Year 12
- 22.5%
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.
12 residents (0.5%) 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.
4.9% of residents (120) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Adelaide (87).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 2,432 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 (6 of 807).
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 $1,855 a year through Port Pirie based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Environmental 89%
- Residential 7%
- Infrastructure and transport 3%
- Industrial 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: Port Pirie
In the year to August 2026, 53 new dwellings were approved across Port Pirie. That mix is 40 houses and 13 units. Approvals are up 75.0% on the same period a year earlier.
Air Quality
This station does not measure fine particles (PM2.5).
PM10 averaged 23.7 µg/m³. Days over the limit in 2025: PM10 17.
From the Port Pirie, Oliver Street monitoring station, 2.6 km away.
Climate & Setting
from Georgetown, 41.6 kmDry climate.
- Elevation
- 4 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 2.1 km
- 1.8 km to a named beach
- Annual rainfall
- 472 mm
- 68 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- —
- Winter min (Jul)
- —
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- 0.9 kmOther Warehousing and Storage ServicesTop reported: Zinc and compounds · Lead & compounds · Manganese & compounds
- 1.9 kmCopper, Silver, Lead and Zinc Smelting and RefiningTop reported: Carbon monoxide · Sulfur dioxide · Oxides of Nitrogen
- 2.9 kmIndustrial and Agricultural Chemical Product WholesalingTop reported: Fluoride compounds · Manganese & compounds
- 3.7 kmSewerage and Drainage ServicesTop reported: Total Nitrogen · Ammonia (total) · Total Phosphorus
EV adoption
In postcode 5540, 20 of 12,715 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 2.1% (273 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 2.3%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 5540, 4,134 rooftop-solar systems totalling 24.6 MW have been installed since 2001, against 7,188 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 153 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
2 mortgage brokers are registered in postcode 5540.
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 Tom Venning Liberal
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Tom Venning | 45.4% | 54.6% | +5.4 |
| 2022 | Rowan Ramsey | 39.9% | 60.1% | -3.2 |
| 2019 | Rowan Ramsey | 36.7% | 63.3% | +5.6 |
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 Geoff Brock Independent
Next state election: 16 March 2030.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Geoff Brock IND | 56.9% |
| 2022 | Geoff Brock IND | 67.1% |
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 Port Pirie West?
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 2,556 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 Port Pirie West
Is Port Pirie West a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Port Pirie West is high (81/100, 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 Port Pirie West?
Port Pirie West has no recorded bushfire history. Flood overlays cover a moderate share of it (64/100). These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Port Pirie West a good place to live?
Port Pirie West has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (25/100), 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 Port Pirie West?
Port Pirie West, SA had a population of 2,556 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Port Pirie West, SA?
The postcode for Port Pirie West, SA is 5540.
How far is Port Pirie West from Adelaide?
Port Pirie West is 228 km from Adelaide CBD by road, about 152 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Port Pirie West?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Port Pirie West was $42,744 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 Port Pirie West?
The median advertised rent in Port Pirie West is $450 a week for houses (5 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Port Pirie West?
The median age of residents in Port Pirie West was 45 at the 2021 ABS Census.
How are the schools in Port Pirie West?
There is 1 school inside the Port Pirie West boundary: 1 at similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Port Pirie West walkable?
Port Pirie West scores 67/100 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 Port Pirie West?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Port Pirie West, Georgetown (41.6 km away), 472 mm of rain a year over 68 rainy days over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Port Pirie West?
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 Port Pirie West belong to?
Port Pirie West sits within the Port Pirie local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Port Pirie West?
The average residential rates bill through Port Pirie is $1,855 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Port Pirie West?
Across Port Pirie, 53 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 75.0% 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 Port Pirie West in?
Port Pirie West sits within the federal Division of Grey, currently held by Tom Venning (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
- Air quality · 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.