Port Wakefield SA 5550

Port Wakefield sits 100 km from Adelaide CBD in South Australia, around 1 hour 10 minutes by car. Census data records 661 residents with a median age of 44 and a median household income of $56,836 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the bottom 20% nationally. Population grew 3.9% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $225 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $867. The area shows high crime risk and high coastal erosion risk. All 1 school within the locality boundary rank above the state average, and walkability is low.

Is Port Wakefield a good place to live?

Port Wakefield scores a D (10/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on safety and community.

Schools

Mixed results

1 school · 1 above peer schools

Transit

Some car dependence

Walkability 35/100 · 99.8 km · 70 min drive to Adelaide

Prices

Median available

Median $410K

Safety

High crime risk

Fire 30/100 · Crime 95/100

Community

Highly disadvantaged

SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 44 · 661 residents

D

Liveability Rating

10 / 100 · Ranked #528 in SA

Each bar is Port Wakefield'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.

Schools quality no data
too few schools to rate
Safety
4
Bushfire Low · Crime High
Socio-economic
7
Very disadvantaged
Walkability
21
Car-dependent
CBD access
18
99.8 km · 70 min drive to Adelaide
How it's calculated: Safety rank 4 × 25% + Socio-economic rank 7 × 25% + Walkability rank 21 × 15% + CBD access rank 18 × 10% = 10 / 100. Missing components rebalance the remaining weights.
Additional risks: Coastal erosion High

How do you rate the liveability in Port Wakefield?

Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.

Our score

10 / 100

From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.

Residents say

…

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What applies here? (optional)

One rating per person. You can change yours at any time.

Median House Price

Public listings data

Port Wakefield's house market is moving lower: the median sale price reached $410,000, about 7% below where it sat a year earlier.

Houses

$410,000

last 3 quarters
↓ −7.3% year-on-year

Based on 15 recorded sales in the last 24 months.

Typically sold in 62 days — median across 6 sales that recorded a listing period

By bedrooms

  • 3 bed 7 sales $410K

Units

$81,000

last 2 quarters
↓ −50.0% year-on-year

Based on only 9 sales — small sample, take as indicative.

Typically sold in 89 days — median across 3 sales that recorded a listing period

By bedrooms

  • 3 bed 9 sales $81K

Currently for Sale

Last 6 months

Houses in Port Wakefield are currently listed at around $590,000 on average. Based on 3 houses listed in the past six months.

$590K

3 houses listed in the last 6 months.

3 of the suburb's 279 dwellings (1.1%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.

Rental Market

Advertised rents · last 6 months

Houses in Port Wakefield rent for around $372 a week on average, based on 4 houses listed for rent in the past six months.

$372/wk

4 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.

4 rentals advertised against an estimated 113 rented homes (3.5%) in the last 6 months.

Rent agreed on new leases

Apr–Jun 2026
All rentals
$400/wk
10 bonds

Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies. Asking rents above come from advertised listings.

Gross rental yield

Indicative
House
3.3% around the typical range
Bottom 24% in SA

$372/week ($19,000 a year) on a $590,000 median

Based on a small sample (3 listings) — indicative only.

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 Port Wakefield safe? Crime statistics

2026

Crime in Port Wakefield sits in the high band, with 146 incidents recorded in 2026 — up roughly 18% on the prior year.

146 offences

17.7% since 2025
Theft 91 (62.3%)
Property Damage 27 (18.5%)
Assault 15 (10.3%)
Break & Enter 13 (8.9%)

Crime Trend

Serious Road Crashes

2021–2025

8 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 locality carries people passing through; this is not a measure of risk to residents. This state’s crash data does not name the road.

Coastal Erosion

25
monitoring points
within 5 km
22
actively eroding
> 0.1 m/yr retreat
-1.44
worst rate (m/yr)
Significant
5.6 km
nearest coastline
monitoring point

Shoreline Change Summary

1993–2025
Stable or accreting 3 (12%)
Moderate erosion (0.1–0.3 m/yr) 0 (0%)
Significant erosion (> 0.3 m/yr) 22 (88%)

Nearest Eroding Coastline

Distance
5.6 km
Rate
-0.64 m/yr
Net Movement
-23.8 m
Certainty
good

Data Quality

High certainty: 22 of 25 points (88%)

Schools

One school serve Port Wakefield, and the cohort skews above peer-suburb performance. Port Wakefield Primary School leads the pack.

62
out of 100
Average
1 school in this locality
1 above similar
  • • 33 students in one school (avg 33)

Primary

Government · R-6 · 33 students
ICSEA 927 (higher than 17% of Australian schools) · 6% top-SEA students
Above similar

Walkability

Port Wakefield is car-dependent on foot — at 35/100, most errands require a car.

35
out of 100
Car-Dependent
Top 24% in SA
Public Transport within 1 km 35
Schools within 1.5 km 60
Parks within 800 m 0
Supermarkets within 1 km 0
GPs within 1 km 60
Pharmacies within 1 km 60
Childcare within 1 km 60
Hospitals within 5 km 0

NBN connectivity

The internet access technology available across NBN premises in Port Wakefield.

30
connectivity score / 100
Most common
Fixed wireless
Full-fibre (FTTP) share
0%
Premises covered
355
Technology mix
Fixed wireless (WIRELESS) 99%
Satellite (Sky Muster) (SATELLITE) 1%

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

Supermarkets
None
Shopping Centres
None
Cafes & Restaurants
3 in locality
Parks & Reserves
1 in locality
Sport & Recreation
1 in locality
Beaches
1 in locality
Waterways
6 in locality
Childcare
1 in locality
GPs
1 in locality
Pharmacies
1 in locality
Hospitals
None
Police Stations
1 in locality
Banks & Bank@Post
1 in locality
Fuel Stations
3 in locality
EV Chargers
None
Pubs & Bars
1 in locality
Arts & Culture
1 in locality
Places of Worship
None

Wakefield: council population

The whole council area, not just Port Wakefield · estimated residents
at 30 June 2025
Residents
6,993
Change
-3
people since 2024
Density
2.0
people per km² across the council area
What drove the change
Natural increase
-4
births minus deaths
Net internal migration
-12
moves within Australia
Net overseas migration
+13
arrivals minus departures

The three add up to the change above. These are council-wide figures from the ABS, not figures for this locality alone — this locality's own population is in the census section above.

Socio-economic profile

ABS SEIFA · ranked against every suburb in Australia, and within the state
2021 census
Advantage and disadvantage
1/10
1/10 within SA
income, education, jobs and housing together
Economic resources
1/10
1/10 within SA
income against housing cost and household size
Education and occupation
1/10
1/10 within SA
qualifications and job type, income excluded

Port Wakefield is home to 661 residents, with a median age of 44, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $57,000 a year, with unemployment at 7.0%.

2021 Census · change since 2016

Population

661

3.9% since 2016

Median Age

44

10.0% since 2016

Median Household Income

$56,836/yr

16.4% since 2016
Bottom 22% in SA

Census Median Rent

$225/wk

12.5% since 2016

Census Median Mortgage

$867/mo

no change since 2016

Avg Household Size

2.2

8.3% since 2016

Median Personal Income

$36,712/yr

19.5% since 2016

Unemployment Rate

7.0%

10.3% since 2016

Unoccupied Dwellings

23.7%

18.3% since 2016

Total Dwellings

279

7.7% since 2016

Owner-Occupier Rate

59.5%

1.2% since 2016

Houses

90.0%

2.3% since 2016

Rental Stress

20.6%

3.3% since 2016

Mortgage Stress

18.3%

14.1% since 2016

Work From Home

6.8%

28.3% since 2016

Dwelling Types

Houses 251 (90.0%)
Townhouses 14 (5.0%)
Flats / Apartments 14 (5.0%)

Property Ownership

Renting 105 (40.5%)
Owned Outright 94 (36.3%)
Mortgage 60 (23.2%)

Demographics

Born in Australia
68.8%
English Spoken at Home
75.5%
Employment Rate
50.5%
1.0% since 2016
Completed Year 12
29.7%

Occupations

Labourers 95 (34.1%)
Managers 46 (16.5%)
Sales 32 (11.5%)
Technicians & Trades 29 (10.4%)
Machinery Operators & Drivers 28 (10.0%)
Community & Personal Service 22 (7.9%)
Clerical & Administrative 18 (6.5%)
Professionals 8 (2.9%)

Religion

No Religion 311 (47.0%)
Christianity 295 (44.6%)
Hinduism 5 (0.8%)
Sikhism 4 (0.6%)
Buddhism 3 (0.5%)
Other Religions 3 (0.5%)

Country of Birth (overseas)

Largest overseas birthplaces, as a share of all residents.

Philippines 69 (10.4%)
England 25 (3.8%)
Taiwan 13 (2.0%)
India 12 (1.8%)
New Zealand 12 (1.8%)
Germany 5 (0.8%)
Vietnam 4 (0.6%)
Netherlands 4 (0.6%)

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.

2016-2021 48 (7.3%)
2011-2015 40 (6.1%)
2001-2010 15 (2.3%)
1991-2000 0 (0.0%)
1981-1990 3 (0.5%)
Before 1981 26 (3.9%)

48 residents (7.3%) 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.

6.6% of residents (42) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Adelaide (39).

Overseas 42 (6.6%)
Adelaide - North 20 (3.2%)

Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 633 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.

Mandarin 13 (2.0%)
Punjabi 4 (0.6%)

Age Distribution

0-4 28 (4.2%)
5-14 79 (12.0%)
15-19 32 (4.8%)
20-24 34 (5.1%)
25-34 87 (13.2%)
35-44 69 (10.4%)
45-54 86 (13.0%)
55-64 104 (15.7%)
65-74 87 (13.2%)
75-84 42 (6.4%)
85+ 10 (1.5%)

Family & Household Composition

Lone Person 114 (50.7%)
Couple Families 61 (27.1%)
One Parent Families 32 (14.2%)
Group Household 10 (4.4%)
Other Families 8 (3.6%)

Commute to Work

Car (driver) 188 (75.2%)
Walked Only 23 (9.2%)
Car (passenger) 22 (8.8%)
Worked from Home 17 (6.8%)

2% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (5 of 279).

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

Certificate III & IV 97 (14.7%)
Bachelor Degree 43 (6.5%)
Advanced Diploma / Diploma 22 (3.3%)
Postgraduate Degree 5 (0.8%)

Cars per Dwelling

0 cars 21 (7.8%)
1 car 91 (33.7%)
2 cars 98 (36.3%)
3 cars 40 (14.8%)
4+ cars 18 (6.7%)

Council Rates

Wakefield
FY 2024-25

Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,640 a year through Wakefield based on 2024 figures.

Avg residential rate
$1,640/yr
12% below the SA average of $1,863 · median of 68 councils
Valuation basis
Capital Value
land + buildings

How this land is zoned

Share of Port Wakefield's area by planning zone
2026-09
  • Rural and farming 76%
  • Environmental 22%
  • 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 locality around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.

Building Approvals: Wakefield

The whole council area, not just Port Wakefield · new residential dwellings
to 2026-08

In the year to August 2026, 15 new dwellings were approved across Wakefield. Almost all of the pipeline is detached houses.

Trailing 12 months
15dwellings
Houses
15
detached dwellings
Units
0
townhouses + apartments

Climate & Setting

from Price, 18.3 km

Dry climate — warm summers, cool winters.

Elevation
5 m
above sea level, at the locality centre
Distance to the ocean
885 m
Near high-voltage lines
0.8% of addresses
5 within 100 m of an overhead line of 110 kV or more
Annual rainfall
295 mm
44 rainy days
Summer max (Jan)
27.8°C
Winter min (Jul)
7.2°C

Elevation is the ground at the locality 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

EV adoption

0.5%
of light vehicles are electric
Up from 0.00% in 2021
+0.5 points this year

In postcode 5550, 5 of 961 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.4% (13 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 1.9%.

Electric share, year by year
2021
0.00%
2022
0.00%
2023
0.00%
2024
0.00%
2025
0.52%

Rooftop solar

51
systems per 100 dwellings
Averaging 12.9 kW each

In postcode 5550, 253 rooftop-solar systems totalling 3.3 MW have been installed since 2001, against 498 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.

Systems installed, year by year
2019
22
2020
24
2021
19
2022
12
2023
18
2024
9
2025
4
2026
2

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.

Verify eligibility with RevenueSA

Mortgage repayments

I'm looking for
Deposit
$
%
Monthly repayment
$2,138
Loan amount
$328,000
Total interest over 30 years
$441,793
Deposit
$82,000
Stamp duty
$16,830
Cash needed at settlement
$98,830

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

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

Division of Grey

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 locality's voters across time.

State Electorate

Narungga District

Currently held by Chantelle Thomas Pauline Hanson's One Nation

Next state election: 16 March 2030.

Year Winner Won with
2026 Chantelle Thomas ON 50.1%
2022 Fraser Ellis IND 58.3%

Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2024, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this locality's voters. Results: Electoral Commission of South Australia.

Looking at a specific address in Port Wakefield?

Every figure above is a locality 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.

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Nearby suburbs

Compare Port Wakefield 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 Port Wakefield

Is Port Wakefield a safe place to live?

Recorded crime in Port Wakefield is high (95/100, 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 Wakefield?

Port Wakefield has a low recorded bushfire history (30/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). These are locality-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.

Is Port Wakefield a good place to live?

Port Wakefield has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (10/100), 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 Wakefield?

Port Wakefield, SA had a population of 661 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.

What is the postcode for Port Wakefield, SA?

The postcode for Port Wakefield, SA is 5550.

How far is Port Wakefield from Adelaide?

Port Wakefield is 100 km from Adelaide CBD by road, about 70 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.

What is the median household income in Port Wakefield?

At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Port Wakefield was $56,836 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 Wakefield?

The median advertised rent in Port Wakefield is $372 a week for houses (4 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.

What is the median age in Port Wakefield?

The median age of residents in Port Wakefield was 44 at the 2021 ABS Census.

Is Port Wakefield at risk of bushfire?

Port Wakefield has a low recorded bushfire history (30/100). The score comes from Geoscience Australia's historical bushfire boundaries, with planned burns excluded: the area of recorded fires touching the locality 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 Port Wakefield?

There is 1 school inside the Port Wakefield boundary: 1 above similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).

Is Port Wakefield walkable?

Port Wakefield scores 35/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it 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 Port Wakefield?

At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Port Wakefield, Price (18.3 km away), summer days average 27.8°C, winter nights 7.2°C, and 295 mm of rain a year over 44 rainy days over 2006-2026.

Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Port Wakefield?

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 Wakefield belong to?

Port Wakefield sits within the Wakefield local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.

How much are council rates in Port Wakefield?

The average residential rates bill through Wakefield is $1,640 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 Wakefield?

Across Wakefield, 15 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). These are LGA-level totals — every suburb in the council shares the same figure.

Which federal electorate is Port Wakefield in?

Port Wakefield sits within the federal Division of Grey, currently held by Tom Venning (Liberal).

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Data freshness

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.

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