South Bowenfels NSW 2790
South Bowenfels is a suburb in New South Wales, 154 km from Sydney CBD, around 2 hours 20 minutes by car. Population is 1,326; the median age is 48 and the median household income is $83,616 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the top 40% nationally. Population grew 14.1% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $370 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $2,167. Walkability is low.
Is South Bowenfels a good suburb?
South Bowenfels scores a C (44/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on safety and community, weaker on transit.
Car-dependent
Walkability 0/100 · 154.5 km · 142 min drive to Sydney
Around the state median
Median $928K
Low all-round risk
Fire 39/100 · Crime 32/100
Advantaged
SEIFA decile 7/10 · median age 48 · 1,326 residents
Liveability Rating
44 / 100 · Ranked #910 in NSWEach bar is South Bowenfels'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 South Bowenfels?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
44 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataSouth Bowenfels's house market is moving lower: the median sale price reached $928,000, about 5% below where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$927,500
Based on 20 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 115 days — median across 7 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 4 bed 11 sales $920K
- 5 bed 5 sales $1.25M
Land
$487,500
Based on only 6 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Rental Market
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $465/wk
- 56 bonds
- +31% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2790 (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 2025134 Acceptable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 22% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2790.
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 South Bowenfels safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in South Bowenfels sits in the low band, with 34 incidents recorded in 2025.
34 offences
no change since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20255 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. Roads are listed with 3 or more serious crashes.
Council Flood Studies
Lithgow City Council has published 1 flood study on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Schools
Walkability
South Bowenfels is very car-dependent on foot — at 0/100, 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.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside South Bowenfels.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 8.5 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 4.6 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 1.1 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 1 min
- Span of service
- 12.0 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 South Bowenfels.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 42%
- Premises covered
- 638
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
Lithgow: 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 4 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 3 different deciles — a narrow range, so the average describes the suburb closely.
South Bowenfels is home to about 1,300 residents, with a median age of 48, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $84,000 a year, with unemployment at 2.4%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
1,326
Median Age
48
Median Household Income
$83,616/yr
Census Median Rent
$370/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$2,167/mo
Avg Household Size
2.4
Median Personal Income
$37,804/yr
Unemployment Rate
2.4%
Unoccupied Dwellings
11.3%
Total Dwellings
515
Owner-Occupier Rate
92.6%
Houses
70.5%
Rental Stress
23.0%
Mortgage Stress
31.1%
Work From Home
10.4%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 84.5%
- English Spoken at Home
- 92.2%
- Employment Rate
- 51.6%
- Completed Year 12
- 35.7%
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.
17 residents (1.3%) 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.
13.2% of residents (164) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (164).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 1,244 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 (4 of 556).
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 $1,150 a year through Lithgow based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 72%
- Residential 13%
- Infrastructure and transport 8%
- Environmental 7%
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: Lithgow
In the year to August 2026, 55 new dwellings were approved across Lithgow. That mix is 47 houses and 8 units.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Bathurst 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 Mount Boyce AWS, 18.9 kmHigh rainfall — warm summers, cold winters with occasional frost.
- Elevation
- 890 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Near high-voltage lines
- 12.0% of addresses
- 97 within 100 m of an overhead line of 110 kV or more
- Annual rainfall
- 1,147 mm
- 112 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 23.8°C
- 1 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 3.2°C
- 12 frost days ≤ 0°C
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.
EV adoption
In postcode 2790, 59 of 13,047 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 2.4% (316 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 2.9%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2790, 2,794 rooftop-solar systems totalling 19.6 MW have been installed since 2001, against 7,661 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 203 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 postcode 2790.
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 $927,500 this is $327,500 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 Andrew Gee Independent
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Andrew Gee | 37.7% | 62.3% | +3.2 |
| 2022 | Andrew Gee | 34.5% | 65.5% | +2.2 |
| 2019 | Andrew Gee | 36.7% | 63.3% | +1.5 |
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 Paul Toole The Nationals
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Paul Toole NP | 73.6% |
| 2019 | Paul Toole NP | 67.9% |
| 2015 | Paul Toole NP | 65.8% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2021, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this suburb's voters. Results: © State of New South Wales through the NSW Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0, adapted.
Looking at a specific address in South Bowenfels?
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 1,326 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
Compare South Bowenfels 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 South Bowenfels
Is South Bowenfels a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in South Bowenfels is low (32/100, ranked against other NSW suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect South Bowenfels?
South Bowenfels has a low recorded bushfire history (39/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is South Bowenfels a good place to live?
South Bowenfels has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of C (44/100), 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 South Bowenfels?
South Bowenfels, NSW had a population of 1,326 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for South Bowenfels, NSW?
The postcode for South Bowenfels, NSW is 2790.
How far is South Bowenfels from Sydney?
South Bowenfels is 154 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 142 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in South Bowenfels?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in South Bowenfels was $83,616 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 South Bowenfels?
There are too few current rental listings in South Bowenfels for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $370, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in South Bowenfels?
The median age of residents in South Bowenfels was 48 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is South Bowenfels at risk of bushfire?
South Bowenfels has a low recorded bushfire history (39/100). The score comes from Geoscience Australia's historical bushfire boundaries, with planned burns excluded: the area of recorded fires touching the suburb 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.
What is the weather like in South Bowenfels?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to South Bowenfels, Mount Boyce AWS (18.9 km away), summer days average 23.8°C, winter nights 3.2°C, 1,147 mm of rain a year over 112 rainy days, and 1 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in South Bowenfels?
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 South Bowenfels belong to?
South Bowenfels sits within the Lithgow local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in South Bowenfels?
The average residential rates bill through Lithgow is $1,150 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near South Bowenfels?
Across Lithgow, 55 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 South Bowenfels in?
South Bowenfels sits within the federal Division of Calare, currently held by Andrew Gee (Independent).
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Data freshness
- Census · 2021
- Median sale prices · 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
- 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.