South Grafton NSW 2460
Located in New South Wales, South Grafton sits 609 km from Sydney CBD, around 6 hours 40 minutes by car. The suburb has 6,288 residents, a median age of 40, and a median household income of $50,700 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the bottom 20% nationally. Population grew 3.6% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $280 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,144. The area shows high crime risk. Of 5 schools within the suburb boundary, 1 ranks above the state average, and walkability is low.
Is South Grafton a good suburb?
South Grafton scores a D (20/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on prices, weaker on safety and community.
Mixed results
5 schools · 1 above peer schools
Some car dependence
Walkability 35/100 · 608.7 km · 401 min drive to Sydney
More affordable than most
Median $470K · More affordable than 75% of NSW
High crime risk
Fire 46/100 · Crime 95/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 40 · 6,288 residents
Liveability Rating
20 / 100 · Ranked #1464 in NSWEach bar is South Grafton's rank among NSW suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better).
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 Grafton?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
20 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataSouth Grafton's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $470,000, about 9% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$470,000
Based on 169 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 26 days — median across 61 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 17 sales $395K
- 3 bed 91 sales $460K
- 4 bed 45 sales $560K
- 5 bed 7 sales $590K
Land
$660,000
Based on only 5 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in South Grafton are currently listed at around $550,000 on average. Based on 13 houses listed in the past six months.
$550K
13 houses listed in the last 6 months.
14 of the suburb's 2,366 dwellings (0.6%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in South Grafton rent for around $520 a week on average, based on 31 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
$520/wk
31 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
32 rentals advertised against an estimated 885 rented homes (3.6%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $470/wk
- 75 bonds
- +34% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $450/wk
- 20 bonds
- +37% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2460 (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 2025122 Acceptable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 25% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2460.
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$520/week ($27,000 a year) on a $550,000 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
5 active Airbnb listings: 5 whole homes and 0 rooms. Whole homes are about 0.2% of the suburb'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 South Grafton safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in South Grafton sits in the high band, with 1,273 incidents recorded in 2025 — up about 6% on the prior year.
1,273 offences
6.5% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202512 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 2 of them fatal
Where they happened
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
Clarence Valley Council has published 10 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Schools
Five schools serve South Grafton, and performance is broadly at peer-suburb levels with one standout. St Joseph's Primary School leads the pack.
- • 1,484 students across 5 schools (avg 297)
- • Sectors: 4 Government, 1 Catholic
- • ICSEA 754-979, median 875 (below the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: South Grafton High School (639 students)
Primary
Secondary
Walkability
South Grafton is car-dependent on foot — at 35/100, most errands require a car. Within the suburb there are 1 supermarket, 16 parks and 8 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside South Grafton.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 109.5 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 59.0 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 31.8 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 0 min
- Span of service
- 19.8 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 Grafton.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 38%
- Premises covered
- 3,280
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
Clarence Valley: 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 17 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 Grafton is home to about 6,300 residents, with a median age of 40, broadly in line with the national figure. Median household income runs at $51,000 a year, with unemployment at 9.9%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
6,288
Median Age
40
Median Household Income
$50,700/yr
Census Median Rent
$280/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,144/mo
Avg Household Size
2.4
Median Personal Income
$27,352/yr
Unemployment Rate
9.9%
Unoccupied Dwellings
9.9%
Total Dwellings
2,366
Owner-Occupier Rate
62.6%
Houses
90.2%
Rental Stress
28.7%
Mortgage Stress
27.1%
Work From Home
6.6%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
175 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 30 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 859 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 84.5%
- English Spoken at Home
- 88.5%
- Employment Rate
- 40.7%
- Completed Year 12
- 22.0%
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.
46 residents (0.7%) 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.
3.2% of residents (190) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (86).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 5,891 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
Local Jobs
People who work in this suburb against employed people who live here, 2021 Census.
About 2,872 people work here; 2,016 employed residents live here.
Roughly as many jobs as working residents (1.4 per resident). At least 29% of the people who work here must live elsewhere.
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 $1,380 a year through Clarence Valley based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 61%
- Residential 16%
- Industrial 10%
- Parks and recreation 6%
- Infrastructure and transport 3%
- Environmental 3%
- 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 suburb around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Clarence Valley
In the year to August 2026, 246 new dwellings were approved across Clarence Valley. That mix is 213 houses and 33 units. Approvals are down 80.4% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Grafton-Ngerrie 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 Grafton Research Stn, 11.9 kmHigh rainfall — hot summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 14 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 34.2 km
- Annual rainfall
- 1,060 mm
- 89 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 30.0°C
- 12 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 8.3°C
- 0 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.
Industrial Emissions Nearby
5 facilities within 5 km- 0.4 kmPetroleum Product WholesalingTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds
- 2.9 kmRailway Rolling Stock Manufacturing and Repair ServicesTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds · Cumene (1-methylethylbenzene)
- 4.0 km
- 4.5 kmWaste Treatment and Disposal ServicesTop reported: Carbon monoxide · Oxides of Nitrogen · Total Volatile Organic Compounds
- 4.8 kmOther Construction Material MiningTop reported: Manganese & compounds · Fluoride compounds · Zinc and compounds
EV adoption
In postcode 2460, 53 of 24,792 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 2.1% (514 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 2.3%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2460, 7,626 rooftop-solar systems totalling 49.4 MW have been installed since 2001, against 12,604 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 416 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
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 $470,000 this is under 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 Kevin Hogan The Nationals
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Kevin Hogan | 40.7% | 59.3% | +1.4 |
| 2022 | Kevin Hogan | 39.3% | 60.7% | +1.3 |
| 2019 | Kevin Hogan | 40.5% | 59.5% | +7.2 |
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 Richie Williamson The Nationals
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Richie Williamson NP | 64.2% |
| 2019 | Chris Gulaptis NP | 64.5% |
| 2015 | Chris Gulaptis NP | 59.7% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2021, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this 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 Grafton?
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 6,288 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 Grafton to another suburb
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Common questions about South Grafton
Is South Grafton a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in South Grafton is high (95/100, ranked against other NSW 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 South Grafton?
South Grafton has a moderate recorded bushfire history (46/100, 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 Grafton a good place to live?
South Grafton has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (20/100), 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 Grafton?
South Grafton, NSW had a population of 6,288 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for South Grafton, NSW?
The postcode for South Grafton, NSW is 2460.
How far is South Grafton from Sydney?
South Grafton is 609 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 401 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in South Grafton?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in South Grafton was $50,700 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 Grafton?
The median advertised rent in South Grafton is $520 a week for houses (31 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in South Grafton?
The median age of residents in South Grafton was 40 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is South Grafton at risk of bushfire?
South Grafton has a moderate recorded bushfire history (46/100). 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.
How are the schools in South Grafton?
There are 5 schools inside the South Grafton boundary: 1 above and 3 at similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is South Grafton walkable?
South Grafton 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 South Grafton?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to South Grafton, Grafton Research Stn (11.9 km away), summer days average 30°C, winter nights 8.3°C, 1,060 mm of rain a year over 89 rainy days, and 12 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in South Grafton?
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 Grafton belong to?
South Grafton sits within the Clarence Valley local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in South Grafton?
The average residential rates bill through Clarence Valley is $1,380 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 Grafton?
Across Clarence Valley, 246 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 80.4% 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 South Grafton in?
South Grafton sits within the federal Division of Page, currently held by Kevin Hogan (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.