St Helens sits 257 km from Hobart CBD in Tasmania, around 3 hours 20 minutes by car. Census data records 2,206 residents with a median age of 57 and a median household income of $42,848 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the bottom 20% nationally. Population grew 6.6% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $230 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,083. 1 school sits within the town boundary, and walkability is low.
Is St Helens a good town?
St Helens scores a D (30/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on transit and community.
Mixed results
1 school
Car-dependent
Walkability 4/100 · 257.4 km · 200 min drive to Hobart
Median available
Median $545K
Moderate bushfire risk
Fire 56/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 57 · 2,206 residents
Liveability Rating
30 / 100 · Ranked #180 in TASEach bar is St Helens's rank among TAS 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 crime data is published for Tasmania — a blank here means we hold no data, not that there is no risk.
Flood data for Tasmania covers only the areas mapped there — a blank here is not an all-clear.
How do you rate the liveability in St Helens?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
30 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataSt Helens's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $545,000, roughly 15% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$545,000
In line with its 3 neighbours (median $549,000)
Based on 76 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 66 days — median across 34 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 19 sales $420K
- 3 bed 39 sales $570K
- 4 bed 14 sales $722K
Units
$380,000
Based on only 7 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Typically sold in 81 days — median across 4 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 6 sales $385K
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in St Helens are currently listed at around $755,000 on average. Based on 54 houses listed in the past six months.
Houses
$755K
54 houses listed in the last 6 months.
Units
$485K
4 units listed in the last 6 months.
58 of the suburb's 979 dwellings (5.9%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in St Helens rent for around $470 a week on average, based on 10 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
$470/wk
10 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
11 rentals advertised against an estimated 254 rented homes (4.3%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Sep 2025–Aug 2026- 3-bed houses
- $465/wk
- 19 bonds
- 2-bed units
- $310/wk
- 15 bonds
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies. Asking rents above come from advertised listings.
Rental affordability
June quarter 2025121 Acceptable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 25% of its income on the median rent in postcode 7216.
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$470/week ($24,000 a year) on a $755,000 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
81 active Airbnb listings: 67 whole homes and 14 rooms. Whole homes are about 5.4% 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.
Crime in the Break O'Day council area
Crime recorded across the whole council area over the 12 months to Jul 2026, not in St Helens alone. Tasmania Police publish by council, not by suburb.
| Type | Count | Per 1,000 residents |
|---|---|---|
| All offences | 299 | 41.4 |
| Assault | 43 | 5.9 |
| Assault in a public place | 6 | 0.8 |
| Home burglary | 21 | 2.9 |
| Stolen vehicles | 12 | 1.7 |
| Robbery | 0 | 0.0 |
| Serious crime | 3 | 0.4 |
| Public order incidents | 200 | 27.7 |
| Family violence order breaches | 30 | 4.1 |
| Police family violence order breaches | 18 | 2.5 |
Rates use the council’s 7,230 residents. The latest month is preliminary and may be revised.
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20259 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 4 of them fatal
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.
Coastal Erosion
Shoreline Change Summary
1988–2025Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 3.9 km
- Rate
- -0.06 m/yr
- Net Movement
- —
- Certainty
- insufficient observations
Data Quality
Schools
One school serve St Helens, and performance is broadly on par with peer-suburb schools.
- • 505 students in one school (avg 505)
Combined
Walkability
St Helens is very car-dependent on foot — at 4/100, nearly all errands require a car. Within the town there are 2 supermarkets, 21 parks and 13 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
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.
NBN connectivity
The internet access technology available across NBN premises in St Helens.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 85%
- Premises covered
- 1,573
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
Break O'Day: 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 6 small areas inside this town and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 3 different deciles — a narrow range, so the average describes the town closely.
St Helens is home to about 2,200 residents, with a median age of 57 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $43,000 a year, with unemployment at 6.9%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
2,206
Median Age
57
Median Household Income
$42,848/yr
Census Median Rent
$230/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,083/mo
Avg Household Size
2.0
Median Personal Income
$25,688/yr
Unemployment Rate
6.9%
Unoccupied Dwellings
28.2%
Total Dwellings
979
Owner-Occupier Rate
74.1%
Houses
86.2%
Rental Stress
27.9%
Mortgage Stress
30.3%
Work From Home
12.8%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
40 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 3 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 246 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 76.5%
- English Spoken at Home
- 88.5%
- Employment Rate
- 37.9%
- Completed Year 12
- 26.8%
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.
30 residents (1.4%) 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.
7.6% of residents (160) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Hobart (60).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 2,114 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 725).
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 $1,738 a year through Break O'Day based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 72%
- Environmental 26%
- Residential 1%
- 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: Break O'Day
In the year to August 2026, 48 new dwellings were approved across Break O'Day. Almost all of the pipeline is detached houses.
Climate & Setting
from Larapuna (Eddystone Point), 39.1 kmModerate rainfall — mild summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 55 m
- above sea level, at the town centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 3.9 km
- Annual rainfall
- 660 mm
- 92 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 22.1°C
- 0 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 7.7°C
- 0 frost days ≤ 0°C
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.
EV adoption
In postcode 7216, 13 of 3,573 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 0.9% (31 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 1.2%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 7216, 792 rooftop-solar systems totalling 5.0 MW have been installed since 2001, against 2,517 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 49 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$20,000 for new homes.
$20,000 for transactions commencing 1 July 2026 - 30 June 2027. THE AMOUNT MOVES EVERY YEAR AND THE SRO PUBLISHES THE TABLE: $30,000 (FY2025-26), $10,000 (FY2024-25), $30,000 (Apr 2021 - Jun 2024). We held $10,000 until 2026-09-18, which was the FY2024-25 figure — two years stale, and wrong in both directions in between. Nothing is published beyond 30 June 2027, so this is due again then regardless of the 1 July sweep. No purchase-price cap is STATED on the eligibility pages (an absence, not an explicit "no cap"); the Grant Guideline PDF was not read. Eligible new builds include substantially renovated homes and kit homes. Completion within 24 months of the transaction start date, or the grant drops to $10,000. Separate from the grant: the first home buyer duty exemption on ESTABLISHED homes up to $750,000 closed for settlements after 30 June 2026.
Mortgage repayments
Property 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 State Revenue Office of Tasmania
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 Rebecca White Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Rebecca White | 61.6% | 38.4% | +10.7 |
| 2022 | Brian Mitchell | 50.9% | 49.1% | +4.3 |
| 2019 | Brian Mitchell | 55.2% | 44.8% | -1.4 |
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
Elected at the 2025 election:
- Guy Barnett Liberal Party
- Jane Howlett Liberal Party
- Tabatha Badger Tasmanian Greens
- Jen Butler Australian Labor Party
- Brian Mitchell Australian Labor Party
- Mark Shelton Liberal Party
- Carlo Di Falco Shooters, Fishers, Farmers TAS
| Year | Seats won |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 Liberal Party · 2 Australian Labor Party · 1 Tasmanian Greens · 1 Shooters, Fishers, Farmers TAS |
| 2024 | 3 Liberal Party · 2 Australian Labor Party · 1 Jacqui Lambie Network · 1 Tasmanian Greens |
A vacancy here is filled by a recount of the original votes, not a by-election, so a member listed may since have been replaced. Results: Tasmanian Electoral Commission.
Looking at a specific address in St Helens?
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 2,206 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
Stieglitz TAS 7216
Beaumaris TAS 7215
Binalong Bay TAS 7216
Mathinna TAS 7214
Goshen TAS 7216
Upper Scamander TAS 7215
Compare St Helens to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other TAS suburb — type a name and pick one.
Or jump straight to a nearby comparison:
Common questions about St Helens
Is St Helens a safe place to live?
TAS does not publish suburb-level crime statistics, so there is no crime figure for St Helens.
What natural hazards affect St Helens?
St Helens has a moderate recorded bushfire history (56/100, 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 St Helens a good place to live?
St Helens has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (30/100), ranked against other TAS 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 St Helens?
St Helens, TAS had a population of 2,206 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for St Helens, TAS?
The postcode for St Helens, TAS is 7216.
How far is St Helens from Hobart?
St Helens is 257 km from Hobart CBD by road, about 200 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in St Helens?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in St Helens was $42,848 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 St Helens?
The median advertised rent in St Helens is $470 a week for houses (10 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in St Helens?
The median age of residents in St Helens was 57 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is St Helens at risk of bushfire?
St Helens has a moderate recorded bushfire history (56/100). 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 St Helens?
There is 1 school inside the St Helens boundary: 1 at similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is St Helens walkable?
St Helens scores 4/100 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 St Helens?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to St Helens, Larapuna (Eddystone Point) (39.1 km away), summer days average 22.1°C, winter nights 7.7°C, 660 mm of rain a year over 92 rainy days, and 0 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in St Helens?
First-home buyers in TAS may be eligible for $20,000 towards new homes. The grant is administered by State Revenue Office of Tasmania; confirm current eligibility before signing a contract — state rules and amounts can change.
What council does St Helens belong to?
St Helens sits within the Break O'Day local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in St Helens?
The average residential rates bill through Break O'Day is $1,738 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near St Helens?
Across Break O'Day, 48 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 St Helens in?
St Helens sits within the federal Division of Lyons, currently held by Rebecca White (Australian Labor Party).
Search another suburb or address
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
- NBN connectivity · Dec 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 · 2025
- 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.
Was the information on this page useful to you?
Thanks! Anything we could improve?
We hate spam as much as you do — we'll never use your email for marketing, and we might not be able to reply to everyone.
Thanks for your feedback! 🙏
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.