West Kempsey NSW 2440
Located in New South Wales, West Kempsey sits 424 km from Sydney CBD, around 4 hours 45 minutes by car. The suburb has 5,073 residents, a median age of 40, and a median household income of $48,100 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the bottom 20% nationally. The suburb grew 3.1% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $290 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,170. West Kempsey is characterised by high crime risk. Of 4 schools within the suburb boundary, 1 ranks above the state average, and walkability is moderate.
Is West Kempsey a good suburb?
West Kempsey scores a D (26/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on safety and community.
Mixed results
4 schools · 1 above peer schools
Some car dependence
Walkability 55/100 · 423.9 km · 286 min drive to Sydney
Around the state median
Median $470K · Cheaper than 87% of NSW
High crime risk
Fire 37/100 · Crime 96/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 40 · 5,073 residents
Liveability Rating
26 / 100 · Ranked #1346 in NSWEach bar is West Kempsey'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 West Kempsey?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
26 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataWest Kempsey's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $470,000, about 8% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$470,000
13% above its 5 neighbours (median $415,000)
Based on 99 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 38 days — median across 44 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 14 sales $406K
- 3 bed 67 sales $475K
- 4 bed 15 sales $547K
Land
$357,500
Based on only 4 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in West Kempsey are currently listed at around $499,000 on average. Based on 51 houses listed in the past six months.
$499K
51 houses listed in the last 6 months.
52 of the suburb's 1,851 dwellings (2.8%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in West Kempsey rent for around $500 a week on average, based on 17 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
$500/wk
17 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
18 rentals advertised against an estimated 753 rented homes (2.4%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $520/wk
- 34 bonds
- +34% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $430/wk
- 15 bonds
- +33% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2440 (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 2440.
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$500/week ($26,000 a year) on a $499,000 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
No active Airbnb listings.
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 West Kempsey safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in West Kempsey sits in the high band, with 1,038 incidents recorded in 2025 — up about 9% on the prior year.
1,038 offences
9.3% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202512 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital
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
Kempsey Shire Council has published 9 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Schools
Four schools serve West Kempsey, and results are mixed — some outperforming peer-suburb schools, some below. St Joseph's Primary School leads the pack.
- • 1,979 students across 4 schools (avg 495)
- • Sectors: 2 Government, 2 Catholic
- • ICSEA 794-999, median 920 (below the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: St Paul's College (641 students)
Primary
Secondary
Walkability
West Kempsey is somewhat walkable on foot — at 55/100, a short cluster of errands work on foot but most trips still benefit from a car. Within the suburb there are 1 supermarket, 10 parks and 3 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside West Kempsey.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 53.5 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 27.4 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 0.0 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 0 min
- Span of service
- 10.9 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 West Kempsey.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 33%
- Premises covered
- 2,508
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
Kempsey: 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 13 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 2 different deciles — a narrow range, so the average describes the suburb closely.
West Kempsey is home to about 5,100 residents, with a median age of 40, broadly in line with the national figure. Median household income runs at $48,000 a year, with unemployment at 11.2%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
5,073
Median Age
40
Median Household Income
$48,100/yr
Census Median Rent
$290/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,170/mo
Avg Household Size
2.3
Median Personal Income
$25,636/yr
Unemployment Rate
11.2%
Unoccupied Dwellings
8.9%
Total Dwellings
1,851
Owner-Occupier Rate
59.3%
Houses
88.5%
Rental Stress
31.4%
Mortgage Stress
29.2%
Work From Home
3.4%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
107 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 121 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 733 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 83.0%
- English Spoken at Home
- 86.8%
- Employment Rate
- 35.7%
- 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.
33 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.
2.3% of residents (109) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (71).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 4,745 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
Education
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,447 a year through Kempsey based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 43%
- Residential 31%
- Environmental 13%
- Parks and recreation 9%
- Infrastructure and transport 3%
- Commercial 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 suburb around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Kempsey
In the year to August 2026, 144 new dwellings were approved across Kempsey. That mix is 83 houses and 61 units. Approvals are up 380.0% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Kempsey 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.
Setting
- Elevation
- 6 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 18.0 km
- Near high-voltage lines
- 0.2% of addresses
- 5 within 100 m of an overhead line of 110 kV or more
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- 0.8 km
- 1.6 km
- 4.4 km
- 4.4 kmPetroleum Product WholesalingTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds · n-Hexane · Toluene (methylbenzene)
EV adoption
In postcode 2440, 24 of 18,636 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.6% (295 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 1.7%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2440, 4,823 rooftop-solar systems totalling 31.2 MW have been installed since 2001, against 9,086 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 222 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 Pat Conaghan The Nationals
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Pat Conaghan | 40.9% | 59.1% | +0.5 |
| 2022 | Pat Conaghan | 40.5% | 59.5% | -2.4 |
| 2019 | Pat Conaghan | 38.1% | 61.9% | -0.7 |
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 Michael Kemp The Nationals
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Michael Kemp NP | 62.8% |
| 2019 | Melinda Pavey NP | 64.9% |
| 2015 | Melinda Pavey NP | 60.9% |
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 West Kempsey?
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 5,073 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
South Kempsey NSW 2440
Frederickton NSW 2440
Greenhill NSW 2440
Collombatti NSW 2440
Kempsey NSW 2440
Euroka NSW 2440
Compare West Kempsey to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other NSW suburb — type a name and pick one.
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Common questions about West Kempsey
Is West Kempsey a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in West Kempsey is high (96/100, 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 West Kempsey?
West Kempsey has a low recorded bushfire history (37/100, 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 West Kempsey a good place to live?
West Kempsey has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (26/100), 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 West Kempsey?
West Kempsey, NSW had a population of 5,073 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for West Kempsey, NSW?
The postcode for West Kempsey, NSW is 2440.
How far is West Kempsey from Sydney?
West Kempsey is 424 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 286 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in West Kempsey?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in West Kempsey was $48,100 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 West Kempsey?
The median advertised rent in West Kempsey is $500 a week for houses (17 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in West Kempsey?
The median age of residents in West Kempsey was 40 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is West Kempsey at risk of bushfire?
West Kempsey has a low recorded bushfire history (37/100). 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 West Kempsey?
There are 4 schools inside the West Kempsey boundary: 1 above, 2 at, and 1 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is West Kempsey walkable?
West Kempsey scores 55/100 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.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in West Kempsey?
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 West Kempsey belong to?
West Kempsey sits within the Kempsey local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in West Kempsey?
The average residential rates bill through Kempsey is $1,447 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near West Kempsey?
Across Kempsey, 144 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 380.0% 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 West Kempsey in?
West Kempsey sits within the federal Division of Cowper, currently held by Pat Conaghan (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
- 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.