IRSAD
Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage
Score 1,035
Measures relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage.
Within AustraliaDecile 8 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 8 of 10
For state-level context, explore the New South Wales economy.
Housing
Dalwood
Ballina · New South Wales · Census 2021
$1.35Mmedian house · Dec 2025
Dalwood (Ballina - NSW) is a leafy residential suburb of Ballina.
Median house price
$1.35M70th pctile
of 2,365 priced NSW suburbs
Household income
$2,181/wk79th pctile
of 4,352 NSW suburbs
Median house price
Rolling median of settled transfers, state Valuer-General open data (CC BY 4.0). Median of New South Wales suburb medians: $1.0M.
How it compares
Median house price70th percentile
<$160k2,365 priced suburbs$5.5M+
Household income / wk79th percentile
<$564ABS Census 2021$3,833+
Median house price-9% vs Greater Sydney · +64% vs Rest of NSW
SydneyRest of state
Greater Sydney $1.49M · Rest of NSW $825kDalwood (Ballina - NSW) $1.35M
Household income / wk
NSW · AU
NSW median suburb $1,583 · AU median suburb $1,562Dalwood (Ballina - NSW) $2,181
Percentiles rank this suburb against New South Wales suburbs that carry the metric — never across states, and never against suburbs where it is missing. Price references are ABS median established-house transfer prices for the Mar 2026 quarter (CC BY 4.0); the suburb figure is a Valuer-General median over a different window, so read the gap as indicative. Income references are the Census 2021 median of the middle suburb in New South Wales and nationally, not a household-weighted median.
People & housing
Population
218
Median age
50 yrs
Income / person / wk
$814
Household income / wk
$2,181
▲ 38% vs NSW
Median rent / wk
$380
Mortgage / month
$1,408
Who lives here
- Couples with children
- 27%
- −6 pts vs NSW
- Living alone
- 20%
- −5 pts vs NSW
- In the labour force
- 70%
- +12 pts vs NSW
- Bachelor degree or higher
- 24%
- −3 pts vs NSW
- Earning $1–$499 a week
- 20%
- −3 pts vs NSW
- Earning $2,000+ a week
- 15%
- +2 pts vs NSW
Households for the family mix, residents aged 15+ for work, education and income; unemployment is a share of the labour force. NSW figures weight each suburb by its dwellings or residents. ABS Census 2021 (CC BY 4.0). Withheld for very small populations — under 100 residents, or under 50 dwellings, households or workers for the shares that count those.
Housing stock
86 occupied private dwellings
- Separate house 97%
- Flat or apartment 0%
- Semi, terrace & other 3%
NSW: 65% separate houses · 22% flats & apartments
- Owned outright 51%
- Mortgaged 19%
- Rented 16%
- Other & not stated 14%
NSW: 31% owned outright · 33% mortgaged · 33% rented
ABS Census 2021 (CC BY 4.0). Withheld for very small populations — under 100 residents, or under 50 dwellings, households or workers for the shares that count those.
Socio-economic profile
IRSD
Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage
Score 1,070
Measures relative socio-economic disadvantage only; a higher score means less disadvantage.
Within AustraliaDecile 9 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 9 of 10
IER
Economic Resources
Score 1,077
Measures access to economic resources, including income, housing costs and assets.
Within AustraliaDecile 9 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 8 of 10
IEO
Education and Occupation
Score 1,019
Measures relative education and occupation characteristics.
Within AustraliaDecile 8 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 7 of 10
Scores are standardised across Australia to a mean of 1,000 and a standard deviation of 100. Deciles run from 1 (most disadvantaged) to 10 (least disadvantaged).
Source: ABS SEIFA 2021 (CC BY 4.0).
Terrain & hazard exposure
Median elevation
159 m
range 41–191 m
Land below 5 m
0%
0% below 2 m
Shares are the proportion of the suburb's land area. Land where Landsat saw water in at least 1% of clear passes since 1987, excluding permanent water and filtered by DEA's confidence layer. Satellites miss flood peaks, so this is a floor, not a risk estimate; dense high-rise cores can still register tower shadow as water. No flood map lodged in the NSW planning instruments for most of this suburb; most councils keep theirs in a development control plan. Designated for development control; a designation, not a prediction of fire behaviour. Elevation is orthometric height from a 30 m model; no hydrology or drainage is modelled.
Planning & zoning
Zoning mix (share of the suburb's land)
Show on map →- Rural92%
- Growth area, deferred or unzoned4.6%
- Conservation3.4%
In a heritage area
0%
conservation area / Heritage Overlay
Show on map →Listed heritage places
0
items in the LEP heritage schedule
Planning instrument: Ballina Local Environmental Plan 2012. Zones are grouped into ten families so states compare; the council's own scheme is the authority for any one lot. Listed-place counts follow each state's own list, so they do not compare across states. Source: NSW EPI Land Zoning; NSW EPI Heritage.
Culture & community
- Dominant religion
- No religion · 37%
- Top language at home
- Afrikaans · 1%
- No religion
- 37%
- Born overseas
- 14%
- English only at home
- 97%
Schools by sector
- Nearest secondary
- 6.4 km
School sector & type: ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority), School Location dataset.
Local council
- Council (LGA)
- Ballina
- Population
- 48,603 (2025) · +1.0% in a year
- Area / density
- 485 km² · 100/km²
- Council medians (2021)
- age 48 · $1,429/wk household income · $420/wk rent
- Council-wide house median (2023-24)
- $1.1M
- Federal grants
- $6.41M in 2025-26 · $132/resident
- Website
- ballina.nsw.gov.au
Council boundaries and the suburb split: ABS ASGS LGA 2024, allocated by 2021 mesh block and weighted by Census 2021 residents. Population: ABS Estimated Resident Population 2025. Medians: ABS Census 2021. House median: ABS Data by Region, established-house transfers across the whole council, financial year 2023-24. Federal grants: Financial Assistance Grants, Dept of Infrastructure. ABS and Dept of Infrastructure data CC BY 4.0; council website from Wikidata (CC0).
Representation
- Federal division
- Page
- Federal MP
- Kevin Hogan (NP)
- Two-party-preferred
- Coalition 59% 2PP
- State electorate
- Ballina
- State MP
- Tamara Smith (GRN)
Comparable suburbs
Closest by median house price across NSW.
Similar suburbs
Closest demographic & amenity profile, nationally.
Sources: ABS ASGS boundaries (CC BY 4.0); ABS Census 2021 (CC BY 4.0); New South Wales Valuer-General settled transfers (CC BY 4.0); Australian Electoral Commission (CC BY 4.0); Geoscience Australia 1 Second DEM-S (CC BY 4.0); DEA Water Observations Statistics, Geoscience Australia (CC BY 4.0); NSW Environmental Planning Instrument — Flood, NSW Department of Planning (CC BY 4.0); NSW Bush Fire Prone Land, NSW Rural Fire Service (CC BY 4.0); NSW Environmental Planning Instrument — Land Zoning, NSW Department of Planning (CC BY); NSW Environmental Planning Instrument — Heritage, NSW Department of Planning (CC BY); Wikipedia state-member tables (CC BY-SA 4.0). Not financial advice.