IRSAD
Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage
Score 932
Measures relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage.
Within AustraliaDecile 3 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 2 of 10
For state-level context, explore the New South Wales economy.
Housing
Freemans Waterhole
New South Wales · Census 2021
Median house price not tracked for this suburb
Freemans Waterhole is a leafy residential suburb of Lake Macquarie.
Household income
$619/wk2nd pctile
of 4,352 NSW suburbs
Amenity score
2/1005th pctile
of 2,112 rated NSW suburbs
Median house price
No Valuer-General median for Freemans Waterhole.
New South Wales's Valuer-General sales data is open, but we have no suburb median for Freemans Waterhole from it. ABS median established-house price, Greater Sydney: $1.5M; Rest of NSW: $825k.
How it compares
Household income / wk2nd percentile
<$564ABS Census 2021$3,833+
Household income / wk
NSW · AU
NSW median suburb $1,583 · AU median suburb $1,562Freemans Waterhole $619
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
120
Median age
39 yrs
Income / person / wk
$450
Household income / wk
$619
▼ 61% vs NSW
Median rent / wk
$220
Mortgage / month
$2,709
Who lives here
- Couples with children
- 19%
- −13 pts vs NSW
- Living alone
- 50%
- +25 pts vs NSW
- Unemployment
- 18%
- +13 pts vs NSW
- In the labour force
- 53%
- −6 pts vs NSW
- Bachelor degree or higher
- 9%
- −18 pts vs NSW
- Earning $1–$499 a week
- 42%
- +19 pts vs NSW
- Earning $2,000+ a week
- 13%
- −1 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
52 occupied private dwellings
- Separate house 52%
- Flat or apartment 0%
- Semi, terrace & other 48%
NSW: 65% separate houses · 22% flats & apartments
- Owned outright 10%
- Mortgaged 12%
- Rented 52%
- Other & not stated 27%
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 913
Measures relative socio-economic disadvantage only; a higher score means less disadvantage.
Within AustraliaDecile 2 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 1 of 10
IER
Economic Resources
Score 948
Measures access to economic resources, including income, housing costs and assets.
Within AustraliaDecile 2 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 2 of 10
IEO
Education and Occupation
Score 948
Measures relative education and occupation characteristics.
Within AustraliaDecile 4 of 10
Within New South WalesDecile 3 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
71 m
range 26–482 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 →- Rural55%
- Conservation42%
- Infrastructure & special purpose3.6%
In a heritage area
0%
conservation area / Heritage Overlay
Show on map →Listed heritage places
0
items in the LEP heritage schedule
Planning instruments: Lake Macquarie Local Environmental Plan 2014; Cessnock Local Environmental Plan 2011. 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.
Local amenities
Schools
0
Supermarkets
0
Pubs & bars
0
Parks
1
Libraries
0
GP clinics
0
Pharmacies
0
Hospitals
0
Nearest supermarket
9.9 km
Nearest train
5.3 km
Nearest hospital
14.1 km
Distance to coast
8.4 km
Amenity counts via © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) & Geoscience Australia HealthDirect (CC BY 4.0). Distance to coast derived from ABS state boundaries (CC BY 4.0).
Culture & community
- Dominant religion
- No religion · 39%
- Top language at home
- English only
- No religion
- 39%
- Born overseas
- 5%
- English only at home
- 100%
Schools by sector
- Nearest secondary
- 7.5 km
School sector & type: ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority), School Location dataset.
Local council
- Council (LGA)
- Lake Macquarie
- Population
- 224,540 (2025) · +1.1% in a year
- Area / density
- 649 km² · 346/km²
- Council medians (2021)
- age 42 · $1,623/wk household income · $375/wk rent
- Council-wide house median (2023-24)
- $880k
- Federal grants
- $21.21M in 2025-26 · $94/resident
- Website
- lakemac.com.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
- Hunter
- Federal MP
- Dan Repacholi (ALP)
- Two-party-preferred
- Labor 59% 2PP
- State electorate
- Lake Macquarie
- State MP
- Greg Piper (IND)
Similar suburbs
Closest demographic & amenity profile, nationally.
Sources: ABS ASGS boundaries (CC BY 4.0); ABS Census 2021 (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.