Central Desert
4,170 residents (ABS estimated resident population, 30 June 2025) across 281,338 km², 16 suburbs. Council website: centraldesert.nt.gov.au.
Council series run to July 2026.
Population
4,170
ABS estimated resident population, 30 June 2025 · +0.4% in a year
Density
<0.1/km²
281,338 km² · ERP 2025 over the ABS 2024 boundary
Federal grants per resident
$664
Financial Assistance Grant 2025-26 over ERP 2025
Dwelling approvals
6.2 per 1,000
Residents, 12 months to July 2026 (ABS Building Approvals)
Advantage decile
1 of 10
SEIFA 2021 IRSAD, national (10 = most advantaged)
Suburbs
16
Where it holds most residents (ABS mesh-block allocation)
Trends
Council-level series. Each chart names its source and period.
People and housing
Council-wide figures from the ABS Census of 2021 and SEIFA 2021 (national deciles, 10 = most advantaged).
- Median age
- 28
- Median household income
- $1,122/week
- Median rent
- $75/week
- Median mortgage repayment
- $498/month
- Households renting
- 71.9%
- Average household
- 4.1 people
- Advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD)
- decile 1 of 10
- Disadvantage (IRSD)
- decile 1 of 10
Suburbs
16 suburbs where Central Desert holds most residents. Population is Census 2021 for the whole suburb. A median here is the suburb’s own Valuer-General median — suburbs without one are blank, never filled with the council figure.
Hazards
Share of each member suburb's land inside the mapped layer, averaged across the council weighted by the residents each suburb contributes. Only suburbs a source covers count; the rest are left out, not counted as zero.
Representation
Federal electorates and state districts covering the council, by share of the residents its suburbs contribute (each suburb counts once, for the seat containing a representative interior point).
Federal electorates
- Lingiari · Marion SCRYMGOUR (ALP)100%
State districts
- Gwoja · Chansey Paech (ALP)66%
- Namatjira · Bill Yan (CLP)18%
- Barkly · Steve Edgington (CLP)16%
Neighbouring councils
Councils whose suburbs share a boundary with this one's, councils it splits a suburb with, and councils across the state or territory border whose boundaries meet it.
Across the border
Compare it with every Northern Territory council on the council map or the Northern Territory council list.
Boundaries: ABS ASGS Edition 3, LGA 2024 boundaries; suburbs allocated by 2021 mesh block, weighted by Census 2021 residents. Population: ABS estimated resident population 2025. Census 2021 and SEIFA 2021: ABS. Approvals: ABS Building Approvals. Grants: Financial Assistance Grants, Dept of Infrastructure. Observed water: Geoscience Australia DEA Water Observations. Website and identity: Wikidata (CC0). ABS, Dept of Infrastructure and state government data CC BY 4.0. Council facts loaded 2026-09-24.