Cunnamulla

Schools in Cunnamulla iICSEA: school advantage index. 1000 = national avg, higher = more advantaged

Demographics

The median age is 40, matching the national figure exactly. However, the overseas-born share at 4.8% is 16.8 percentage points below national, reflecting Cunnamulla's inland remote location far from international migration hubs. Ancestry is predominantly Anglo-Celtic, led by English (381 residents), Irish (89) and Scottish (81). University qualifications at 16.9% sit 13.2 points below the national rate, consistent with a regional service economy where trades, care and administration roles are more common than professional occupations. Average household size is 2.3, marginally below the national average of 2.5. Couples with children (371 families) slightly outnumber couples without children (240), and the volunteering rate of 22.2% points to a community with strong local participation relative to its small size.

Tenure in Cunnamulla splits between outright owners (40.4%), renters (46.1%) and mortgage holders (13.5%), an unusual pattern where renters outnumber both other groups. Outright ownership at 40.4% is relatively high, indicating a core of long-term residents who purchased when prices were lower. Separate houses account for 89.8% of stock, well above the national average, and semi-detached dwellings make up 5.5%. Three-bedroom homes are the most common at 44.6%, with four-plus bedrooms at 19.2% and two-bedroom at 25.2%. At $176,000 median and $125 weekly rent, both figures sit far below Queensland state averages, making housing costs low in absolute terms. Mortgage-to-income at 16.9% and rent-to-income at 12.6% confirm that housing stress is not a feature of this market.

Community Profile

Economy & Employment

Healthcare is the largest employment sector at 25.4% of workers (69 people), followed by Public Administration at 19.5% (53) and Education at 15.4% (42), meaning roughly 60% of local jobs are government-funded or government-adjacent. Hospitality employs 6.6% and Retail 6.2%, reflecting the town's role as a service centre for surrounding properties. By occupation, Managers (75), Community and Personal Service workers (72) and Professionals (69) lead, consistent with the healthcare and administration emphasis. The unemployment rate of 6.3% is above the national average, and the participation rate of 48.9% is low, with 386 residents not in the labour force. Personal weekly income of $591 places households at the 12.7th percentile nationally, underscoring how far below average earnings fall in this remote regional economy.

Transport to Work

Car dependence is high, with 80.2% of residents driving to work, consistent with a remote town where no public transport network exists. Walking and cycling account for 13.4% of commutes, notably high for a remote town, likely reflecting the compact, walkable scale of Cunnamulla's town centre relative to its vast 4,591 km2 statistical area. No schools are recorded in the suburb brief dataset, so families depend on district-level facilities. The need-for-assistance rate at 6.2% (72 residents) is above the national average, consistent with an older and lower-income demographic. Rent-to-income at 12.6% and mortgage-to-income at 16.9% are both far below the 30% stress benchmark, making housing costs affordable compared to state averages. The volunteering rate of 22.2% indicates an active community relative to its 1,233 population.

National Ranking iPercentile rank among ~15,000 AU suburbs. 90% = higher than 90% of suburbs

How Cunnamulla compares to ~15,000 Australian suburbs

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