Falcon

Demographics

The median age of 50 is 10.0 years above the national figure, and the trajectory is aging: the senior share rose 8.3 points while the working-age share fell 3.2 points and the young share fell 3.7 points over the decade. Overseas-born residents reach 23.5%, which is 1.9 points above national, a modest international mix. Ancestry leans heavily Anglo-Celtic, led by English at 2,785, then Scottish at 608 and Irish at 556. University qualifications at 18.7% run 11.4 points below national, consistent with a trade and service workforce rather than a professional one. Average household size is 2.2, which is 0.3 below national, fitting the older couples-without-children profile that makes up 40.1% of the 4,056 families recorded here.

Tenure tilts toward outright ownership: 42.9% own their home outright, 33.7% carry a mortgage and 23.4% rent. Outright owners outnumbering mortgage holders points to long-held, debt-free wealth among older residents rather than a wave of new buyers. The stock is 94.7% separate houses with apartments almost nonexistent at 0.1%, so the market is effectively a detached-house market with little density choice. Three-bedroom homes account for 44.8% and four-plus bedroom homes 42.2%, a family-sized profile. The median house price of $394,000 stays affordable, yet mortgage-to-income at 31.1% still exceeds the stress threshold because incomes sit in the 25.5th percentile, while rent-to-income at 24.9% stays below the rent-stress line.

Community Profile

Economy & Employment

The local workforce concentrates in service and resource sectors rather than knowledge industries: Healthcare leads at 16.0% with 235 workers, Education follows at 13.8% with 203 and Mining at 12.6% with 185, then Construction at 11.6% and Manufacturing at 8.3%. By occupation, Professionals at 345 and Community/Personal workers at 296 lead, with Labourers at 229 and Machinery operators at 225 reflecting the mining and trade base. The IEO education and occupation index reads decile 3, below the IER economic-resources score of decile 6, a gap explained by a low-qualification workforce that still holds solid assets through high outright homeownership. Unemployment is 8.3% and participation only 47.2%, both shaped by the older profile that leaves 2,091 residents not in the labour force.

Transport to Work

Falcon is heavily car-dependent: 87.9% drive to work while only 4.0% use public transport and 2.3% walk or cycle, well above the national reliance on cars and typical of a low-density coastal suburb at 872.8 residents per km2. On disadvantage, the suburb scores decile 4 on both IRSAD and IRSD, below the national midpoint, indicating a moderately disadvantaged area rather than an affluent one. Volunteering runs at 14.5% and 6.4%, or 333 residents, need daily assistance, a higher rate that fits the older median age of 50. No schools are recorded inside the 6.34 km2 boundary in this dataset, so families rely on schools in neighbouring suburbs, a practical trade-off for the relaxed, detached-housing setting near the Mandurah coast.

Population Forecast

Falcon is an established suburb still growing at 2.23% a year, with the population up 30% over the past decade, a pace that sets it apart from flat metro markets. Net internal migration of 185 residents a year is the primary driver, ahead of overseas migration at 127, so the growth is fed by Australians relocating rather than new arrivals. The gentrification reading is Active with a score of 53, supported by a 44% population rise since 2011 and an accelerating renter share moving from 16% toward 25%. Affordability improved from 55.0% in 2011 to 49.5% in 2021, easing pressure even as demand rose. The aging trajectory continues, with the senior share up 8.3 points, so growth and an older median age of 50 coexist.

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

How Falcon compares to ~15,000 Australian suburbs

Frequently Asked Questions