New Norfolk

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

Demographics

New Norfolk's median age of 40 matches the national figure exactly, but the population is aging at the margin: the senior share rose 3.0 points while the young share fell 1.5 points over the decade. The profile is strongly Anglo and locally rooted. English ancestry leads at 2,860 residents, followed by Irish (534) and Scottish (445), and just 7.8% were born overseas, which is 13.8 points below national. University qualifications reach only 15.2%, fully 14.9 points below the national rate, consistent with a workforce built around trades and care work. Average household size is 2.4, close to national, and couples with children (1,519 families) outnumber couples without (1,316), reflecting a family-oriented rather than transient population.

Tenure is evenly split: 36.4% carry a mortgage, 31.7% own outright and 31.9% rent, a balance typical of an affordable regional town rather than a wealth-holding enclave. The stock is overwhelmingly detached at 91.2%, with apartments a negligible 2.8%, and three-bedroom homes account for 59.4% of dwellings. The median house price climbed from $485,000 in 2024 to $480,000 in 2025 and then to $540,000, a 12.5% one-year move that outpaced the 7.0% thirty-year CAGR. Against a $1,112 weekly household income, that median represents roughly 9.3 times annual income, high for the area. Yet both stress ratios stay manageable, mortgage-to-income at 23.4% and rent-to-income at 26.1%, because absolute repayments remain low.

Community Profile

Economy & Employment

The local economy leans on care and trades rather than knowledge work. Healthcare is the dominant employer at 24.8% of workers (308 jobs), reflecting the large hospital and aged-care presence, followed by Construction at 12.9% (161) and Education at 8.9% (111). By occupation, Community and Personal Service workers (394) and Labourers (342) lead, which aligns with the decile 1 IEO score for education and occupation. The labour market is soft: unemployment runs at 8.9%, well above national, and participation is just 48.5%, dragged down by 2,027 residents not in the labour force. The economic resources index reads slightly better at decile 2 than the decile 1 advantage score, because affordable, owned housing lifts household resources relative to income.

Transport to Work

Daily life here is car-dependent: 87.5% of commuters drive, far above national, while public transport carries just 2.7% and 3.2% walk or cycle, a function of the 14.81 km2 spread at only 407.7 residents per km2. The trade-off is space and affordability over convenience. The suburb sits in decile 1 on IRSAD, the most disadvantaged tier nationally, and 10.3% of residents (578 people) need daily assistance, above what the median age of 40 alone would suggest, pointing to the local care-sector concentration. Volunteering runs at 12.4% and 80.1% of residents stayed put over the period, a turnover rate of just 19.9%, signs of a settled population. Detailed crime data is not available for the suburb in this dataset.

Population Forecast

New Norfolk is classified as established but growing modestly, with annual population growth of 1.1%, or about 85 people a year, and a 15.1% rise over the past decade. That 10-year change runs higher than the suburb's own early-2010s pace, accelerating from 3% to 16% as net internal migration of 60 residents a year, plus 12 from overseas, drew mainland and Hobart buyers seeking affordability. The gentrification stage reads early signs, scoring 29, below the threshold for active gentrification. Rent grew 45.0% over the period and real incomes rose 18.0%, both signs of upward pressure, though affordability held stable at 48.3% across 2011 to 2021, so the area has not yet repriced beyond local reach.

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

How New Norfolk compares to ~15,000 Australian suburbs

Frequently Asked Questions