Ulverstone

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

Demographics

Ulverstone is an older, settled, Anglo-leaning town. The median age of 49 runs 9.0 years above national, and the trajectory keeps aging, with the senior share up 6.9 points and the young share down 4.4 points over the decade. Only 9.4% of residents were born overseas, 12.2 points below the national figure, and ancestry is led by English (3,107), Irish (624) and Scottish (618). University qualifications reach 20.3%, which is 9.8 points below national, consistent with a workforce built on healthcare, trades and manufacturing rather than office professions. Average household size is 2.1, which is 0.4 below national, reflecting the high share of older couples: 35.1% of families are couples with no children, slightly more than the 1,588 couples with children. Christianity dominates religious affiliation at 2,883 residents, well ahead of any other faith.

Tenure tilts heavily toward outright ownership: 44.7% own their home debt-free, 27.9% carry a mortgage and 27.4% rent. Outright owners outnumbering mortgage holders points to long-settled, older residents rather than a churn of recent buyers, which fits the median age of 49. The stock is 85.1% separate houses and just 0.8% apartments, so density is low and detached living is near-universal. Three-bedroom homes lead at 54.1%, with four-plus-bedroom at 17.5%. The median house price climbed from $514,000 in 2024 to $650,000 in 2026, a 26.5% rise, and over the full 30-year record the median has grown at a 7.0% compound annual rate from $85,000 in 1996. Both pressure gauges stay below stress: mortgage-to-income at 25.1% and rent-to-income at 24.7% are each under the 30% threshold, which is why ownership remains broad despite incomes in the 13.1st percentile.

Community Profile

Economy & Employment

The local economy leans on care and trades rather than knowledge work. Healthcare is the largest industry at 22.4% of workers (366 people), followed by Education at 13.0% (212), Construction at 9.7% (159), Manufacturing at 8.4% (137) and Retail at 7.0% (114). By occupation, Community and Personal Service workers (412) and Professionals (390) lead, with Labourers (361) close behind, a mix that matches the decile 1 IEO score for education and occupation. Unemployment sits at 6.2% and the full-time rate is 57.2%, but participation is only 46.0% because the aging profile leaves 2,569 residents not in the labour force. The IER economic-resources score reads decile 2, and IRSAD decile 2, both well below average, yet real incomes still grew 5.5% over the decade, slow but positive growth that has not kept pace with the 40.4% rise in rents.

Transport to Work

Ulverstone is car-dependent and quiet. Some 88.7% of residents drive to work while just 0.4% use public transport and 5.3% walk or cycle, far below the public-transport use of larger cities, which reflects a low density of 398.8 people per square kilometre across 16.68 square kilometres. Volunteering is strong at 20.2%, above the rate seen in many urban suburbs, and 8.4% of residents (531 people) need daily assistance, higher than average and consistent with the median age of 49. The town scores decile 2 on IRSAD and decile 2 on IRSD for relative disadvantage, both below the national midpoint, so it is a lower-advantage area in statistical terms even though housing stress stays low. No schools are recorded inside the boundary in this dataset, so families rely on schools in the surrounding district, a practical trade-off in a dispersed coastal town.

Population Forecast

Ulverstone is a slow-growth, established town. The forecast annual growth rate is 0.48%, roughly 22 residents a year, and the population has risen 4.2% over the past decade, modest expansion driven by trend continuation rather than any boom. Medium projections lift the population gradually toward 4,757 by 2031 in the forecast SA2 fragment. Migration is balanced and small, with net overseas inflow of 9 and net internal inflow of 47 a year, so neither overseas nor interstate movement is a strong engine. The trajectory is firmly aging, the senior share up 6.9 points against a 3.7-point fall in the working-age share, which caps natural growth because fewer residents are of family-forming age. Affordability has worsened from 41.0% in 2011 to 44.4% in 2021, and the gentrification reading shows only early signs with a low score, so rapid change is unlikely.

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

How Ulverstone compares to ~15,000 Australian suburbs

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