Atherton Tablelands, QLD
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Drive to the coast
1h 10m
By road
Nearest major hospital
3 min
By road
Airport access
1h 33m
By road
Schools access
Good
Average daytime temp
25.9°C
Rainfall
Wet
Atherton is the main service town of the Atherton Tablelands, and it works like one: the hospital, high schools, supermarkets and most of the region's services are here, surrounded by farmland. Around 7,700 people live in the town and the wider area has grown by about 14% since 2016. The median age is 46.
Houses have a median of about $600,000, roughly 65% of the Queensland median, and three-bedroom houses rent for around $480 a week. Fourteen schools sit within 20km, six of them with secondary years, and Atherton Hospital is about 3 minutes from the centre. Summer days average about 28.5C, winter nights are cool and rainfall is about 1,500mm a year.
Cairns Airport is around 1 hour 35 minutes away and Brisbane more than 20 hours by road. The Hou Wang Temple, the Crystal Caves and Lake Tinaroo give the town some character beyond its role as a regional centre. Atherton suits people who want a practical, affordable Tablelands base with services close by. Anyone who wants a smaller, more distinctive village will find Yungaburra or Herberton more appealing.
13 photos
Families, health and education workers, tradespeople, farmers and retirees who want a practical base with a hospital, secondary schools and full shopping close by are the clearest fit. It is also a realistic choice for buyers who find Cairns too expensive but want to stay in the region, provided they are comfortable with the airport being around 1 hour 35 minutes away.
Atherton is a working town rather than a scenic one, and dining is modest compared with Yungaburra. Brisbane is more than 20 hours by road and Cairns Airport is around 1 hour 35 minutes away. Rainfall is about 1,500mm a year and the wet season is heavy. The job market figures describe the Cairns region as a whole, with health, trades and professional services the biggest employers, so town-level opportunities can differ from the regional picture.
Visit the Hou Wang Chinese Temple
Explore the Crystal Caves
Drive to Lake Tinaroo
Median house price
$599,750
35% below the QLD median
Median attached price (townhouse/apartment)
$467,500
Median weekly rent (3-bed house)
$480
≈ $2,080/month
Sourced from Queensland Government Statistician's Office · 12 months ending 31 March 2026
Healthcare access
Excellent
Shopping & everyday services
Moderate
Supermarket within 10km, limited other retail
Internet connection
Fixed line
Plus 6 more within 20km — showing the 8 closest.
Job market by industry
Healthcare — 16%
Largest share of local jobs
Employment figures cover this town's wider statistical region, not the town alone — you'll see the same figures for Cairns, Cape Tribulation, Mission Beach, Palm Cove, Port Douglas, Herberton, Kuranda and Yungaburra.
The score ranks this region against other regions for the same occupation, not against other jobs here — a low score means it isn't a regional stronghold for that field, not that there are no vacancies. Counts online job advertisements, so trades and farm work hired by word of mouth are undercounted, and outside capital cities this is published at a regional level larger than one town.
Atherton (SAL 30096) · 2021 Census
Older than the country as a whole: 27.1% are 65 or over against 17.2% nationally, and 16.9% are children against 18.2%. Among households, couples without children outnumber couples with them (46.2% of families against 30.3%). Lone-person households are more common than average (34.5% against 25.6%).
Population
7,724
Population growth
+14%
Atherton (SA2 306051166)
Median age
46 years
Labour force participation
50.5%
Growth is measured across the wider area named under the figure, which can be a different size to the town.
Share of total population in each band — rounding means these won't land on exactly 100%.
Couples are a share of total families; lone-person households are a share of total households — different bases, not one breakdown.
Median personal income
$641
Per week · ≈ $33,332/year
Median family income
$1,490
Per week
Median household income
$1,099
Per week
Personal is one person's income; family and household cover everyone living together — a single-income household will show a lower household figure than its highest earner's personal one. Personal income also covers every resident aged 15 and over, retirees included, so it reads low in a town with an older population even where household income is solid.
Owner-occupied
59%
Rented
36.9%
Born in Australia
76.6%
Born overseas
13.6%
Doesn't sum to 100% — people who didn't state a birthplace are excluded rather than redistributed.