Mid North Coast, NSW
surfy · secluded · barefoot · bush-backed
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Drive to the coast
0 min
By road
Nearest major hospital
38 min
By road
Airport access
1h 30m
By road
Schools access
Good
Average daytime temp
22.8°C
Rainfall
Wet
Blueys Beach is less a town in the conventional sense than a tiny coastal community wrapped in bush and surf. The permanent population is only about 240, with a median age of 64, so even modest growth of roughly 19% since 2016 has not changed the basic scale.
The beach is immediate, headland views are part of the landscape and Seal Rocks is within the broader coastal playground, but almost every practical need sits outside the settlement itself. Shopping is basic, the nearest major hospital is around 40 minutes away and a car is essential.
Three-bedroom rents are around $640 a week and the housing median about $876,000, reflecting the value of direct coast access rather than local services. Holiday periods have an outsized effect because visitor numbers can quickly overwhelm such a small permanent population.
School access is workable in the wider area, but healthcare and everyday errands require more organisation than they would in a regional centre. Sydney is about 3 hours 30 minutes away and the airport around 1 hour 30 minutes. Blueys Beach suits people who actively want a small social world, ocean access and bush-backed privacy, and who are comfortable treating convenience as something they drive to rather than something the community provides.
8 photos
Surf and seclusion need to matter more than cafés, nightlife or urban convenience for Blueys Beach to work well. Retirees, families, active couples and people who work remotely can enjoy the very small coastal setting if driving for services feels reasonable. Anyone wanting a busy town centre around them every day will probably find the place too limited.
The population is tiny, walkability is low and the nearest hospital is around 38 minutes away. Tourism is high relative to the size of the community, so holiday periods can have an outsized effect. People needing regular shops, work or services should expect to drive.
Surf or swim at Blueys Beach
Take in the headland and coastal views toward Seal Rocks
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Read the guideMedian house price
$876,000
21% below the NSW median
Median attached price (townhouse/apartment)
$655,000
Median weekly rent (3-bed house)
$640
≈ $2,773/month
Houses here typically sell from $760,000 to $1,075,000 (25th–75th percentile).
Attached properties typically sell from $530,000 to $777,000.
Sourced from NSW Department of Communities and Justice · January - March 2026 quarter
Healthcare access
Moderate
Shopping & everyday services
Moderate
Supermarket within 10km, limited other retail
Internet connection
Fixed line
Job market by industry
Healthcare — 15.7%
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 Nambucca Heads, Old Bar, Port Macquarie, Seal Rocks, South West Rocks, Taree, Laurieton and Forster-Tuncurry.
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.
Blueys Beach (SAL 10419) · 2021 Census
Older than the country as a whole: 52.5% are 65 or over against 17.2% nationally, and 8.7% are children against 18.2%. Among households, couples without children outnumber couples with them (70.8% of families against 26.2%), and home ownership is high at 79.8% of dwellings against 65.9% nationally. Lone-person households are more common than average (35.6% against 25.6%).
Population
242
Population growth
+19.2%
Forster-Tuncurry Surrounds (SA2 108011153)
Median age
64 years
Labour force participation
45.3%
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
$2,125
Per week
Median household income
$1,275
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
79.8%
Rented
14.4%
Born in Australia
77.7%
Born overseas
14.9%
Doesn't sum to 100% — people who didn't state a birthplace are excluded rather than redistributed.