South West, WA
jetty-town · geographe-bay · family · coastal
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Drive to the coast
5 min
By road
Nearest major hospital
7 min
By road
Airport access
10 min
By road
Schools access
Good
Average daytime temp
23.2°C
Rainfall
Dry
Around 27,000 people live in Busselton’s urban area, and recent growth of roughly 16% since 2016 shows continued demand. The median age is 45 and a quarter of residents are 65 or over, giving the community an older profile than many growth centres.
Getting to Perth means about 2 hours 30 minutes away by road, close enough for occasional trips while still making Busselton a regional base rather than a commuter extension of the capital. Flights are easier to reach than the road distance suggests, with the airport about ten minutes away and a major hospital around seven minutes away, two strong practical advantages for day-to-day life.
The daytime average works out at roughly 23°C, with mild summers and cool winters. Fixed-line service gives residents reliable connectivity for work and home use. The local scale means residents should still expect fewer choices than a large regional city, but the combination of airport and healthcare access reduces some of the usual compromises of smaller-town living.
Population growth indicates the area is not static, and continued demand can bring more pressure on local housing and infrastructure. Busselton suits people who want a south-west base with useful transport and medical access and who are comfortable treating Perth as an occasional destination rather than part of the normal working week.
18 photos
Busselton suits families, semi-retirees, professionals and remote workers who want a highly liveable coastal base with more services than the smaller Margaret River region towns. It is particularly attractive to people who want cycling, swimming and beach time built into daily life but still need schools, healthcare, shops and an airport connection close enough to make the move practical.
Growth and tourism mean it is no longer a sleepy coastal town, particularly in holiday periods. Housing demand can reflect the region’s popularity, and traffic around key visitor periods changes the feel of the place. If your priority is solitude or acreage, nearby hinterland towns are likely to fit better.
Walk the Busselton Jetty
Descend to the Underwater Observatory
Swim in Geographe Bay
Median house price
$990,000
No WA-wide median published
Median weekly rent (3-bed house)
$765
≈ $3,315/month
Sourced from REIWA (Real Estate Institute of Western Australia) · REIWA, 12 months ending August 2026
Healthcare access
Excellent
Shopping & everyday services
Good
4–9 shopping centres within 20km
Internet connection
Fixed line
Plus 3 more within 20km — showing the 8 closest.
Job market by industry
Trades — 12.3%
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 Dunsborough, Margaret River, Augusta and Bunbury.
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.
Busselton (UCL 512002) · 2021 Census
Older than the country as a whole: 25% are 65 or over against 17.2% nationally, and 18% are children against 18.2%.
Population
27,233
Population growth
+15.5%
Busselton - East (SA2 501011293)
Median age
45 years
Labour force participation
56.9%
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
$703
Per week · ≈ $36,556/year
Median family income
$1,723
Per week
Median household income
$1,347
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
69.9%
Rented
25.8%
Born in Australia
75.9%
Born overseas
19%
Doesn't sum to 100% — people who didn't state a birthplace are excluded rather than redistributed.