Gascoyne, WA
fruit-bowl · prawning · space-history · remote
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Drive to the coast
8 min
By road
Nearest major hospital
1 min
By road
Airport access
4 min
By road
Schools access
Good
Average daytime temp
28.0°C
Rainfall
Very dry
Carnarvon is the service centre of the Gascoyne, a town of about 4,160 people at the mouth of the Gascoyne River. Its population has been essentially flat since 2016, down slightly by about 0.6%, and the median age is 40. Perth is a long way off at about 9 hours 30 minutes by road, but Carnarvon has its own airport minutes from the centre of town and its own hospital, unlike most of its Gascoyne neighbours.
Fixed-line NBN is available. The town supports itself on irrigated horticulture along the river — bananas, mangoes and vegetables grown on plantations that make it one of WA's main fruit and vegetable districts — alongside a working prawn and fishing fleet. Rainfall is very low and summers are hot.
Carnarvon suits people who want a genuine regional base with real services and its own economy, rather than a satellite of the tourist towns further along this coast, though it trades their reef and beach culture for a working town's more practical character.
6 photos
Photo credits: 4. minuseleven · CC BY 2.0; 5. squawkingalah · CC0 1.0; 6. squawkingalah · CC0 1.0
Carnarvon is a fit for growers, fishers and tradespeople who want an established regional industry rather than a lifestyle experiment, alongside families and retirees who want a genuine hospital, high school and supermarket without living in a city. It suits people happy to trade reef and beach culture, which its Gascoyne neighbours have, for a working town's steadier, more practical character.
Perth is about 9 hours 30 minutes by road, and while Carnarvon has its own hospital and airport, specialist care and flight choices are limited compared with a city. Rainfall is very low and summers are hot. The economy leans heavily on horticulture, fishing and government services rather than a broad job market, and the population has been flat rather than growing.
Walk the heritage One Mile Jetty
Browse the Saturday Growers Market for local produce
Visit the Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum
See the Blowholes north of town
Median house price
$400,000
No WA-wide median published
Median weekly rent (3-bed house)
$500
≈ $2,167/month
Sourced from REIWA (Real Estate Institute of Western Australia) · REIWA, 12 months ending August 2026
Healthcare access
Excellent
Shopping & everyday services
Moderate
Supermarket within 10km, limited other retail
Internet connection
Fixed line
Job market by industry
Trades — 14.6%
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 Geraldton, Kalbarri, Esperance, Hopetoun, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Exmouth, Denham and Coral Bay.
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.
Carnarvon (UCL 515006) · 2021 Census
The age profile is close to the national one, with 17% aged 65 or over against 17.2% and 18.9% children against 18.2%. Among households, couples without children outnumber couples with them (43% of families against 34.4%), and renting is well above the national rate, at 44.4% of dwellings against 30.6%. Lone-person households are more common than average (34.1% against 25.6%).
Population
4,162
Population growth
-0.6%
Carnarvon (SA2 511021276)
Median age
40 years
Labour force participation
52.2%
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
$771
Per week · ≈ $40,092/year
Median family income
$1,854
Per week
Median household income
$1,375
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
50.3%
Rented
44.4%
Born in Australia
66.2%
Born overseas
15%
Doesn't sum to 100% — people who didn't state a birthplace are excluded rather than redistributed.