Mid West, WA
river-gorges · skywalk · coastal-cliffs · outdoorsy
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Drive to the coast
7 min
By road
Nearest major hospital
7 min
By road
Airport access
1h 55m
By road
Schools access
Moderate
Average daytime temp
28.1°C
Rainfall
Very dry
Kalbarri has a permanent population of about 1,500 and has been essentially flat since 2016, with a slight decline of around 0.2%. The median age is 53, so this is an established, older community rather than a rapidly expanding coastal growth centre. Perth is more than six hours away by road, making local self-sufficiency important.
Healthcare is comparatively close, with a major hospital only about seven minutes away, but the airport is almost two hours away, so healthcare is relatively close while air travel is not. The yearly daytime mean comes to about 28°C, with very hot summers, mild winters and very low rainfall.
Home internet is listed as satellite rather than fixed line, which is a meaningful consideration for people who rely on heavy online work or streaming. The lack of population growth is useful context for a prospective mover: Kalbarri is not currently experiencing the same demographic pressure as many fast-growing WA coastal towns.
The trade-off is remoteness and a small service base. Living here means treating long-distance travel as a planned event and accepting limited local choice. It suits people who are comfortable with heat, distance and a small community, and who do not require frequent access to Perth or high-capacity fixed-line connectivity.
15 photos
Kalbarri is for outdoors-first movers: surfers, fishers, hikers, tourism workers, retirees and remote professionals who want both ocean and national park on their doorstep. It suits people who can accept a small, tourism-shaped economy in return for an unusually strong mix of river, coastal cliffs, beaches and gorge country.
The town is more than six hours from Perth and uses satellite internet, which can complicate remote work. Tourism affects business activity and visitor numbers, while the permanent employment base is narrow. Hot summers and distance from a major airport also need to be treated as normal parts of life, not occasional inconveniences.
Walk out over Kalbarri Skywalk
Hike to Nature's Window
Paddle the Murchison River
Watch sunset from Red Bluff
Median house price
$680,000
No WA-wide median published
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
Satellite
Outside both the fixed line and fixed wireless NBN footprints — Starlink and other satellite services still reach almost anywhere, but the built NBN infrastructure here is satellite-only.
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, Esperance, Hopetoun, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Exmouth, Denham, Coral Bay and Carnarvon.
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.
Kalbarri (SAL 50709) · 2021 Census
Older than the country as a whole: 27.8% are 65 or over against 17.2% nationally, and 12.6% are children against 18.2%. Among households, couples without children outnumber couples with them (60.9% of families against 27.7%). Lone-person households are more common than average (31.6% against 25.6%).
Population
1,478
Population growth
-0.2%
Northampton - Mullewa - Greenough (SA2 511041292)
Median age
53 years
Labour force participation
50.2%
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
$640
Per week · ≈ $33,280/year
Median family income
$1,427
Per week
Median household income
$1,122
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
67%
Rented
26.9%
Born in Australia
69.2%
Born overseas
16.6%
Doesn't sum to 100% — people who didn't state a birthplace are excluded rather than redistributed.