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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Dickson is an inner-city suburb of Canberra, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,292, making it a boutique locality. Located 3 km from the Canberra CBD, Dickson is a inner city area in Australian Capital Territory. The median household income is $118,404 per year.
Strong household incomes in Dickson underpin solid property demand. Its proximity to the CBD adds a strong location premium.
Official Australia Post postcode for Dickson. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Weekly median rent for occupied homes. Live rental data integration coming soon.
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Estimated 1 school within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Dickson on My School →Estimated 1 park and green spaces near this suburb.
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
3,292 residents places Dickson squarely in the middle of the Australian Capital Territory suburb size distribution (state median 3,808), with market depth comparable to most ACT localities. At $118,404/year, household income in Dickson is within 4% of the Australian Capital Territory median ($123,916), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. Median weekly rent of $500 equates to $2,167/month — about 114% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,904/month — meaning rental income covers most of a typical owner's repayment and this is a genuine cash-flow suburb before tax benefits. At 3 km from the Canberra CBD, Dickson sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 27% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 71% state median), so this is a unit-heavy market where body-corporate decisions and strata supply meaningfully shape investor returns.
This suburb suits investors prioritising tenant demand over capital-cost efficiency. Rents are supported by proximity to amenities, but strata fees and entry prices can eat into yield. Local rents consume roughly 22% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Dickson stacks up against the median of all Australian Capital Territory suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Dickson sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Dickson | ACT median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,292 | 3,808 | -14% |
| Median household income | $118,404/yr | $123,916/yr | -4% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $500 | $450 | +11% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $1,904 | $2,144 | -11% |
| Distance to CBD | 3 km | 10 km | -70% |
| Separate houses | 27% | 71% | -44pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Dickson — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Dickson's 3,292-person market and $118,404 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Strong rental coverage: $500/week (~$2,167/month) covers 114% of the $1,904/month median mortgage repayment, so the shortfall sits at just $0/month. Investors targeting positive cash flow should shortlist this suburb.
Only 27% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 71% ACT median) — this is a unit and townhouse market, where cosmetic flips struggle against body-corporate restrictions, thinner after-reno uplift and competing new supply.
Run the numbers on a Dickson property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Dickson are modest for 2026 — incomes close to the ACT median of $123,916 and a population of 3,292 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~114% of the typical mortgage ($2,167/month rent vs $1,904/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 81/100 places Dickson in the top tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is constructive heading into the second half of 2026.
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Dickson scores 81/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a strong rating. That score is driven by a population of 3,292, median household income of $118,404/year and median weekly rent of $500. Whether it fits your portfolio depends on whether you are targeting cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — all three are scored with suburb-specific numbers elsewhere on this page.
The main demand drivers in Dickson are proximity to Canberra (3 km), a median household income of $118,404/year, a dwelling mix that is 27% separate houses, roughly 1 schools and 1 parks within the catchment. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand and are the factors we weight most heavily in the suburb's investment score.
Dickson has a usual resident population of approximately 3,292, compared with a Australian Capital Territory suburb median of 3,808 — placing it in the lower half of the state's suburbs by size. Population is the clearest proxy for market depth: more residents mean more transactions and typically a shorter average days-on-market on resale.
Dickson sits 3 km straight-line from the Canberra CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Canberra employment nodes.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $500 in Dickson, equating to approximately $26,000/year in gross rental income (state median $450/week). Market rents have typically drifted above the recorded figure — verify against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Dickson is $1,904, or approximately $22,848/year (vs $2,144/month state median). Stress-test your own borrowing at rates 1–2 percentage points above today's to make sure you can still service the loan through an RBA tightening cycle.
A median weekly rent of $500 works out to $2,167/month, covering 114% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,904/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $263/month, so on these numbers Dickson leans cash-flow-positive before accounting for strata, council rates, insurance and maintenance. Actual cash flow depends on your deposit, loan terms, ownership costs and marginal tax rate — run the full numbers in our rental yield calculator.
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (3,292 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,904 median mortgage, a unit-heavy dwelling mix (27% houses) where body-corporate costs and apartment supply affect resale, the broader Australian Capital Territory market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
Every number on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, Australia Post postcode reference data, and OpenStreetMap amenity tiles. The investment score, strategy verdicts, and comparison table are computed deterministically from those inputs — no opinion, no estimation. See our full methodology and the data sources and licences for the formulas we use.