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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Hughes is an inner-city suburb of Canberra, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,210, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 6 km from the Canberra CBD, Hughes is a inner city area in Australian Capital Territory. The median household income is $145,444 per year.
Strong household incomes in Hughes underpin solid property demand. Its proximity to the CBD adds a strong location premium.
Official Australia Post postcode for Hughes. 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 Hughes 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.
3,210 residents places Hughes squarely in the middle of the Australian Capital Territory suburb size distribution (state median 3,808), with market depth comparable to most ACT localities. Median household income of $145,444/year runs 17% above the Australian Capital Territory suburb median of $123,916, indicating strong purchasing power and the type of demographic profile that tends to sustain premium property prices through market cycles. Median rent of $400/week (~$1,733/month) covers only 64% of the median mortgage of $2,700/month — the remaining $967/month must be funded from other income, so this suburb tilts toward capital growth rather than yield. At 6 km from the Canberra CBD, Hughes sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks.
Inner-city investors should model strata costs and rate rises carefully, since gross yields here are often compressed by higher entry prices. Local rents consume roughly 14% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Hughes stacks up against the median of all Australian Capital Territory suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Hughes sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Hughes | ACT median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,210 | 3,808 | -16% |
| Median household income | $145,444/yr | $123,916/yr | +17% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $400 | $450 | -11% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,700 | $2,144 | +26% |
| Distance to CBD | 6 km | 10 km | -40% |
| Separate houses | 68% | 71% | -3pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Hughes — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 17% above the Australian Capital Territory suburb median ($145,444 vs $123,916), and the 6 km CBD distance keeps this suburb in the primary demand zone. In Australian Capital Territory, suburbs with this profile have historically clustered in the upper tercile of 10-year capital growth.
Weak cash flow: $400/week rent covers only 64% of the $2,700/month median mortgage — a $967/month gap that must be funded from other income. This suburb is a capital-growth play, not a yield play.
With 68% houses in a 3,210-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Run the numbers on a Hughes property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Hughes enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 17% above the Australian Capital Territory suburb median of $123,916 and a population of 3,210 give it the depth and purchasing power to outperform the wider ACT market over the next 12–18 months. Rental coverage runs at ~64% of the typical mortgage ($1,733/month rent vs $2,700/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 74/100 places Hughes in the upper-middle tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is constructive heading into the second half of 2026.
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Hughes scores 74/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 3,210, median household income of $145,444/year and median weekly rent of $400. 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 Hughes are proximity to Canberra (6 km), an above-state-median household income of $145,444/year, a dwelling mix that is 68% 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.
Hughes has a usual resident population of approximately 3,210, 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.
Hughes sits 6 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 $400 in Hughes, equating to approximately $20,800/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 Hughes is $2,700, or approximately $32,400/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 $400 works out to $1,733/month, covering 64% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,700/month. That leaves a $967/month shortfall (around $11,604/year before tax benefits), so a typical owner-occupier-priced property here is negatively geared. 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 (3,210 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,700 median mortgage, 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.