ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Cottonvale is a regional centre in New South Wales, Australia, with a population of approximately 20, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 599 km from the Sydney CBD, Cottonvale is a regional area in New South Wales. The median household income is $44,200 per year.
Household earnings in Cottonvale are below the state average, which may affect long-term capital growth. Distance from major centres is a consideration, though regional markets can offer higher rental yields.
Official Australia Post postcode for Cottonvale. 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 Cottonvale 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.
Cottonvale is a smaller community of 20 — about 0% of the New South Wales suburb median (5,325) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Cottonvale's median household income of $44,200/year is 55% below the New South Wales suburb median ($97,552) — this is an affordability play where returns lean on yield and patient capital growth rather than demographic premium. Cottonvale is 599 km from Sydney, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand.
How Cottonvale stacks up against the median of all New South Wales suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Cottonvale sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Cottonvale | NSW median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 20 | 5,325 | -100% |
| Median household income | $44,200/yr | $97,552/yr | -55% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $693 | $2,167 | -68% |
| Distance to CBD | 599 km | 45 km | +1231% |
| Separate houses | 84% | 76% | +8pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Cottonvale — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 20 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider New South Wales market over full cycles.
Median rental data was not captured for Cottonvale. Use current realestate.com.au and Domain listings to triangulate a realistic weekly rent before committing, then feed that number into our rental yield calculator.
With 84% houses in a 20-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 Cottonvale property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Cottonvale are modest for 2026 — incomes 55% below the NSW median of $97,552 and a population of 20 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental fundamentals will need to be verified against live listings, as a clean median rent was not recorded for Cottonvale. The EquitySight investment score of 27/100 places Cottonvale in the lower tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is cautious heading into the second half of 2026.
Lived in Cottonvale? Help other investors with an honest 100-word review. Sign-in required; all reviews are manually moderated before they appear.
Cottonvale scores 27/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a weak rating. That score is driven by a population of 20, median household income of $44,200/year. 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 Cottonvale are a median household income of $44,200/year, a dwelling mix that is 84% 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.
Cottonvale has a usual resident population of approximately 20, compared with a New South Wales suburb median of 5,325 — 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.
Cottonvale sits 599 km straight-line from the Sydney CBD. This is a regional market where CBD distance is only indicative — local industry diversity and commute alternatives matter more.
A reliable median rent was not captured for Cottonvale. Benchmark expected weekly rent on realestate.com.au and Domain, or the state rental tribunal's rent dashboard. Most Australian investors target a 4–5% gross yield as a baseline.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Cottonvale is $693, or approximately $8,316/year (vs $2,167/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.
Census data was not complete enough in Cottonvale to compute a clean rent-to-mortgage coverage. Use current listings to benchmark weekly rent, then plug your expected purchase price into our rental yield calculator to see whether the investment runs cash-flow positive or negative.
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (20 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $693 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($44,200 vs $97,552 state median), the broader New South Wales 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.