ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Driver is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Darwin, Australia, with a population of approximately 2,747, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 14 km from the Darwin CBD, Driver is a middle ring area in Northern Territory. The median household income is $103,168 per year.
Driver benefits from a high-income resident base, supporting premium property pricing. Its proximity to the CBD adds a strong location premium.
Official Australia Post postcode for Driver. 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 Driver 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.
2,747 residents places Driver squarely in the middle of the Northern Territory suburb size distribution (state median 3,057), with market depth comparable to most NT localities. Household income of $103,168/year is 9% below the Northern Territory median of $113,308, typically translating into lower entry prices and a tenant base more sensitive to rent increases. Rent of $350/week (78% coverage of the $1,950/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $433/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. 14 km from Darwin places Driver in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs.
Middle-ring locations like this one historically reward patient holders — focus on homes near catchment-zone schools and major transport. Local rents consume roughly 18% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Driver stacks up against the median of all Northern Territory suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Driver sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Driver | NT median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 2,747 | 3,057 | -10% |
| Median household income | $103,168/yr | $113,308/yr | -9% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $350 | $360 | -3% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $1,950 | $1,950 | 0% |
| Distance to CBD | 14 km | 15 km | -7% |
| Separate houses | 59% | 68% | -9pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Driver — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 2,747 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Northern Territory market over full cycles.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $350/week covers 78% of a $1,950/month mortgage, leaving a $433/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
With 59% houses in a 2,747-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 Driver property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Driver are modest for 2026 — incomes 9% below the NT median of $113,308 and a population of 2,747 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~78% of the typical mortgage ($1,517/month rent vs $1,950/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 66/100 places Driver in the upper-middle tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is balanced heading into the second half of 2026.
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Driver scores 66/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 2,747, median household income of $103,168/year and median weekly rent of $350. 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 Driver are proximity to Darwin (14 km), a median household income of $103,168/year, a dwelling mix that is 59% 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.
Driver has a usual resident population of approximately 2,747, compared with a Northern Territory suburb median of 3,057 — 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.
Driver sits 14 km straight-line from the Darwin CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $350 in Driver, equating to approximately $18,200/year in gross rental income (state median $360/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 Driver is $1,950, or approximately $23,400/year (vs $1,950/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 $350 works out to $1,517/month, covering 78% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,950/month. That leaves a $433/month shortfall (around $5,196/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 (2,747 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,950 median mortgage, the broader Northern 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.