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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Johnston is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Darwin, Australia, with a population of approximately 2,386, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 18 km from the Darwin CBD, Johnston is a middle ring area in Northern Territory. The median household income is $117,208 per year.
Johnston benefits from a high-income resident base, supporting premium property pricing.
Official Australia Post postcode for Johnston. 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 Johnston 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.
Johnston is a smaller community of 2,386 — about 78% of the Northern Territory suburb median (3,057) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. At $117,208/year, household income in Johnston is within 3% of the Northern Territory median ($113,308), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. Median rent of $370/week (~$1,603/month) covers only 67% of the median mortgage of $2,400/month — the remaining $797/month must be funded from other income, so this suburb tilts toward capital growth rather than yield. 18 km from Darwin places Johnston in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs. Only 52% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 68% state median), so this is a unit-heavy market where body-corporate decisions and strata supply meaningfully shape investor returns.
This suburb suits long-term investors looking for a balance of rental yield and capital growth. Schools and transport underpin family demand. Local rents consume roughly 16% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Johnston stacks up against the median of all Northern Territory suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Johnston sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Johnston | NT median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 2,386 | 3,057 | -22% |
| Median household income | $117,208/yr | $113,308/yr | +3% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $370 | $360 | +3% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,400 | $1,950 | +23% |
| Distance to CBD | 18 km | 15 km | +20% |
| Separate houses | 52% | 68% | -16pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Johnston — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 2,386 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Northern Territory market over full cycles.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $370/week covers 67% of a $2,400/month mortgage, leaving a $797/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 52% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 68% NT 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 Johnston property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Johnston are modest for 2026 — incomes close to the NT median of $113,308 and a population of 2,386 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~67% of the typical mortgage ($1,603/month rent vs $2,400/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 67/100 places Johnston 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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Johnston scores 67/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 2,386, median household income of $117,208/year and median weekly rent of $370. 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 Johnston are proximity to Darwin (18 km), an above-state-median household income of $117,208/year, a dwelling mix that is 52% 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.
Johnston has a usual resident population of approximately 2,386, 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.
Johnston sits 18 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 $370 in Johnston, equating to approximately $19,240/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 Johnston is $2,400, or approximately $28,800/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 $370 works out to $1,603/month, covering 67% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,400/month. That leaves a $797/month shortfall (around $9,564/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 (2,386 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,400 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.