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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Nightcliff is an inner-city suburb of Darwin, Australia, with a population of approximately 3,884, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 9 km from the Darwin CBD, Nightcliff is a inner city area in Northern Territory. The median household income is $106,652 per year.
Above-average earnings in Nightcliff support sustained property values. The short commute to the city centre is a key demand driver.
Official Australia Post postcode for Nightcliff. 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 Nightcliff on My School →Estimated 2 parks 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.
Nightcliff's population of 3,884 sits 27% above the Northern Territory suburb median of 3,057, giving it a wider tenant and buyer catchment than the average NT locality. Household income of $106,652/year is 6% 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 (77% coverage of the $1,972/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $455/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. At 9 km from the Darwin CBD, Nightcliff sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 32% 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.
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 17% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Nightcliff stacks up against the median of all Northern Territory suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Nightcliff sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Nightcliff | NT median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,884 | 3,057 | +27% |
| Median household income | $106,652/yr | $113,308/yr | -6% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $350 | $360 | -3% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $1,972 | $1,950 | +1% |
| Distance to CBD | 9 km | 15 km | -40% |
| Separate houses | 32% | 68% | -36pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Nightcliff — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Nightcliff's 3,884-person market and $106,652 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $350/week covers 77% of a $1,972/month mortgage, leaving a $455/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 32% 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 Nightcliff property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Nightcliff are modest for 2026 — incomes 6% below the NT median of $113,308 and a population of 3,884 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~77% of the typical mortgage ($1,517/month rent vs $1,972/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 78/100 places Nightcliff 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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Nightcliff scores 78/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 3,884, median household income of $106,652/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 Nightcliff are proximity to Darwin (9 km), a median household income of $106,652/year, a dwelling mix that is 32% separate houses, roughly 1 schools and 2 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.
Nightcliff has a usual resident population of approximately 3,884, compared with a Northern Territory suburb median of 3,057 — placing it in the upper 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.
Nightcliff sits 9 km straight-line from the Darwin CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Darwin employment nodes.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $350 in Nightcliff, 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 Nightcliff is $1,972, or approximately $23,664/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 77% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,972/month. That leaves a $455/month shortfall (around $5,460/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 (3,884 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,972 median mortgage, a unit-heavy dwelling mix (32% houses) where body-corporate costs and apartment supply affect resale, 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.