Suburb overview
Bowen is a regional centre in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 11,205, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 958 km from the Brisbane CBD, Bowen is a regional area in Queensland. The median household income is $69,836 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4805
Postcode for Bowen, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →
Population
11,205
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$500/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
958 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,500/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
72% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Bowen
- Regional location about 958 km from Brisbane.
- Country-town feel with lower density and slower pace of life.
Who Bowen suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Mortgage costs are lower than the Queensland median, improving cash-flow margins.
- Lower purchase prices and more land for the money.
Cons
- Long distance to the CBD (958 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
With 11,205 residents, Bowen is one of Queensland's more populous suburbs — roughly 2.0× the state median of 5,474 — giving it a deep buyer and tenant pool that typically supports higher transaction volumes and shorter average days on market. Bowen's median household income of $69,836/year is 23% below the Queensland suburb median ($90,298) — this is an affordability play where returns lean on yield and patient capital growth rather than demographic premium. Median rent of $500/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $2,167/month — about 144% of the $1,500/month median mortgage repayment recorded at the 2021 Census. On those figures rental income covers most or all of the recorded repayment, but repayments on new loans have risen with interest rates since 2021, so re-run the coverage at today's rates before treating this as a cash-flow suburb. Bowen is 958 km from Brisbane, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand.
Investment tip
Regional property can deliver strong cash-flow yields but liquidity is tighter — plan for longer hold periods and verify local employment stability. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 20% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Bowen vs Queensland median
How Bowen stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Bowen sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Bowen | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 11,205 | 5,474 | +105% |
| Median household income | $69,836/yr | $90,298/yr | -23% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $270 | $385 | -30% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,500 | $1,733 | -13% |
| Distance to CBD | 958 km | 62 km | +1445% |
| Separate houses | 72% | 77% | -5pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Bowen — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 11,205 residents — 205% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $69,836/year (-23% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $270/week rent (≈ $1,170/month) covered ~78% of the $1,500/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 958 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 72% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 77% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$150/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,500/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 20% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 23% below the QLD median ($69,836 vs $90,298) means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Queensland market over full cycles.
Moderate rental coverage at the 2021 Census: rent of $270/week covered 78% of a $1,500/month mortgage, a $330/month gap bridged with equity, depreciation and tax benefits. Re-check with current rents and rates before committing.
With 72% houses in a 11,205-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Risk factors
- Interest-rate sensitivity: the $1,500/month median mortgage in Bowen means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $150/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Bowen are 23% below the Queensland median ($69,836 vs $90,298), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Commute distance: at 958 km from the nearest CBD, Bowen depends on local employment rather than city-driven commuter demand, which amplifies the market's sensitivity to regional industry slowdowns.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Bowen regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in Bowen with a 10–15% price pullback scenario before committing capital — returns to date are not a guarantee of future performance.
Run the numbers on a Bowen property
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Start your journey near Bowen →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Bowen are modest for 2026 — incomes 23% below the QLD median of $90,298 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~78% of the typical mortgage ($1,170/month rent vs $1,500/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Bowen is cautious heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Queensland median.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bowen a good suburb for investment?
Whether Bowen suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 11,205, a median household income of $69,836/year and median weekly rent of $270. Weigh those against your goal — cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — each of which we break down with suburb-specific ABS numbers elsewhere on this page.
What drives property demand in Bowen?
The main demand drivers in Bowen are a median household income of $69,836/year, a dwelling mix that is 72% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Bowen?
Bowen has a usual resident population of approximately 11,205, compared with a Queensland suburb median of 5,474 — 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.
How far is Bowen from the Brisbane CBD?
Bowen sits 958 km straight-line from the Brisbane CBD. This is a regional market where CBD distance is only indicative — local industry diversity and commute alternatives matter more.
What is the median rent in Bowen?
The median weekly rent in Bowen is $500 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $26,000/year in gross rental income. Confirm against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
What is the typical mortgage repayment in Bowen?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Bowen is $1,500, or approximately $18,000/year (vs $1,733/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.
Is Bowen cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $270 works out to $1,170/month, covering 78% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,500/month. That leaves a $330/month shortfall (around $3,960/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.
What are the main risks of investing in Bowen?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,500 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($69,836 vs $90,298 state median), the broader Queensland market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
How we built this Bowen profile
The population figure on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census. The postcode comes from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. The dwelling mix is from the ABS 2021 Census. The median household income is the ABS 2021 Census median weekly household income, annualised. Distance to the CBD is calculated from the suburb's ABS centroid. The Census median rent and mortgage figures are 2021 figures and are labelled as such wherever they appear — they are five years old and have moved substantially since. The current median weekly rent in Key indicators is a genuine recent figure from Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (Mar 2026), published under a Creative Commons licence and dated on the page. We do not publish an investment score or school/park counts for this suburb. See our methodology and data sources for exactly what's measured and what's estimated.