Suburb overview
Smithfield is an outer-metropolitan suburb of Adelaide, Australia, with a population of approximately 2,482, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 28 km from the Adelaide CBD, Smithfield is a outer metro area in South Australia. The median household income is $54,548 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
5114
Postcode for Smithfield, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
2,482
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$500/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
28 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Sale prices & yield
Median house price
$645,000
Median house sale price — as at Q1 2026, Valuer-General (SA) (CC BY 4.0). Figure covers suburb (metro Adelaide).
Indicative gross yield
4%
Estimated as current median rent × 52 ÷ current median house price. A guide only — not a guaranteed return; excludes costs, vacancy and buying expenses.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,100/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
75% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in Smithfield
- Outer-metro setting about 28 km from Adelaide — more space, quieter streets.
- Predominantly separate houses (75%) — suburban lifestyle with more land.
- Newer estates with modern homes and family-sized blocks.
Who Smithfield suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Mortgage costs are lower than the South Australia median, improving cash-flow margins.
- Affordable entry point compared with inner-city suburbs.
Cons
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
- Prices may rise further as demand continues.
Investment insight
Smithfield is a smaller community of 2,482 — about 67% of the South Australia suburb median (3,699) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Smithfield's median household income of $54,548/year is 33% below the South Australia suburb median ($80,964) — 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 Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)) equates to roughly $2,167/month — about 197% of the $1,100/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. At 28 km from Adelaide, Smithfield is an outer-metro location where buyers are typically trading commute time for floor space and a lower entry price.
Investment tip
This suburb suits long-term investors due to steady population growth and affordable entry prices. Look for established streets close to schools and shops rather than raw new-estate land. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 25% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
Smithfield vs South Australia median
How Smithfield stacks up against the median of all South Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Smithfield sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Smithfield | SA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 2,482 | 3,699 | -33% |
| Median household income | $54,548/yr | $80,964/yr | -33% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $260 | $320 | -19% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,100 | $1,616 | -32% |
| Distance to CBD | 28 km | 13 km | +115% |
| Separate houses | 75% | 73% | +2pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for Smithfield — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 2,482 residents — 67% of the SA suburb median (3,699).
- Purchasing power: median household income $54,548/year (-33% vs South Australia suburb median of $80,964).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $260/week rent (≈ $1,127/month) covered ~102% of the $1,100/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 28 km straight-line from Adelaide (state suburb median 13 km).
- Dwelling mix: 75% separate houses — house-dominant market (vs 73% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$110/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,100/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 25% of the median household income is spent on rent — within normal range.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 2,482 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider South Australia market over full cycles.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $260/week (~$1,127/month) covered 102% of the $1,100/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $0/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
With 75% houses in a 2,482-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 $1,100/month median mortgage in Smithfield means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $110/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in Smithfield are 33% below the South Australia median ($54,548 vs $80,964), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Liquidity risk: with 2,482 residents, Smithfield has a thinner pool of buyers and tenants than larger suburbs. Expect longer days-on-market on resale and budget for potential vacancy gaps between tenancies.
- Smithfield is 28 km from the CBD — not close enough to benefit from the inner-ring pricing halo, so growth depends more heavily on local infrastructure decisions and the wider South Australia market cycle.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in Smithfield regardless of local market conditions.
Run the numbers on a Smithfield property
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Start your journey near Smithfield →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for Smithfield are modest for 2026 — incomes 33% below the SA median of $80,964 and a population of 2,482 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~102% of the typical mortgage ($1,127/month rent vs $1,100/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for Smithfield is cautious heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the South Australia median.
Frequently asked questions
Is Smithfield a good suburb for investment?
Whether Smithfield suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 2,482, a median household income of $54,548/year and median weekly rent of $260. 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 Smithfield?
The main demand drivers in Smithfield are a median household income of $54,548/year, a dwelling mix that is 75% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of Smithfield?
Smithfield has a usual resident population of approximately 2,482, compared with a South Australia suburb median of 3,699 — 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.
How far is Smithfield from the Adelaide CBD?
Smithfield sits 28 km straight-line from the Adelaide CBD. This is an outer-metro location; local employment and infrastructure announcements tend to move prices more than CBD connectivity alone.
What is the median rent in Smithfield?
The median weekly rent in Smithfield is $500 (as at Jan–Mar 2026, Consumer & Business Services (SA)), 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 Smithfield?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Smithfield is $1,100, or approximately $13,200/year (vs $1,616/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 Smithfield cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $260 works out to $1,127/month, covering 102% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,100/month. That means rent exceeds the median repayment by roughly $27/month, so on these numbers Smithfield leans cash-flow-positive before accounting for strata, council rates, insurance and maintenance. 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 Smithfield?
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (2,482 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,100 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($54,548 vs $80,964 state median), the broader South Australia 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 Smithfield 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 Consumer & Business Services (SA) (Jan–Mar 2026), published under a Creative Commons licence and dated on the page. The median sale price shown comes from Valuer-General (SA) (Q1 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.