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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
St James is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Perth, Australia, with a population of approximately 4,894, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 7 km from the Perth CBD, St James is a middle ring area in Western Australia. The median household income is $95,004 per year.
Above-average earnings in St James support sustained property values. Its proximity to the CBD adds a strong location premium.
Official Australia Post postcode for St James. 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 St James 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.
4,894 residents places St James squarely in the middle of the Western Australia suburb size distribution (state median 5,605), with market depth comparable to most WA localities. At $95,004/year, household income in St James is within 5% of the Western Australia median ($99,736), placing the suburb firmly in the state's mainstream demographic band. Rent of $330/week (78% coverage of the $1,842/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $412/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. At 7 km from the Perth CBD, St James sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 63% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 79% 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 18% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How St James stacks up against the median of all Western Australia suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean St James sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | St James | WA median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 4,894 | 5,605 | -13% |
| Median household income | $95,004/yr | $99,736/yr | -5% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $330 | $350 | -6% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $1,842 | $1,902 | -3% |
| Distance to CBD | 7 km | 20 km | -65% |
| Separate houses | 63% | 79% | -16pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for St James — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: St James's 4,894-person market and $95,004 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 $330/week covers 78% of a $1,842/month mortgage, leaving a $412/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 63% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 79% WA 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 St James property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for St James are modest for 2026 — incomes 5% below the WA median of $99,736 and a population of 4,894 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~78% of the typical mortgage ($1,430/month rent vs $1,842/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 69/100 places St James 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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St James scores 69/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 4,894, median household income of $95,004/year and median weekly rent of $330. 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 St James are proximity to Perth (7 km), a median household income of $95,004/year, a dwelling mix that is 63% 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.
St James has a usual resident population of approximately 4,894, compared with a Western Australia suburb median of 5,605 — 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.
St James sits 7 km straight-line from the Perth CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Perth employment nodes.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $330 in St James, equating to approximately $17,160/year in gross rental income (state median $350/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 St James is $1,842, or approximately $22,104/year (vs $1,902/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 $330 works out to $1,430/month, covering 78% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,842/month. That leaves a $412/month shortfall (around $4,944/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 (4,894 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,842 median mortgage, the broader Western Australia 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.