The most livable town in Australia needs to have a great balance between economic activity, population size and access to national parks or coastal activities for that perfect getaway.
To help find the perfect town, we were able to use census data and the regional institute of Australia indexes to help identify the top regions by state to help rank the above criteria. That being said, finding your happiest place to live as seen HERE, uses different criteria that should also be considered
The Most Livable Town in Australia according to regional economic activity, population size and coastal or national park getaways is either Port Lincoln SA, Torquay Vic or Bowral NSW.
To get to this answer, it is best to understand the data that was used and how I evaluated it. In truth, you can really come up with a wide range of different answers based on your preferences.
The data is compiled from the regional Australia institute that has taken census data and applied some basic modeling to create comparative scores among the criteria mentioned above.
I then standardised these scores to show regions that where performing better than the average. Most regions that fell within the top 20% of these criteria were considered to be the most livable regions, with the larger rural town considered to be the most livable.
The data discussed below, and the charts within this article refer to sections
Economic Activity
Economic activity looks at the diversification of employment types and affordability. I used these two economic measures and standardised each LGA to shortlist areas that were more diverse and more affordable.
Economic Diversification
Economic diversification uses the Hachman Index of Economic Diversity. This index uses indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or employment to measure the mix of industries present in a particular region relative to a well diversified reference region.
As a result, the higher the number, the more diverse the employment types. Choosing a region with a higher economic diversification score can mean that as a town, if one industry is looking to close, it will not mean the end of the town.
Another criteria used to help determine the most livable town is affordability.
Affordability
Affordability for this index is purely based on the number of years it would take with a typical income to pay off a median priced house in that specific region.
While the cost of living can vary region to region, the cost of housing takes up the majority of the income for each household. Using the metric for the number of years to pay off your average home allows a good guesstimate of the affordability in the area.
For those who are looking at renting, the cost per week of the average rents in a remote town is usually between 5-8% of the average purchase price. So when filtering on average house price you can roughly use these percentages to calculate annual rent owed.
You will also notice in the data below, that the years to pay off the median house price is within the LGA is also present. You can use these filters to help create a shortlist of a area, and then look further to the main township within that LGA.
National Parks and Coastal Access
Lifestyle is important to a areas livability. Being able to escape and enjoy nature via national parks or coastal getaways is a key attraction for people choosing a area to live.
The chart you can see below allows you to filter on the average distance in km from a national park or a coastal spot. You should use these filters to determine how close to a national park or coastal area would you like to live.
Population Size
The most Livable Town in Australia is dependent on population size. The data below include all LGA’s in Australia including capital cities. You should pick what government area population size suits you the most.
To give you some context the Brisbane LGA for this dataset sits at 694,102 with Sydney Centre 143,028
For the purpose of this analysis, I only focused on areas with a LGA population less than 50,000. I felt personally this would have a large enough population area to allow for good economic diversity, but low enough so not to get high housing costs within the area.
Whats Your Most Livable Town?
Have a look at the at the data below and use the various filters to get a idea what region in Australia would be most livable. If you want the original data you can always click on the link HERE.
While this dataset is not comprehensive, it does allow anyone to gain a small bit of greater insight into regions with more economic opportunities, and ease of access to national parks or coastal getaways.
Filter Your Own Livable Town
The table below is the dataset that allows you to filter based on your own preferences, to find your most livable LGA. Once you find the LGA you can then look further into the local towns of that LGA to determine which area may be a good getaway opportunity.