Kempsey vs South West Rocks

Kempsey and South West Rocks are two nearby New South Wales towns with very different layouts. Kempsey is very walkable, with 88.8% of homes within a 15-minute walk of groceries and 85.4% near a school, compared to 67.5% and 54.6% in South West Rocks. Kempsey also has a far larger First Nations population of 1,419 people, while South West Rocks has 330. In Kempsey, the First Nations unemployment rate is well higher at 20.8% than the 16.7% seen in South West Rocks.

Both areas share a similar proportion of people who speak a First Nations language, at 3.3% in Kempsey and 3.6% in South West Rocks. While they are similar in this way, other gaps remain. First Nations residents in South West Rocks are noticeably older, with a typical age of 27 compared to 24 in Kempsey. Income for First Nations households is also well higher in South West Rocks at $1,294, while in Kempsey it is $1,023, which is well below the national figure.