Western Australia comprises a capital city - Perth, a number of large regional cities and many regional and remote country towns.

Perth metropolitan area

There are so many choices of where to live in Perth, close proximity to the city, river and beaches or within the ranges of the Perth Hills. Some of the main towns within the metropolitan area are detailed below.

Perth city centre

For those looking for an inner city lifestyle, suburbs that you may like to look into include; Perth (city), East Perth, Subiaco, Northbridge, West Perth, Shenton Park, North Perth and South Perth. You’ll find a lot of apartment style accommodation in the city, river views, and moving further out towards the coastline, luxury high priced homes.  Mount Lawley, Leederville and Mount Hawthorn in the north-eastern suburbs feature many restored character homes and a funky lively cafe lifestyle strip along Beaufort Street, Oxford Street and Scarborough Beach Road, respectively.

Many people who live in these areas walk to work or use public transport. Entertainment and dining out is also within walking distance with sports facilities and parks never far away.  Perth city has a central business district in the heart of the city including major banks and offices of many large businesses with pubs, clubs and restaurants in the entertainment district of Northbridge .

Northern suburbs

Also referred to in Perth as ‘north of the river’, north of the metropolitan area has a large residential capacity with coastal and surrounding suburbs. House prices generally increase the closer you are to the beach. Suburbs close to the beach include City Beach, Trigg, Hillarys and Mindarie. Homes right on the beach front are often larger houses, with a couple of storeys and are priced at the high end of the market. Areas such as Joondalup and Ellenbrook are large towns with extensive amenities.

The rail line from Perth city and southern suburbs, extends to the northern suburb of Clarkson with plans for further extension over the coming years. Many people use the train to commute into the city during the week and for leisure and entertainment on the weekends.

Southern suburbs

Also known as ‘south of the river’ south of the Swan River are the southern suburbs, which offer very comfortable family orientated housing. Suburbs in this area include Applecross, Attadale, Bicton, Bull Creek, Mount Pleasant, Murdoch and Willetton.  These suburbs offer an established suburban lifestyle with many of the roads and avenues being lined with leafy trees and established plants. Many of the houses are traditional looking homes with outdoor wrap around veranda’s to enjoy the many hours of sunshine we have.

Fremantle (also known locally as ‘Freo’) is based south east of Perth city and is the State’s busiest working port. Fremantle contains a mix of traditional working class homes, trendy renovated cottages, apartment blocks and expensive new inner city style housing. The variety of culture is ever present in Fremantle with organic growers markets and weekly craft markets which draw the interest of tourists and locals each week.

Perth Hills

For a home in the Australian bush or semi-rural lifestyle there is the ‘hills area’ on the outskirts of Perth with suburbs such as Kalamunda, Darlington and Mundaring or York. With spectacular scenery and the native bushland surrounding the hills it is a unique place to live and still be close to the city.

The popular tourist destination and wine growing region of the Swan Valley suburbs are also attractive and suburbs within this area include Caversham, Guildford and the Vines. Being semi rural you are likely to have more land with your property than with a home closer to the city. People often create a paddock for horses or even have a small holding with chicken, goats and sheep.

Regional Western Australia

Around 600,000 people live outside Perth in communities as far from the city as Kununurra, 2300 km to the north and Esperance, 720 km to the south east. Well developed transport and communications systems provide fast and economical links. Regional centres have a complete range of services and offer a high quality of life.

The northern Kimberley and Pilbara regions account for most of Western Australia’s mineral, oil and gas output, nearly half the beef industry, cultured pearl production and a developing aquaculture industry.

Surrounding Perth is Western Australia’s major agricultural area, the Wheat belt region, producing and processing a wide variety of crops and livestock products mainly for export.

Further south from the city of Bunbury are the southern regions of Western Australia. This area contains Margaret River, one of Australia’s premier wine regions and the most popular holiday and short breaks destination in the State.

Some interesting statistics for Perth metropolitan area
- population by year

Nationalities of people within Western Australia
(Significant numbers within 2006 Census)
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics