Nambucca Heads is a town on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia in Nambucca Shire. It is located on a ridge, north of the estuary of the Nambucca River near the Pacific Highway, which now bypasses it. Its 2011 population was 6,137, including 602 (9.7%) indigenous persons and 5,180 (83.3%) Australian-born persons in the Shire. The place name is derived from an aboriginal word meaning 'entrance to the waters'.