Does access to extended family members vary by where people live? This article discusses findings from the Australian Institute of Family Studies Australian Living Standards Study on the effect of residential locality and gender on involvement with extended family. The study surveyed over 5000 households in four distinct types of geographic location around Australia. The study was thus able to examine locational differences in family networks, and to compare outer urban or rural residents with inner or middle urban residents regarding available levels of government services and family support. The findings suggest that some community locations had closer family ties than others. Closer family ties were more likely to occur in outer suburban localities than in rural localities. Further there was some evidence for weaker same-generation family links in the rural communities survey, which most resembled the inner suburban localities regarding close proximity of and regular contact with parents and siblings.