The locality is rural with crop raising and grazing being the main economic activities.

The miners themselves laid out a town and gave it the name Gidginbung, but it was renamed Reefton before it was proclaimed as a village in 1896.

Opening of a sawmill allowed the erection of buildings in the village, and it soon had two general stores, several small stores, two bakers, three butchers, three boarding houses, a working man’s club,[5] the Reefton Hotel, post office and police station.

[5] Even by 1898, the village was in decline[8] and, by 1902, all that left was the hotel, post office, school, and a few houses.

[13] The second village to be known as Reefton is now the site of a small cluster of settlement, on the eastern side of the Lake Cargelligo railway line.