Skip to main content
SuburbRadar
Live · ABS ERP June 2025

Bardon

QLD · 4 schools · 8 childcare services

11,168 residents - 22.4% are children under 15, median age 38, the largest overseas-born community is United Kingdom (5.8%).

Family-Fit score

Our method is published below
87 /100
Very strong for families

Very strong for families - strongest on schools in the area, weakest on housing affordability.

Schools in the area · 20% of the score
100/100

QLD median 61/100

4 schools in this SA2 · average government-school ICSEA 1177

Childcare & early years · 15% of the score
80/100

QLD median 60/100

8 NQS-rated services nearby

Everyday amenities · 15% of the score
71/100

QLD median 67/100

16 parks · 2 GPs · 1 supermarket · 10 playgrounds

Getting around · 15% of the score
100/100

QLD median 58/100

7 min to the CBD by train from Auchenflower station

Housing affordability · 15% of the score
68/100

QLD median 51/100

Paying over 30% of income on housing: 8.1% of mortgage-holding households, 25.3% of renting households

Families already here · 10% of the score
91/100

QLD median 64/100

22.4% of residents are children aged 0–14 · 56.6% of families are couples with children

Socio-economic profile · 10% of the score
100/100

QLD median 44/100

SEIFA IRSAD decile 10 of 10 nationally

The grey marker on each bar is the median across the 484 Queensland areas we publish a score for (state median overall: 57/100). It is context, not a pass mark.

How this score is calculated

Every input is a free, already-published government figure for the Bardon SA2, mapped onto 0–100 by the fixed thresholds written below, then weighted. Inputs with no published data for this area are dropped and the rest rescaled - never scored as zero. We publish this method in full; the point of the score is that you can check it.

Schools in the area 100/100 × 20% → 20 points
4 schools in this SA2 · average government-school ICSEA 1177
How many schools: 0 schools scores 0, 4 or more scores 100. Intake context: average ICSEA of the government schools here, mapped 900 → 0 and 1100 → 100, worth 40% of this input. ICSEA describes the students a school enrols (parents’ education and occupation) - it is not a ranking of teaching quality, and no NAPLAN or VCE result is used anywhere in this score.
Childcare & early years 80/100 × 15% → 12 points
8 NQS-rated services nearby
Childcare, preschool and outside-school-hours services on the ACECQA National Quality Standard register, matched by suburb name: 0 services scores 0, 10 or more scores 100. Counts services, not their ratings. Where no service matched by name the input is dropped, never scored as zero - a name-match miss is not evidence of no childcare.
Everyday amenities 71/100 × 15% → 10.6 points
16 parks · 2 GPs · 1 supermarket · 10 playgrounds
Counted from OpenStreetMap inside this SA2 and averaged: parks (6+ scores 100), GPs (4+), supermarkets (3+), playgrounds (4+). OpenStreetMap is community-mapped, so a low count can mean “not mapped yet” as well as “not there”.
Getting around 100/100 × 15% → 15 points
7 min to the CBD by train from Auchenflower station
Median weekday AM-peak train time from the nearest station to the state CBD terminus (state GTFS timetables): 20 minutes or less scores 100, 75 minutes or more scores 0.
Housing affordability 68/100 × 15% → 10.2 points
Paying over 30% of income on housing: 8.1% of mortgage-holding households, 25.3% of renting households
The ABS mortgage and rent affordability indicators for this SA2, averaged: 35% or more of households paying over 30% of income scores 0, 8% or less scores 100. The two percentages have different denominators (mortgage-holding vs renting households) and are never summed - only averaged for this input.
Families already here 91/100 × 10% → 9.1 points
22.4% of residents are children aged 0–14 · 56.6% of families are couples with children
2021 Census, averaged: children aged 0–14 as a share of residents (10% scores 0, 25% scores 100) and couple families with children as a share of families (20% scores 0, 50% scores 100). It measures whether families already live here, not whether they should.
Socio-economic profile 100/100 × 10% → 10 points
SEIFA IRSAD decile 10 of 10 nationally
The ABS SEIFA index of relative advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD) for this SA2: decile 1 scores 0, decile 10 scores 100. IRSAD summarises the income, education and occupation mix of an area. It is not a measure of safety, of school quality, or of the people who live there.

Read the bars, not just the number. Two inputs - school intake profile and SEIFA - both partly reflect how wealthy an area is, so they tend to move together. That is a real limitation of the score, which is why the breakdown is shown next to it.

What is deliberately not in it. School results (NAPLAN or VCE), crime, and flood or bushfire overlays are not graded into this score. Those appear elsewhere on this page as the official figures themselves, described in words - never reduced to a grade.

Sources: ACARA school register, ACECQA National Quality Standard register, OpenStreetMap, state GTFS timetables, ABS Census 2021, ABS SEIFA 2021 and the ABS housing affordability indicators. Where each dataset comes from →

Download image
Shade the map by values: Bardon

Boundaries: ABS Suburbs & Localities 2021. School pins are ACARA's published locations. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors, © CARTO. Open the full QLD map →

This profile uses the ABS Bardon statistical area (SA2) - the level Australian government data is published at. SA2 boundaries don’t always match suburb boundaries. It covers the gazetted suburb of Bardon, drawn separately on the map above.

Bardon is a locality in the Brisbane Inner - West area of Queensland. This profile draws on ABS population and Census figures, the ACARA school register and ACECQA childcare ratings for the Bardon SA2.

Family snapshot

Living in Bardon

Live

A mid-sized suburb particularly popular with young families. Strong United Kingdom communities here (2021 Census). Many childcare options nearby - 8 NQS-rated services. About a 7-minute train to the CBD. Mostly detached family homes.

Source: ABS population estimates · ABS Census 2021 · ACARA · ACECQA · state transit data (GTFS)
In their own terms

What families notice

Live
Families often notice
  • Ranks in the top 10% for socio-economic advantage in QLD (ABS SEIFA - not a safety or school-quality measure).
  • At least one nearby government school has an above-average ICSEA intake profile (1206 vs. 1000 national average).
  • 16 parks mapped inside this SA2 (OpenStreetMap).
Good to know
  • We don't have official school-zoning data for QLD yet (only VIC and NSW) - confirm zoning directly with the school or department.
  • We don't yet have official crime data for QLD (only NSW and VIC) - that's a data gap on our side, not a claim this area is safe.
  • We don't yet have property or rent figures for this area - check a real-estate portal directly for current prices.
Source: Templated from the live data on this page - ABS, ACARA, ACECQA, BOCSAR/CSA Victoria, SEIFA 2021.
At a glance
See it on the map ↑
Schools
4
Top ICSEA 1206 (gov)
Childcare
8
NQS-rated services
To CBD by train
7 min
AM peak
Population
11,168
+0.9% in 1 year
Compare Bardon with another suburb
Side-by-side schools, safety, price & more in the Move Planner.
Family essentials

Schools, childcare & safety

Live data for the Bardon SA2 - ACARA schools register, ACECQA childcare ratings.

Government schools Soon QLD zoning

Government schools in Bardon

Free government schools your child may attend. Exact school zones aren’t mapped for QLD yet, so we can’t confirm which one is yours.

Rainworth State School Government · 590 students
ICSEA 1206
Bardon State School Government · 254 students
ICSEA 1147

A picture of students’ family backgrounds (ICSEA) - not a ranking or a quality score.

Also nearby - Catholic & Independent schools (not your catchment)
Stuartholme School
Catholic 815 students
ICSEA 1159 intake context
St Joseph's School
Catholic 368 students
ICSEA 1170 intake context

Fee-paying schools can’t be enrolled in by zone - they’re shown for context, not as the area’s school quality.

We show school intake context and catchments, not exam results. We don’t publish a school ranking.

Schools in Bardon

Live

ICSEA reflects student intake context, not teaching quality (1000 = national average). All QLD schools →

Source: ACARA School Profile 2025

Childcare & early learning

Live
  • Bardon Community Kindy Inc.
    Centre-Based Care · 50 places · Bardon
    Rated Aug 2021 · over 3 years old, check for a more recent assessment
    Exceeding NQS
  • School Plus - Ithaca Creek OSHC
    Centre-Based Care · 180 places · Bardon
    Rated May 2025
    Meeting NQS
  • Little Ducks Childcare Bardon
    Centre-Based Care · 77 places · Bardon
    Rated May 2024
    Meeting NQS
  • Eden Academy Bardon
    Centre-Based Care · 64 places · Bardon
    Rated Jun 2024
    Meeting NQS
  • PCYC Bardon Fun Squad
    Centre-Based Care · 59 places · Bardon
    Rated Nov 2024
    Meeting NQS
  • St Joseph's Bardon Outside School Hours Care
    Centre-Based Care · 59 places · Bardon
    Rated Aug 2025
    Working Towards NQS
  • Harmony Early Education Bardon
    Centre-Based Care · 83 places · Bardon
    Not yet rated
  • Eden Academy Little Bardon
    Centre-Based Care · 37 places · Bardon
    Not yet rated
Average subsidised fee - Brisbane Inner - West area
Centre-based day care
$15.22/hr
Outside school hours care
$9.53/hr

Mean hourly fee across CCS-approved services, December quarter 2025 - Dept of Education. Published at SA3 level (a wider area than this suburb's SA2), so it's an average across Brisbane Inner - West and surrounds, not this specific service list.

NQS = National Quality Standard, the government benchmark ACECQA rates every service against - from "Working Towards" (below benchmark) up through "Meeting", "Exceeding" and "Excellent". Services matched by suburb name on the ACECQA register - verify locations before visiting. Ratings are reassessed periodically, not on a fixed schedule - a rating over 3 years old is flagged so you know to check for anything more recent.

Source: ACECQA NQS register, refreshed Jul 2026

Safety - recorded incidents

Official recorded-incident data is only published on this site for NSW and VIC so far - that's a coverage gap on our side, not a claim that Bardon is safe. More on safety →

The neighbourhood
The neighbourhood, in people

Ages of people here

Live

16.9% of people here are school-age children (5–14) - more than the Queensland average of 13%, and 5.5% are under 5. The median age is 38.

0–4 years · before school
5.5%

QLD avg 5.7%

5–14 years · school age
16.9%

QLD avg 13%

15–19 years · teens
7.1%

QLD avg 6.1%

20–34 years
15.9%

QLD avg 19.9%

35–54 years
31.6%

QLD avg 26.4%

55–64 years
10.7%

QLD avg 11.9%

65 years and over
12.2%

QLD avg 17%

Share of all residents of Bardon (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census. Bands are the ABS’s own age groups, combined only where whole groups sit side by side - nothing is split or estimated inside a group. The seven shares cover everyone, but they don’t total exactly 100%: the ABS adjusts small counts slightly to protect privacy. The grey marker on each bar is the Queensland average, population-weighted across the 543 SA2s in the state and shown for context only - it is not a target or a pass mark.

Source: ABS Census 2021, General Community Profile (SA2)
The neighbourhood, in people

Households and families

Live

68% of families here have children living at home - more than the Queensland average of 58%. The largest overseas-born communities are United Kingdom (5.8%), New Zealand (2.3%) and South Africa (1.3%). 21% of homes are rented.

Family make-up

Share of all families in the area. A small "other family" group the ABS also counts is not shown.

Couple with children
56.6%

QLD avg 41%

One-parent family
11.3%

QLD avg 17%

Couple, no children
30.8%

QLD avg 40.4%

What people live in

Share of occupied private dwellings. Other and unstated structures are not shown.

Separate house
81.8%

QLD avg 76.6%

Semi-detached / townhouse
8.5%

QLD avg 11.5%

Flat or apartment
9.6%

QLD avg 11.1%

Owned or rented

Share of occupied private dwellings. Other and unstated tenures are not shown.

Owned outright
34.1%

QLD avg 29.3%

Owned with a mortgage
43.5%

QLD avg 35.6%

Rented
21.4%

QLD avg 33.2%

Figures describe Bardon (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census. The grey marker on each bar is the Queensland average, population-weighted across the 543 SA2s in the state and shown for context only - it is not a target or a pass mark. The ABS does not publish every breakdown for smaller areas, so some groups may be missing.

Source: ABS Census 2021, General Community Profile (SA2)
The neighbourhood, in people

Who lives in Bardon

Live

Top 5 overseas birthplaces shown · 89.6% born in Australia or a country not in the top five.

United Kingdom · established by 2016
5.8%

QLD avg 4.4%

New Zealand · established by 2016
2.3%

QLD avg 4%

South Africa · established by 2016
1.3%

QLD avg 0.8%

China · growing since 2016
0.5%

QLD avg 0.9%

Canada · established by 2016
0.5%

QLD avg 0%

Co-located communities
Bardon is home to established United Kingdom and New Zealand communities - each is 2% or more of residents born overseas here, not a ranking of one against another.
Nearby
Ashgrove, Red Hill and Toowong also have an established United Kingdom community.
Settlement pattern
Of overseas-born residents who stated when they arrived, 13.3% arrived in the last 5 years (2016–2021) (QLD avg 15.8%) and 47% arrived before 2001 (QLD avg 45.9%).
English at home
Of residents who speak a language other than English at home and stated their English proficiency, 3.9% report speaking English “not well” or “not at all” (QLD avg 11.3%) - a self-reported ABS figure across all languages combined, not a judgement of any one community.

Figures describe Bardon (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census. The grey marker on each bar is the Queensland average, population-weighted across the 543 SA2s in the state and shown for context only - it is not a target or a pass mark. The ABS publishes only the five largest communities per suburb, so a name missing from the list didn’t rank in the top five - not that nobody from it lives here. “Established by 2016” means that community was already a comparable share of the population at the 2016 Census; “growing since 2016” means its share has grown substantially since then. Both are facts about population change, not a ranking of one community against another.

Source: ABS Census 2021, General Community Profile (SA2)

Socio-economic index (SEIFA)

Live
Decile (1 lowest – 10 highest)
Decile 10 of 10
Where this sits in QLD
top 10% of Queensland areas

IRSAD (the Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage) ranks this SA2 against every other area in Australia on income, education, occupation and other Census indicators, then groups them into ten equal-sized deciles. It's a relative comparison of the whole area - not a safety, liveability, or school-quality measure, and it says nothing about any individual household.

Source: ABS SEIFA 2021, IRSAD index (SA2)
Three censuses, same boundaries

Which way this area is moving

Live

A single census tells you what Bardon is like now. Three tell you which way it has been heading. These are the 2011, 2016 and 2021 Censuses counted on today's boundaries.

Since 2011, Bardon has grown older, with more residents born overseas.

People counted
+1,086 people since 2011

Usual residents counted on Census night.

Median age
+3 years since 2011

Half the residents are older than this, half younger.

Children aged 0–14
+0.8 pts since 2011

Share of all residents. The clearest signal of families arriving or moving on.

Born overseas
+2.0 pts since 2011

Share of all residents born outside Australia.

Speak another language at home
+1.4 pts since 2011

Share of residents who stated a language, speaking one other than English at home.

The dashed line is the median across the areas we profile in Queensland - up to 484, counting only those that report that same measure at all three Censuses, which differs slightly by measure. It is a typical area to read this one against, not a state total, and not a target this suburb is meant to hit. Each chart carries its own axis, drawn to fit its own numbers, so compare the labelled values rather than the steepness of one chart against another. Every figure is an ABS published count, or a share of two of them - there is no index or score here, and a direction is not a verdict: a rising median age or a falling share of children is simply a change, not a better or worse suburb. The three censuses are reported on 2021 SA2 boundaries, so changes are not caused by boundary redraws. ABS adjusts small counts slightly to protect confidentiality, so treat small movements as noise.

Source: ABS Census Time Series Profile 2021 (2011, 2016 and 2021 Censuses, SA2)
Lifestyle & getting around
What's within the area

Lifestyle & getting around

Live

Everything mapped inside the Bardon boundary, plus how long it takes to leave it. Counts are of features tagged in OpenStreetMap - we don't score or rank them, and each one is shown next to the middle QLD area so a number means something.

Everyday essentials

1

Supermarkets

Middle QLD area: 1

2

GPs & clinics

Middle QLD area: 1

16

Parks

Middle QLD area: 16

10

Playgrounds

Middle QLD area: 6

0

Train stations

Middle QLD area: 0

1

Libraries

Middle QLD area: 0

Community & recreation

0

Places of worship

Middle QLD area: 0

0

Community centres

Middle QLD area: 0

0

Swimming pools

Middle QLD area: 0

0

Sports centres

Middle QLD area: 0

Out with a baby

1

Baby-change tables

0

Baby-care rooms

Public-toilet facilities recorded on the National Public Toilet Map - not every place in the area that will let you change a baby.

Getting out of the area

  • Train to the city

    Timetable published

    7 min from Auchenflower station

    Median scheduled weekday morning-peak travel time to the central-city terminus, from the closest station to the middle of this area (2.4 km away in a straight line). That distance is not a walking route, and the figure is the train leg only - it excludes getting to the station and any change at the other end.

  • Nearest emergency department

    Mapped

    The Wesley Hospital · 2.7 km

    Straight-line distance from the middle of this area to the nearest hospital tagged with an emergency department - not a drive time, and not necessarily the closest by road. General emergency departments treat children as well as adults. In an emergency call 000; do not plan around this figure.

Counts are of features tagged in OpenStreetMap inside the Bardon boundary, not a register of everything that exists - community mapping is uneven, so a zero can mean "not mapped" rather than "not there", and a shop or clinic just over the boundary won't appear here even if it is the one you'd use. “Middle QLD area” is the median count across the 539 Queensland areas we hold counts for - context, not a target. Areas differ hugely in size, so we never turn these counts into a rate, index or score. Verify anything you're relying on with a local directory or a visit.

Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors · baby-facility counts from the National Public Toilet Map (Continence Foundation of Australia, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, CC BY 3.0 AU) · TransLink, static GTFS
Risks & checks
What the official record says

Risks & things to check

Live

The checks families run one by one before committing to Bardon, in one place. Every line is an official published record for the Bardon area - we don't rate, score or rank any of them, and a line we can't answer says so.

  • Flooding

    Not published

    No free statewide flood overlay is published for QLD yet, so we show none. Check the local council's planning maps.

  • Bushfire

    Not published

    We hold official bushfire mapping for Victoria and New South Wales only - nothing is published here for QLD yet. Check the state fire service's mapping.

  • Heritage controls

    Not published

    We hold official heritage overlay mapping for Victoria and New South Wales only - nothing is published here for QLD yet. Check the local council's planning scheme and the state heritage register.

  • Traffic noise

    Freeway or highway present

    Jubilee Terrace · Boundary Road · Rouen Road · +2 more

    5 named roads through this area carry OpenStreetMap's highest classification - a freeway, motorway or major highway, whatever the road is called locally, alongside 7 named main roads. Roads are counted by name, not by mapped segment. Where a home sits relative to them matters far more than the count - a street two blocks back can be quiet.

  • Aircraft noise

    Not published

    We hold official aircraft-noise mapping for Victoria and New South Wales only - nothing is published here for QLD yet. Check the airport's noise contours and the local planning scheme.

  • Land contamination checks

    Not mapped

    We hold official contaminated-land overlay mapping for Victoria only - nothing is published here for QLD yet. Check the state environment authority's contaminated land register and the local planning scheme.

  • Acid sulfate soils

    Not published

    We hold acid sulfate soil mapping for Victoria and New South Wales only - nothing is published here for QLD yet. Coastal and estuarine land is where these soils occur; check the state's soil mapping and the local planning scheme.

  • Recorded crime

    Not published

    QLD does not release the suburb-level incident counts we republish for New South Wales and Victoria, so we show none here.

  • Social housing

    Census figure

    0.4% rented from a state or territory housing authority · 0.0% from a community housing provider

    Share of occupied private dwellings here with a stated tenure (Census 2021). The middle QLD area is 1.6% public and 0.4% community, across 531 areas. Listed because families ask; it is a fact about who owns the homes, not a judgement about the people in them.

Hazard lines republish the extent of an official overlay across the whole Bardon area - they are not a risk rating, hazard score or insurance assessment, and we compute none. A specific address inside the area may or may not be affected: check the current planning scheme and your insurer. Not financial or insurance advice. The traffic line names the roads mapped inside the area - it is not a noise measurement or a decibel estimate, and we compute neither: what a specific home hears depends on distance, traffic volume, speed, barriers and terrain, which no free dataset publishes. The heritage, aircraft-noise and land-contamination lines are planning controls rather than hazards, and apply property by property - the contamination line flags land an audit must check before it is used for housing or childcare, never land found to be contaminated. The acid-sulfate line covers coastal and estuarine land only, because that is where those soils form - inland, "none mapped" means outside the mapped zone, not a soil test. We don't yet cover EPA notices, mine subsidence, landslide or coastal erosion - where a line is missing, treat it as not checked rather than clear.

Source: ABS Census 2021 (G37 tenure and landlord type) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) - road classification
Development
Bardon · new dwellings approved

What's being built here

Live

19 new homes were approved in Bardon in the year to June 2025. Councils approved 140 new dwellings here across the 6 years to June 2025 - an approval is permission to build, not a home that exists yet.

19

Approved in the year to June 2025

Middle QLD area: 31

126

Separate houses

Private sector, over these 6 years

14

Townhouses & apartments

Private sector, over these 6 years

An approval is not a building. These are dwellings a council approved; some are never built, and the ones that are usually take years, so this is a signal of what is planned around a suburb, not a count of homes standing in it. It is also not a forecast - nothing here is projected forward. The total covers every dwelling approved, public and private; the houses and apartments figures are the private-sector split the ABS publishes, and the two do not add up to the total wherever public housing was approved. Figures are for the whole Bardon statistical area, which usually covers more than one suburb, and are counts only - never divided by land area or population, and never combined into a score. The dashed line is the median of the 487Queensland areas with a complete series - a typical area, for context, not a target or a pass mark.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Data by region, 2011-2025 (cat. 1410.0), sourced from ABS Building Approvals, Australia (cat. 8731.0) (source, CC BY 4.0). Each year is a year ended 30 June, published for the SA2, not the suburb.
Money
What households here actually pay

Housing cost pressure

Live

In Bardon, 25.3% of renting households spend more than 30% of their income on rent, and 8.1% of households with a mortgage spend more than 30% on repayments - the ABS's stretched-household threshold (Census 2021).

How many households here are stretched by what they pay for housing. The 30% line is the ABS's own long-standing threshold - these are their published figures, not our calculation.

Mortgage over 30% of income
8.1%

QLD avg 11.9%

Share of households WITH a mortgage whose repayments take more than 30% of income. That's 122 of 1,344 households with a stated repayment.

Rent over 30% of income
25.3%

QLD avg 32.3%

Share of RENTING households whose rent takes more than 30% of income. That's 188 of 674 households with a stated rent.

The two figures cover different households - one counts only households paying off a mortgage, the other only households renting - so they are shown separately and must not be added or averaged. Income is the ABS's imputed household income; their published percentage also counts households that did not state a repayment or rent, which is why it does not equal the two counts above divided by each other. The grey marker on each bar is the QLD average, weighted by household base across the SA2s in the state that report each figure (520 for mortgage and 528 for rent), and is context only - not a target. Census 2021 - housing costs have moved since. Not financial advice.

Source: ABS Census 2021 - Mortgage & Rent Affordability Indicator Datasets (via ABS Data by Region, SA2)
Population & growth
Population
11,168
Jun 2025
1yr growth
+0.90%
2024→25
Net change
+103
people / yr
Density
2,384
people / km²
Where in QLD
Full map →

Where did the gain come from?

+103
Natural increase
Births minus deaths
+22
Internal migration
Net movers from elsewhere in Australia
-111
Overseas migration
Net arrivals from overseas
+192

Reading the streams: overseas arrivals were the dominant force - more came from abroad than the suburb grew on its own.

Growth vs benchmarks
Bardon
+0.90%
QLD median
+1.10%
National median
+0.80%

Other SA2s in Brisbane Inner - West

The next zoom out - sorted by 1-year growth

Full QLD leaderboard →
  1. 01
    Auchenflower
    +1.8%
    6,222 ppl
  2. 02
    Red Hill (Qld)
    +1.5%
    6,757 ppl
  3. 03
    Paddington - Milton
    +1.0%
    13,364 ppl
  4. 04
    Toowong
    +0.8%
    13,725 ppl
  5. 05
    Ashgrove
    +0.5%
    14,911 ppl