Southern Highlands
New South Wales · Southern Highlands, Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven
Live · ABS ERP June 2025
The median age is 53, higher than the middle New South Wales area (40, Census 2021). Children under 15 are 14.9% of residents, against 17.9% in the middle New South Wales area (Census 2021).
Southern Highlands has 4 schools (4 government, 0 non-government; ACARA School Profile 2025) and 1 NQS-rated childcare service (ACECQA register). The median house price is $1,323,000, +20.2% YoY (NSW DCJ Sales Mar 2026). Population is 7,453 (ABS ERP June 2025).
Southern Highlands at a glance
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Boundaries: ABS Suburbs & Localities 2021. School pins are ACARA's published locations. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors, © CARTO. Open the full NSW map →
How the Family-Fit score is built57/100
Family-Fit score
Method published in fullMixed for families - strongest on getting around, weakest on childcare & early years.
- Schools in the area · 20% of the score
- 85/100
- Childcare & early years · 15% of the score
- 10/100
- Everyday amenities · 15% of the score
- 56/100
- Getting around · 15% of the score
- 100/100
- Housing affordability · 15% of the score
- 28/100
- Families already here · 10% of the score
- 40/100
- Socio-economic profile · 10% of the score
- 67/100
NSW median 70/100
4 schools in this SA2 · average government-school ICSEA 1025
NSW median 90/100
1 NQS-rated service nearby
NSW median 78/100
13 parks · 1 GP · 0 supermarkets · 4 playgrounds
NSW median 50/100
4 train stations in this SA2 (no train-time data for NSW yet)
NSW median 38/100
Paying over 30% of income on housing: 19.8% of mortgage-holding households, 37.5% of renting households
NSW median 67/100
14.9% of residents are children aged 0–14 · 34.0% of families are couples with children
NSW median 56/100
SEIFA IRSAD decile 7 of 10 nationally
The grey marker on each bar is the median across the 612 New South Wales areas we publish a score for (state median overall: 64/100). It is context, not a pass mark.
How this score is calculated
Each published figure for the Southern Highlands SA2 is mapped onto 0–100 by fixed thresholds, then weighted. Inputs with no data here are dropped and the rest rescaled - never scored as zero. Every threshold and weight →
School results, crime and flood or bushfire overlays are not graded into this score. Limits of the score →
What families notice
What families notice
- This address is zoned to Bundanoon Public School (government, no fees).
- 13 parks mapped inside this SA2 (OpenStreetMap).
- We don't yet have official crime data for NSW (only NSW and VIC) - that's a data gap on our side, not a claim this area is safe.
- About 38% of renters here spend over 30% of income on rent - above the standard affordability guideline (ABS Census 2021).
Living in Southern Highlands: family snapshot
Living in Southern Highlands
A smaller suburb. Strong United Kingdom communities here (2021 Census). 1 NQS-rated childcare service nearby. Mostly detached family homes.
Southern Highlands compared with New South Wales10 measures
| Measure | Southern Highlands | NSW average | Against NSW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Children aged 0 to 4 | 4.1% | 5.8% | Lower |
| Children aged 5 to 14 | 10.8% | 12.4% | Lower |
| Couple families with children | 34.0% | 44.5% | Lower |
| One-parent families | 10.9% | 15.9% | Lower |
| Homes owned outright | 53.1% | 31.9% | Higher |
| Homes owned with a mortgage | 31.7% | 33.7% | Lower |
| Homes rented | 12.8% | 32.5% | Lower |
| Separate houses | 98.2% | 67.4% | Higher |
| Flats and apartments | 0.8% | 20.3% | Lower |
| Born overseas | 17.7% | 29.3% | Lower |
Source: ABS Census 2021. The NSW figure is the population-weighted average of the 641 NSW areas with a published value. "Higher" and "Lower" describe the number only.
About this area and its boundary
Southern Highlands is a locality in the Southern Highlands area of New South Wales. This profile draws on ABS population and Census figures, the ACARA school register and ACECQA childcare ratings for the Southern Highlands SA2.
7,453 residents - 14.9% are children under 15, median age 53, the largest overseas-born community is United Kingdom (7.5%).
This profile uses the ABS Southern Highlands statistical area (SA2) - the level Australian government data is published at. SA2 boundaries don’t always match suburb boundaries. It covers the gazetted suburbs of Bundanoon, Exeter, Wingello, Sutton Forest, High Range, Canyonleigh, Woodlands (Wingecarribee - NSW) and Penrose and 9 more localities, drawn separately on the map above.
Property market
The median house price is $1,323,000, up 20.2% in a year.
Source: NSW DCJ Sales Mar 2026 · Rent Jun 2026. © State of New South Wales (Department of Communities and Justice), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (copyright notice).
Homes and households
Source: ABS Census 2021. Where the shares do not add to 100%, the rest is "other" or "not stated".
Housing cost pressuremortgage and rent against income
Housing cost pressure
In Southern Highlands, 37.5% of renting households spend more than 30% of their income on rent, and 19.8% of households with a mortgage spend more than 30% on repayments - the ABS's stretched-household threshold (Census 2021).
ABS published figures, not our calculation.
- Mortgage over 30% of income
- 19.8%
- Rent over 30% of income
- 37.5%
NSW avg 17.3%
Share of households WITH a mortgage whose repayments take more than 30% of income. That's 173 of 747 households with a stated repayment.
NSW avg 35.5%
Share of RENTING households whose rent takes more than 30% of income. That's 132 of 303 households with a stated rent.
The two figures cover different households (mortgage-holding vs renting), so never add them. How the ABS counts these → Grey marker: NSW average (622 for mortgage and 622 for rent). Census 2021 - housing costs have moved since. Not financial advice.
What's being built herenew homes approved, year by year
What's being built here
28 new homes were approved in Southern Highlands in the year to June 2025. Councils approved 328 new dwellings here across the 6 years to June 2025 - an approval is permission to build, not a home that exists yet.
Approved in the year to June 2025
Middle NSW area: 37
Separate houses
Private sector, over these 6 years
Townhouses & apartments
Private sector, over these 6 years
Counts are for the whole Southern Highlands statistical area. What these counts include → Dashed line: the median of 599New South Wales areas.
Schools and childcare
4 schools are located in the area, and the centre of the area is zoned to Bundanoon Public School. 1 childcare service is on the national register, 1 rated Meeting the National Quality Standard or above.
Bundanoon Public School
The government school your child can attend for free by living in Southern Highlands.
This is the zoned government school for the centre of Southern Highlands (NSW catchment data) - addresses elsewhere in the suburb may be zoned to a different school.
See the catchment on the mapThe government Year 7 zone for the centre of Southern Highlands (NSW catchment data) - addresses elsewhere in the suburb may be zoned to a different school.
We show school intake context and catchments, not exam results. We don’t publish a school ranking.
All school zones in the Wingecarribee council area →
To look beyond Southern Highlands, every New South Wales school is on the Australian schools and catchment zones map.
Find the school zone for an address in Southern Highlands
Type a street address in Victoria, NSW or Queensland. We show the government primary and secondary school zones it is in, from the official zone maps.
Your address goes from your browser straight to OpenStreetMap's address search to find it on the map. We never see it or store it. Address search © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Schools in Southern Highlands
- Students
- 125
- ICSEA
- 1036
- Students
- 123
- ICSEA
- 1030
- Students
- 40
- ICSEA
- 1001
- Students
- 4
- ICSEA
- 1034
ICSEA reflects student intake context, not teaching quality (1000 = national average). Source: ACARA School Profile 2025. All NSW schools →
Childcare: 1 service
National Quality Standard ratings from the ACECQA register, refreshed Oct 2026. Services are matched by suburb name.
Childcare services, ratings and fees1 services
- Exceeding NQSBFS Bundanoon Community PreschoolCentre-Based Care · 86 places · BundanoonRated Sep 2025
- Centre-based day care
- $13.86/hr
- Outside school hours care
- $11.36/hr
Mean hourly fee across CCS-approved services, December quarter 2025 - Dept of Education, © Commonwealth of Australia, CC BY 4.0. Published at SA3 level (a wider area than this suburb's SA2), so it's an average across Southern Highlands and surrounds, not this specific service list.
Verify locations before visiting. A rating over 3 years old is flagged. What the NQS ratings mean → Childcare places per child, by suburb →
Who lives here
Fewer rented homes than New South Wales overall: 12.8% of homes, against 32.5% statewide.
Ages of people here
Share of residents in each age band, in years. Source: ABS Census 2021.
How the area is changingCensus 2011 to 2021
Each line is drawn on its own scale, so compare the numbers, not the heights. Source: ABS Census 2011, 2016 and 2021; Travel Zone Projections 2024 (TZP24), Transport for NSW forecast, published for the council area, not the suburb.
Census trends against the middle NSW areafull charts
Which way this area is moving
The 2011, 2016 and 2021 Censuses for Southern Highlands, counted on today's boundaries.
Since 2011, Southern Highlands has grown older, with a smaller share of children.
- People counted
- +1,101 people since 2011
- Median age
- +4 years since 2011
- Children aged 0–14
- −2.7 pts since 2011
- Born overseas
- +1.0 pts since 2011
- Speak another language at home
- +0.8 pts since 2011
Usual residents counted on Census night.
Half the residents are older than this, half younger.
Share of all residents. The clearest signal of families arriving or moving on.
Share of all residents born outside Australia.
Share of residents who stated a language, speaking one other than English at home.
The dashed line is the median across the New South Wales areas we profile. How the three Censuses line up →
How many people will live around hereofficial forecast
How many people will live around here
The rest of this page looks backwards. This is the one number that looks forward - and it is the state government's own, not ours. Travel Zone Projections 2024 (Transport for NSW) projects the Wingecarribee council area, which contains Southern Highlands along with its neighbouring suburbs, to grow to 63,980 people by 2041: 11,520 more people than the 52,460 counted in 2021.
This is the council area, not Southern Highlands. Wingecarribee is a whole local government area covering many suburbs, and neither state publishes a projection for a single suburb. Growth is never spread evenly across a council - a greenfield estate and an established street inside the same council will move very differently - so read this as the direction of the wider area a suburb sits in, not as a forecast for its own streets. Only the years the publisher itself lists are plotted: nothing is filled in between them, and nothing is carried past 2041. A projection is an assumption about the future, not a measurement of it, and it will be revised - this one was released 2024. These figures sit on the projection's own series, so they are not directly comparable with the ABS resident-population and Census counts elsewhere on this page, which use different geographies and different years.
Where this year's population change came from+1.30% in a year
Where did the gain come from?
+93Reading the streams: Australian movers from other suburbs drove most of the change.
Ages against the state average, band by band
Ages of people here
10.8% of people here are school-age children (5–14) - fewer than the New South Wales average of 12.4%, and 4.1% are under 5. The median age is 53.
- 0–4 years · before school
- 4.1%
- 5–14 years · school age
- 10.8%
- 15–19 years · teens
- 5.2%
- 20–34 years
- 10.8%
- 35–54 years
- 21.7%
- 55–64 years
- 16.6%
- 65 years and over
- 30.9%
NSW avg 5.8%
NSW avg 12.4%
NSW avg 5.7%
NSW avg 20.3%
NSW avg 26.3%
NSW avg 11.9%
NSW avg 17.6%
Share of all residents of Southern Highlands (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census; the grey marker is the New South Wales average. How the bands and averages work →
Households and families
Households and families
45% of families here have children living at home - fewer than the New South Wales average of 60%. The largest overseas-born communities are United Kingdom (7.5%), New Zealand (1.6%) and Germany (0.7%). 13% 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
- 34%
- One-parent family
- 10.9%
- Couple, no children
- 54.7%
NSW avg 44.5%
NSW avg 15.9%
NSW avg 37.9%
What people live in
Share of occupied private dwellings. Other and unstated structures are not shown.
- Separate house
- 98.2%
- Semi-detached / townhouse
- 0.7%
- Flat or apartment
- 0.8%
NSW avg 67.4%
NSW avg 11.6%
NSW avg 20.3%
Owned or rented
Share of occupied private dwellings. Other and unstated tenures are not shown.
- Owned outright
- 53.1%
- Owned with a mortgage
- 31.7%
- Rented
- 12.8%
NSW avg 31.9%
NSW avg 33.7%
NSW avg 32.5%
Figures describe Southern Highlands (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census; the grey marker is the New South Wales average. How these are counted →
Birthplaces, languages and communities
Who lives in Southern Highlands
Top 5 overseas birthplaces shown · 89.1% born in Australia or a country not in the top five.
- United Kingdom · established by 2016
- 7.5%
- New Zealand · established by 2016
- 1.6%
- Germany · established by 2016
- 0.7%
- South Africa · established by 2016
- 0.7%
- Italy · established by 2016
- 0.4%
NSW avg 3.2%
NSW avg 1.1%
NSW avg 0.1%
NSW avg 0.3%
NSW avg 0.2%
- Nearby
- Moss Vale - Berrima, Bowral and Robertson - Fitzroy Falls also have an established United Kingdom community.
- Settlement pattern
- Of overseas-born residents who stated when they arrived, 6% arrived in the last 5 years (2016–2021) (NSW avg 16.2%) and 76.2% arrived before 2001 (NSW avg 52%).
- English at home
- Of residents who speak a language other than English at home and stated their English proficiency, 9.5% report speaking English “not well” or “not at all” (NSW avg 13.5%) - a self-reported ABS figure across all languages combined, not a judgement of any one community.
Figures describe Southern Highlands (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census. The ABS publishes only the five largest communities per area, so a missing name did not rank in the top five. How these are counted →
Socio-economic index (SEIFA)decile 7 of 10
- Decile (1 lowest, 10 highest)
- Decile 7 of 10
- Where this sits in NSW
- top 40% of New South Wales areas
A relative comparison of the whole area against all of Australia - not a safety, liveability, or school-quality measure. What IRSAD measures → Source: ABS SEIFA 2021, IRSAD index (SA2).
Getting around and lifestyle
1 GP and 13 parks are mapped in the area, and the nearest emergency department is Bowral and District Hospital, 16.1 km away in a straight line.
Mapped inside the Southern Highlands boundary. A zero can mean "not mapped" rather than "not there". Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Train to the city and nearest emergency department
Train to the city
Not publishedNew South Wales publishes its timetable data behind a free developer account we have not yet set up, so we show no travel time here. This is a gap on our side, not a statement about the transport in this area.
Nearest emergency department
MappedBowral and District Hospital · 16.1 km
Straight-line distance from the middle of this area - not a drive time. In an emergency call 000; do not plan around this figure.
Community and recreation
Out with a baby
Public-toilet facilities recorded on the National Public Toilet Map - not every place in the area that will let you change a baby.
About this data
Counts of features tagged in OpenStreetMap inside the Southern Highlands boundary. “Middle NSW area”: the median of 634 New South Wales areas. How these counts and times are made →
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)
Crime & safety in Southern Highlands
We don't have an official incident count matched to this specific area yet - that's a data gap on our side, not a claim that Southern Highlands is safe. SuburbRadar does not rate suburbs as safe or unsafe. More on crime & safety →
Risks
3 of the 4 planning and hazard records we hold show something in this area: bushfire, heritage controls and traffic noise. 3 more are not published for NSW - treat them as not checked.
Bushfire
Designated Bush Fire Prone LandPresent in this area
Heritage controls
In an official overlayPresent in this area
Traffic noise
Freeway or highway presentHume Highway · Hume Motorway · Illawarra Highway
Each line is the extent of an official record across the whole Southern Highlands area - not a risk rating, and a specific address may or may not be affected. Not financial or insurance advice.
All 9 checks and what each one means
Flooding
Not publishedNew South Wales publishes flood planning maps council by council, with no free statewide layer we can republish - check the local council's flood planning map for this area.
Bushfire
Designated Bush Fire Prone LandPresent in this area
Part of this area is mapped as Bush Fire Prone Land by the NSW Rural Fire Service. This designation is drawn broadly around vegetation across most of NSW, so read it as "check the property", not as a measure of how exposed the area is.
Heritage controls
In an official overlayPresent in this area
Part of this area sits inside the heritage layer in the local environmental plan, so changes to buildings there - extensions, demolition, sometimes even paint colours - need planning approval. It applies property by property: most homes in an area with an overlay are not in it, and being in one is a protection as much as a restriction. Almost every NSW area contains some heritage-listed land, so read this as "check the address", not as something that sets this area apart.
Traffic noise
Freeway or highway presentHume Highway · Hume Motorway · Illawarra Highway
3 named roads through this area carry OpenStreetMap's highest classification - a freeway, motorway or major highway, whatever the road is called locally, alongside 11 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 mappedNew South Wales maps aircraft-noise contours only where a council or precinct plan writes them in - four councils and the Western Sydney Airport precinct do. Sydney Airport's contours are published federally in its master plan and are not in the state layer, so read this as "nothing mapped here", not as a quiet area.
Land contamination checks
Not mappedNew South Wales records contaminated land in the EPA's searchable register of notified sites rather than in a planning-scheme map layer, so we have no overlay to show for this area. Search the NSW EPA contaminated land record for a specific address - nothing mapped here means we have not checked it, not that the land is clear.
Acid sulfate soils
None mappedNew South Wales classifies acid sulfate soils in the planning instruments of its coastal and estuarine councils only, and none is mapped in this area. These soils form in low-lying coastal sediments, so away from the coast and the estuaries there is nothing to map - read this as outside the mapped zone rather than as a soil test.
Recorded crime
Not publishedNo suburb-level incident record matched this area in the published statistics.
Social housing
Census figure0.0% 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 NSW area is 1.6% public and 0.7% community, across 624 areas. Listed because families ask; it is a fact about who owns the homes, not a judgement about the people in them.
About this data
Every line is an official published record for the Southern Highlands area - we don't rate, score or rank any of them. Where a line is missing, treat it as not checked rather than clear. What each line covers and does not →
Source: NSW Rural Fire Service Bush Fire Prone Land, © State Government of NSW and NSW Rural Fire Service · NSW Planning EPI Heritage, Airport Noise + Acid Sulfate Soils, © State of New South Wales, Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure - CC BY 4.0 · ABS Census 2021 (G37 tenure and landlord type) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) - road classification
Nearby suburbs
- Moss Vale (Berrima area) 17 km
- Bowral 24 km
- Robertson (Fitzroy Falls area) 28 km
- Mittagong 30 km
- North Nowra (Bomaderry area) 38 km
- Hill Top (Colo Vale area) 38 km
The six closest profiled areas in New South Wales, by distance between area centres.
The suburbs in this area
Everything else on this page is published for Southern Highlands as a whole - one ABS statistical area covering 17 separate gazetted suburbs. These are the figures published for each of the 16 the ABS publishes a profile for.
| Suburb | Residents Census 2021 | Schools | Median house price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bundanoon | 2,869 | 1 | $1.32M |
| Exeter | 1,087 | 1 | $890k |
| Wingello | 647 | 1 | $890k |
| Sutton Forest | 504 | 0 | $1.34M |
| High Range | 497 | 0 | $983k |
| Canyonleigh | 455 | 0 | $1.34M |
| Woodlands | 294 | 0 | none published |
| Penrose | 263 | 1 | $890k |
| Medway | 143 | 0 | $399k |
| Joadja | 139 | 0 | $983k |
| Werai | 98 | 0 | $1.34M |
| Bullio | 79 | 0 | $983k |
| Mandemar | 64 | 0 | $983k |
| Paddys River | 64 | 0 | none published |
| Manchester Square | 27 | 0 | $1.34M |
| Belanglo | 22 | 0 | $1.34M |
1 smaller locality is also inside this area. The ABS publishes no separate census profile for it, so it has no row here.
Each row is that suburb's own published figure - nothing here is the wider area's number divided up. Resident counts are the Census 2021 usual-resident count for the gazetted suburb, so they will not add up to the population at the top of this page, which is the ABS's later June 2025 estimate for the whole statistical area: a different measure on a different date. Schools are ACARA-registered schools whose published address falls inside the suburb boundary, which is not the same as the school your address is zoned to. Median house prices in New South Wales are published by postcode, not by suburb (marked *), so suburbs sharing a postcode show the same figure - it describes the postcode, not the individual suburb. Every other figure on this page - crime & safety, overlays, commute, amenities, projections, the Family-Fit score - is published for the whole statistical area and cannot be separated by suburb.
Other areas in Southern Highlandssorted by growth in one year
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