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Thornton (Millers Forest area)

New South Wales · Maitland, Hunter Valley exc Newcastle

Live · ABS ERP June 2025

Children under 15 are 23.3% of residents, against 17.9% in the middle New South Wales area (Census 2021). The median age is 33, lower than the middle New South Wales area (40, Census 2021). The median house price in Thornton (Millers Forest area) is $857k, about 33% below the middle New South Wales area ($1.28M).

Thornton (Millers Forest area) has 5 schools (2 government, 3 non-government; ACARA School Profile 2025) and 14 NQS-rated childcare services (ACECQA register). Population is 19,925 (ABS ERP June 2025).

Thornton (Millers Forest area) at a glance

Median house price
$857,000
Up 7.5% in a year
Rent: $640 a week, 3-bedroom house
Family-Fit score
71/100
Strong for families
How it is calculated
Schools
5
Area centre zoned to Thornton Public School
See the schools
Childcare services
14
13 rated Meeting NQS or above
Population
19,925
+4.6% in a year
Fast-growing since 2021
Median age
33
23.3% are children under 15
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Shade the map by values: Thornton

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

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How the Family-Fit score is built71/100

Family-Fit score

Method published in full
71 /100
Strong for families

Strong for families - strongest on childcare & early years, weakest on getting around.

Schools in the area · 20% of the score
69/100

NSW median 70/100

5 schools in this SA2 · average government-school ICSEA 947

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

NSW median 90/100

14 NQS-rated services nearby

Everyday amenities · 15% of the score
63/100

NSW median 78/100

11 parks · 2 GPs · 0 supermarkets · 11 playgrounds

Getting around · 15% of the score
50/100

NSW median 50/100

1 train station in this SA2 (no train-time data for NSW yet)

Housing affordability · 15% of the score
66/100

NSW median 38/100

Paying over 30% of income on housing: 10.4% of mortgage-holding households, 24.2% of renting households

Families already here · 10% of the score
94/100

NSW median 67/100

23.3% of residents are children aged 0–14 · 50.3% of families are couples with children

Socio-economic profile · 10% of the score
56/100

NSW median 56/100

SEIFA IRSAD decile 6 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 Thornton - Millers Forest 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 →

Schools in the area 69/100 × 20% → 13.9 points
5 schools in this SA2 · average government-school ICSEA 947
Childcare & early years 100/100 × 15% → 15 points
14 NQS-rated services nearby
Everyday amenities 63/100 × 15% → 9.4 points
11 parks · 2 GPs · 0 supermarkets · 11 playgrounds
Getting around 50/100 × 15% → 7.5 points
1 train station in this SA2 (no train-time data for NSW yet)
Housing affordability 66/100 × 15% → 9.8 points
Paying over 30% of income on housing: 10.4% of mortgage-holding households, 24.2% of renting households
Families already here 94/100 × 10% → 9.4 points
23.3% of residents are children aged 0–14 · 50.3% of families are couples with children
Socio-economic profile 56/100 × 10% → 5.6 points
SEIFA IRSAD decile 6 of 10 nationally

School results, crime and flood or bushfire overlays are not graded into this score. Limits of the score →

What families notice
In their own terms

What families notice

Live
Families often notice
  • This address is zoned to Thornton Public School (government, no fees).
  • 11 parks mapped inside this SA2 (OpenStreetMap).
  • 5 schools sit inside this SA2 - more choice than most areas this size.
Good to know
  • Recorded incidents rose 17% on the year before - see the full category breakdown below.
Source: Templated from the live data on this page - ABS, ACARA, ACECQA, BOCSAR/CSA Victoria, SEIFA 2021.
Living in Thornton - Millers Forest: family snapshot
Family snapshot

Living in Thornton - Millers Forest

Live

A mid-sized suburb particularly popular with young families. Growing quickly - population is up 4.6% in the past year. Many childcare options nearby - 14 NQS-rated services. Mostly detached family homes.

Source: ABS population estimates · ABS Census 2021 · ACARA · ACECQA
Thornton (Millers Forest area) compared with New South Wales10 measures
Thornton - Millers Forest compared with the NSW average
Measure Thornton - Millers Forest NSW average Against NSW
Children aged 0 to 4 8.3% 5.8% Higher
Children aged 5 to 14 15.1% 12.4% Higher
Couple families with children 50.3% 44.5% Higher
One-parent families 13.2% 15.9% Lower
Homes owned outright 23.6% 31.9% Lower
Homes owned with a mortgage 45.9% 33.7% Higher
Homes rented 29.6% 32.5% Lower
Separate houses 94.8% 67.4% Higher
Flats and apartments 0.8% 20.3% Lower
Born overseas 11.2% 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

Thornton - Millers Forest is a locality in the Maitland area of New South Wales. This profile draws on ABS population and Census figures, the ACARA school register and ACECQA childcare ratings for the Thornton - Millers Forest SA2.

19,925 residents - 23.3% are children under 15, median age 33.

Why “Thornton - Millers Forest”? The ABS divides the larger suburb of Thornton into several statistical areas (SA2s); this profile covers one part of it. Other parts are listed further down. SA2 boundaries don’t always match suburb boundaries. It covers the gazetted suburbs of Thornton, Chisholm, Millers Forest, Berry Park and Duckenfield, drawn separately on the map above.

Property market

The median house price is $857,000, up 7.5% in a year, and a 3-bedroom house rents for a median $640 a week.

Median house price
$857,000
Mar 2026
House price, change in a year
+7.5%
Median rent, 3-bedroom house
$640
per week

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

Who owns the homes
24% Owned outright 46% Mortgage 30% Rented
Families
50% Couple with children 36% Couple, no children 13% One parent
Types of home
95% House 4% Townhouse 1% Apartment

Source: ABS Census 2021. Where the shares do not add to 100%, the rest is "other" or "not stated".

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Housing cost pressuremortgage and rent against income
What households here actually pay

Housing cost pressure

Live

In Thornton - Millers Forest, 24.2% of renting households spend more than 30% of their income on rent, and 10.4% 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
10.4%

NSW avg 17.3%

Share of households WITH a mortgage whose repayments take more than 30% of income. That's 253 of 2,177 households with a stated repayment.

Rent over 30% of income
24.2%

NSW avg 35.5%

Share of RENTING households whose rent takes more than 30% of income. That's 380 of 1,405 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.

Source: ABS Census 2021 - Mortgage & Rent Affordability Indicator Datasets (via ABS Data by Region, SA2)
What's being built herenew homes approved, year by year
Thornton - Millers Forest · new dwellings approved

What's being built here

Live

334 new homes were approved in Thornton - Millers Forest in the year to June 2025. Councils approved 2,236 new dwellings here across the 6 years to June 2025 - an approval is permission to build, not a home that exists yet.

334

Approved in the year to June 2025

Middle NSW area: 37

1,595

Separate houses

Private sector, over these 6 years

639

Townhouses & apartments

Private sector, over these 6 years

Counts are for the whole Thornton - Millers Forest statistical area. What these counts include → Dashed line: the median of 599New South Wales areas.

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.

Schools and childcare

5 schools are located in the area, and the centre of the area is zoned to Thornton Public School. 14 childcare services are on the national register, 13 rated Meeting the National Quality Standard or above.

Your zoned school Live VIC + NSW + QLD catchments

Thornton Public School

The government school your child can attend for free by living in Thornton - Millers Forest.

Sector Government
Years K-6
Students 826
ICSEA 974
A picture of students’ family backgrounds - not a ranking or a quality score.

This is the zoned government school for the centre of Thornton - Millers Forest (NSW catchment data) - addresses elsewhere in the suburb may be zoned to a different school.

See the catchment on the map
Zoned secondary school
Francis Greenway High School Government · 7-12 · 742 students · just outside the suburb boundary
ICSEA 912 intake context

The government Year 7 zone for the centre of Thornton - Millers Forest (NSW catchment data) - addresses elsewhere in the suburb may be zoned to a different school.

Also nearby - Catholic & Independent schools (not your catchment)
St Bede's Catholic College
Catholic 910 students
ICSEA 1030 intake context
St Aloysius Catholic Primary School
Catholic 614 students
ICSEA 1064 intake context
Aspect Hunter School
Independent 290 students
ICSEA 1008 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.

All school zones in the Maitland council area →

To look beyond Thornton - Millers Forest, every New South Wales school is on the Australian schools and catchment zones map.

Find the school zone for an address in Thornton

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 Thornton - Millers Forest

ICSEA reflects student intake context, not teaching quality (1000 = national average). Source: ACARA School Profile 2025. All NSW schools →

Childcare: 14 services

Exceeding NQS: 3Meeting NQS: 10Not yet rated: 1

National Quality Standard ratings from the ACECQA register, refreshed Oct 2026. Services are matched by suburb name.

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Childcare services, ratings and fees14 services
  • Tillys Play and Education Centre - Chisholm
    Centre-Based Care · 120 places · Chisholm
    Rated Sep 2023 · over 3 years old, check for a more recent assessment
    Exceeding NQS
  • Goodstart Early Learning Thornton
    Centre-Based Care · 64 places · Thornton
    Rated May 2021 · over 3 years old, check for a more recent assessment
    Exceeding NQS
  • Thornton Child Care and Pre-School Centre
    Centre-Based Care · 40 places · Thornton
    Rated May 2025
    Exceeding NQS
  • Thornton Before and After School Care and Vacation Care
    Centre-Based Care · 140 places · Thornton
    Rated Apr 2025
    Meeting NQS
  • St Nicholas Early Education Chisholm
    Centre-Based Care · 134 places · Chisholm
    Rated Jul 2025
    Meeting NQS
  • Thornton North Early Learning Centre
    Centre-Based Care · 132 places · Thornton
    Rated Dec 2025
    Meeting NQS
  • Go Kindy Thornton
    Centre-Based Care · 120 places · Thornton
    Rated Sep 2026
    Meeting NQS
  • St Nicholas OOSH Chisholm
    Centre-Based Care · 107 places · Chisholm
    Rated Mar 2026
    Meeting NQS
  • Community Kids Thornton Early Education Centre
    Centre-Based Care · 91 places · Thornton
    Rated Jan 2026
    Meeting NQS
  • LITTLE ZAK'S ACADEMY CHISHOLM
    Centre-Based Care · 88 places · Chisholm
    Rated Jul 2022 · over 3 years old, check for a more recent assessment
    Meeting NQS
  • Thornton ELC
    Centre-Based Care · 84 places · Thornton
    Rated Jun 2024
    Meeting NQS
  • Little Zaks Academy Thornton 2
    Centre-Based Care · 58 places · Thornton
    Rated Sep 2023 · over 3 years old, check for a more recent assessment
    Meeting NQS

+ 2 more services in this area.

Average subsidised fee - Maitland area
Centre-based day care
$13.95/hr
Outside school hours care
$9.54/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 Maitland 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 people born overseas than New South Wales overall: 11.2% of residents, against 29.3% statewide.

Median age
33
ABS Census 2021
Children under 15
23.3%
Above the NSW average
Born overseas
11.2%
Below the NSW average
Density
316
people per km²

Ages of people here

Thornton - Millers Forest NSW average

Share of residents in each age band, in years. Source: ABS Census 2021.

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How the area is changingCensus 2011 to 2021
People counted at the Census, 2011 to 2021
+7,175 people
2011: 8,724 2021: 15,899
Median age, 2011 to 2021
−1 year
2011: 34 2021: 33
Children aged 0 to 14, 2011 to 2021
+0.1 points
2011: 23.2% 2021: 23.3%
Born overseas, 2011 to 2021
+4.1 points
2011: 7.1% 2021: 11.2%
Speak another language at home, 2011 to 2021
+5.2 points
2011: 2.9% 2021: 8.1%
Maitland council area, official forecast
+44,000 people
2021: 90,250 2041: 134,250

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
Three censuses, same boundaries

Which way this area is moving

Live

The 2011, 2016 and 2021 Censuses for Thornton - Millers Forest, counted on today's boundaries.

Since 2011, Thornton - Millers Forest has seen more residents born overseas and more residents speaking another language at home.

People counted
+7,175 people since 2011

Usual residents counted on Census night.

Median age
−1 year since 2011

Half the residents are older than this, half younger.

Children aged 0–14
+0.1 pts since 2011

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

Born overseas
+4.1 pts since 2011

Share of all residents born outside Australia.

Speak another language at home
+5.2 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 New South Wales areas we profile. How the three Censuses line up →

Source: ABS Census Time Series Profile 2021 (2011, 2016 and 2021 Censuses, SA2)
How many people will live around hereofficial forecast
Maitland council area · official projection

How many people will live around here

Live

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 Maitland council area, which contains Thornton - Millers Forest along with its neighbouring suburbs, to grow to 134,250 people by 2041: 44,000 more people than the 90,250 counted in 2021.

This is the council area, not Thornton - Millers Forest. Maitland 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.

Source: Travel Zone Projections 2024 (TZP24), Transport for NSW, released 2024 (source, CC BY 4.0). Published for the council area, not the suburb; figures rounded to the nearest 10.
Where this year's population change came from+4.60% in a year
Population
19,925
ABS estimate, June 2025
Growth in one year
+4.60%
2024 to 2025
Net change
+884
people in a year

Where did the gain come from?

+884
Natural increase
Births minus deaths
+234
Internal migration
Net movers from elsewhere in Australia
+614
Overseas migration
Net arrivals from overseas
+36

Reading the streams: Australian movers from other suburbs drove most of the change.

Growth vs benchmarks
Thornton - Millers Forest
+4.60%
NSW median
+0.60%
National median
+0.80%
Ages against the state average, band by band
The neighbourhood, in people

Ages of people here

Live

15.1% of people here are school-age children (5–14) - more than the New South Wales average of 12.4%, and 8.3% are under 5. The median age is 33.

0–4 years · before school
8.3%

NSW avg 5.8%

5–14 years · school age
15.1%

NSW avg 12.4%

15–19 years · teens
6.1%

NSW avg 5.7%

20–34 years
23.8%

NSW avg 20.3%

35–54 years
26.3%

NSW avg 26.3%

55–64 years
10.4%

NSW avg 11.9%

65 years and over
10%

NSW avg 17.6%

Share of all residents of Thornton - Millers Forest (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census; the grey marker is the New South Wales average. How the bands and averages work →

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

Households and families

Live

64% of families here have children living at home - more than the New South Wales average of 60%. The largest overseas-born communities are United Kingdom (2.3%), India (1.9%) and New Zealand (1.1%). 30% 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
50.3%

NSW avg 44.5%

One-parent family
13.2%

NSW avg 15.9%

Couple, no children
35.6%

NSW avg 37.9%

What people live in

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

Separate house
94.8%

NSW avg 67.4%

Semi-detached / townhouse
4.4%

NSW avg 11.6%

Flat or apartment
0.8%

NSW avg 20.3%

Owned or rented

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

Owned outright
23.6%

NSW avg 31.9%

Owned with a mortgage
45.9%

NSW avg 33.7%

Rented
29.6%

NSW avg 32.5%

Figures describe Thornton - Millers Forest (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census; the grey marker is the New South Wales average. How these are counted →

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

Who lives in Thornton - Millers Forest

Live

Top 5 overseas birthplaces shown · 93.5% born in Australia or a country not in the top five.

United Kingdom · established by 2016
2.3%

NSW avg 3.2%

India · growing since 2016
1.9%

NSW avg 2.3%

New Zealand · established by 2016
1.1%

NSW avg 1.1%

Philippines · established by 2016
0.7%

NSW avg 0.9%

South Africa · established by 2016
0.5%

NSW avg 0.3%

Nearby
Beresfield - Hexham, East Maitland - Metford and Tenambit - East Maitland also have an established United Kingdom community.
Settlement pattern
Of overseas-born residents who stated when they arrived, 16% arrived in the last 5 years (2016–2021) (NSW avg 16.2%) and 37.4% 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, 14% 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 Thornton - Millers Forest (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 →

Source: ABS Census 2021, General Community Profile (SA2)
Socio-economic index (SEIFA)decile 6 of 10
Decile (1 lowest, 10 highest)
Decile 6 of 10
Where this sits in NSW
top 50% 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

2 GPs and 11 parks are mapped in the area, and the nearest emergency department is New Maitland Hospital, 6 km away in a straight line.

None mapped
Supermarkets
Middle NSW area: 2
2
GPs
Middle NSW area: 0
11
Parks
Middle NSW area: 17
11
Playgrounds
Middle NSW area: 8
1
Train stations
Middle NSW area: 0
None mapped
Libraries
Middle NSW area: 1

Mapped inside the Thornton - Millers Forest boundary. A zero can mean "not mapped" rather than "not there". Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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Train to the city and nearest emergency department

Train to the city

Not published

New 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

Mapped

New Maitland Hospital · 6 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
2
Places of worship
Middle NSW area: 1
None mapped
Community centres
Middle NSW area: 0
None mapped
Swimming pools
Middle NSW area: 0
1
Sport and fitness venues
Middle NSW area: 1
Out with a baby
3
Baby-change tables
None mapped
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.

About this data

Counts of features tagged in OpenStreetMap inside the Thornton - Millers Forest 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 Thornton - Millers Forest

Police recorded 821 incidents in Thornton - Millers Forest in Jan-Dec 2025, up 17% on the year before. This is a raw count, not a rate or a rating.

Recorded incidents, 2025
821
Change on the year before
+17%
701 in 2024
Recorded incidents, 2021
841

Largest offence categories

Theft 208
Transport regulatory offences 114
Assault 113
Against justice procedures 111
Intimidation, stalking and harassment 86
LGA rate, as published: Maitland council areaJuly 2025 - June 2026

These rows cover the whole Maitland council area, which is larger than Thornton - Millers Forest. The agency publishes a rate for each major offence, not one total, so there is no total row. We do not calculate rates.

OffenceRecorded incidentsPer 100,000 people
Domestic violence related assault731744.7
Non-domestic violence related assault441449.3
Sexual assault212216.0
Sexual touching, sexual act and other sexual offences181184.4
Robbery1919.4
Break and enter dwelling301306.6
Break and enter non-dwelling124126.3
Motor vehicle theft307312.7
Steal from motor vehicle402409.5
Steal from retail store535545.0
Other stealing offences375382.0
Malicious damage to property746760.0

Source: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, July 2025 - June 2026, accessed 11 October 2026.

Is Thornton - Millers Forest safe? Here's what police recorded

Police recorded 821 criminal incidents in Thornton - Millers Forest in Jan-Dec 2025 (NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), released 2026 Q3). NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research publishes rates per 100,000 people for Maitland council area one offence at a time, not as a single total (July 2025 - June 2026); they are listed on this page. Counts are often higher where many people visit (shopping centres, stations, nightlife), not only where many people live. SuburbRadar does not rate suburbs as safe or unsafe.

How much crime is recorded in Thornton - Millers Forest?

821 incidents in Jan-Dec 2025, against 701 the year before. The largest offence categories were Theft (208), Transport regulatory offences (114), Assault (113). These are raw counts as published, not adjusted for population. Source: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), released 2026 Q3. Counts are often higher where many people visit (shopping centres, stations, nightlife), not only where many people live. SuburbRadar does not rate suburbs as safe or unsafe.

Police-recorded incident counts (Calendar years; latest = Jan-Dec 2025). Raw counts, not a rate, and not a judgement about the suburb. Counts are often higher where many people visit (shopping centres, stations, nightlife), not only where many people live. SuburbRadar does not rate suburbs as safe or unsafe. Source: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), released 2026 Q3. More on crime & safety →

© State of New South Wales (Department of Communities and Justice), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (copyright notice). Suburb totals are added up from published figures.

Risks

4 of the 4 planning and hazard records we hold show something in this area: bushfire, heritage controls, traffic noise and acid sulfate soils. 3 more are not published for NSW - treat them as not checked.

Bushfire

Designated Bush Fire Prone Land

Present in this area

Heritage controls

In an official overlay

Present in this area

Traffic noise

Freeway or highway present

New England Highway · Thornton Road · Anderson Drive

Acid sulfate soils

Classified in the local plan

Present in this area

Each line is the extent of an official record across the whole Thornton - Millers Forest area - not a risk rating, and a specific address may or may not be affected. Not financial or insurance advice.

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All 9 checks and what each one means

Flooding

Not published

New 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 Land

Present 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 overlay

Present 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 present

New England Highway · Thornton Road · Anderson Drive

3 named roads through this area carry OpenStreetMap's highest classification - a freeway, motorway or major highway, whatever the road is called locally, alongside 10 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 mapped

New 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 mapped

New 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

Classified in the local plan

Present in this area

Part of this area is classified for acid sulfate soils in the local environmental plan, which means work disturbing the soil below a set depth needs council consent. Acid sulfate soils are harmless while they stay wet and buried; digging into them - for a pool, footings, a basement or drainage - exposes them to air and produces acid that eats concrete and steel and can kill fish downstream, so excavation may need a management plan. The class describes how close the soils are likely to sit to the surface, not how bad they are. Much of the low-lying land around the coast and its rivers is classified, so read this as "check before you dig", not as something that sets this area apart.

Recorded crime

Official counts published

821 incidents

Police-recorded criminal incidents in Calendar years; latest = Jan-Dec 2025, up 17% on the prior year. A count, not a rate - busier areas with more shops, stations and visitors record more incidents than quiet ones of the same size. Full breakdown ↑

Social housing

Census figure

1.4% rented from a state or territory housing authority · 0.9% 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 Thornton - Millers Forest 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 · NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), released 2026 Q3 · ABS Census 2021 (G37 tenure and landlord type) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) - road classification

Nearby suburbs

The six closest profiled areas in New South Wales, by distance between area centres.

Thornton - Millers Forest · 5 gazetted suburbs

The suburbs in this area

Live

Everything else on this page is published for Thornton - Millers Forest as a whole - one ABS statistical area covering 5 separate gazetted suburbs. These are the figures published for each of those suburbs on its own.

Gazetted suburbs inside Thornton - Millers Forest, with each suburb's own published figures.
Suburb Residents
Census 2021
Schools Median
house price
Thornton 10,690 2 $857k
Chisholm 4,577 2 $857k
Millers Forest 357 1 $825k
Berry Park 182 0 $882k
Duckenfield 92 0 $882k

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.

Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing 2021, General Community Profile for Suburbs and Localities; ABS ASGS Edition 3 suburb boundaries; ACARA School Location 2025; NSW Department of Communities and Justice median house sale prices (by postcode). © State of New South Wales (Department of Communities and Justice), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (copyright notice).

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A note on this page. Nothing on this page is property, financial, legal or schooling advice - verify with primary sources before any decision.