West Melbourne - Residential
VIC · 1 school · zoned North Melbourne Primary School
9,699 residents - 7.5% are children under 15, median age 31, the largest overseas-born community is China (11.3%).
Family-Fit score
Our method is published belowMixed for families - strongest on getting around, weakest on families already here.
- Schools in the area · 20% of the score
- 25/100
- Everyday amenities · 15% of the score
- 79/100
- Getting around · 15% of the score
- 100/100
- Housing affordability · 15% of the score
- 37/100
- Families already here · 10% of the score
- 7/100
- Socio-economic profile · 10% of the score
- 89/100
VIC median 75/100
1 school in this SA2
VIC median 69/100
10 parks · 2 GPs · 2 supermarkets · 4 playgrounds
VIC median 59/100
7 min to the CBD by train from Flagstaff Railway Station
VIC median 46/100
Paying over 30% of income on housing: 18.2% of mortgage-holding households, 32.0% of renting households
VIC median 67/100
7.5% of residents are children aged 0–14 · 24.0% of families are couples with children
VIC median 56/100
SEIFA IRSAD decile 9 of 10 nationally
The grey marker on each bar is the median across the 500 Victoria areas we publish a score for (state median overall: 64/100). It is context, not a pass mark.
Not scored here (no published data for this area, so it is left out rather than counted as zero): Childcare & early years. The remaining inputs were rescaled to 100.
How this score is calculated
Every input is a free, already-published government figure for the West Melbourne - Residential 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.
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 →
Boundaries: ABS Suburbs & Localities 2021. School pins are ACARA's published locations. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors, © CARTO. Open the full VIC map →
Why “West Melbourne - Residential”? The ABS divides the larger suburb of West Melbourne 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.
West Melbourne - Residential is a locality in the Melbourne City area of Victoria. This profile draws on ABS population and Census figures, the ACARA school register and ACECQA childcare ratings for the West Melbourne - Residential SA2.
Living in West Melbourne - Residential
A mid-sized suburb with a young population. Growing quickly - population is up 5.0% in the past year. Strong China and India communities here (2021 Census). About a 7-minute train to the CBD. Mostly apartments and units.
What families notice
- Ranks in the top 20% for socio-economic advantage in VIC (ABS SEIFA - not a safety or school-quality measure).
- At least one nearby government school has an above-average ICSEA intake profile (1053 vs. 1000 national average).
- 10 parks mapped inside this SA2 (OpenStreetMap).
- The zoned government school for part of this area sits just outside this SA2 - check the exact catchment boundary before assuming.
- About 32% of renters here spend over 30% of income on rent - above the standard affordability guideline (ABS Census 2021).
- Property figures are from Q4 2025, the most recent Valuer-General release we have - prices may have moved since.
Schools, childcare & safety
Live data for the West Melbourne - Residential SA2 - ACARA schools register, ACECQA childcare ratings, police-recorded incidents.
North Melbourne Primary School
The government school your child can attend for free by living in West Melbourne - Residential.
The government catchment school for parts of West Melbourne - Residential is North Melbourne Primary School - just outside the suburb boundary (VIC catchment data).
See the catchment on the mapFee-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 West Melbourne - Residential
- Secondary · Catholic · Years 7-12Enrolment359ICSEA1053
ICSEA reflects student intake context, not teaching quality (1000 = national average). All VIC schools →
Victorian Senior Secondary Completion and Achievement data source: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).
The VCAA is not associated with SuburbRadar and does not endorse any of the views or recommendations of SuburbRadar. The VCAA's assessment data for a given year cannot be used to predict results for schools or students in subsequent years. Each year's assessment results will vary due to different assessments being used and different populations of students participating in the assessment.
Childcare & early learning
No childcare services matched to this area on the ACECQA register.
- Centre-based day care
- $16.02/hr
- Outside school hours care
- $10.88/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 Melbourne City 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.
Safety - recorded incidents
- Incidents, latest year
- 1,220
- vs previous year
- -4%
- vs 2021
- 1,042
- Property and deception offences 860
- Crimes against the person 176
- Drug offences 72
- Justice procedures offences 65
- Public order and security offences 46
Police-recorded incident counts (Years ending March; latest = year ending March 2026). These are not population-adjusted and are not a judgement about the suburb - larger, busier areas record more incidents. More on safety →
Ages of people here
4.2% of people here are school-age children (5–14) - fewer than the Victoria average of 12.2%, and 3.3% are under 5. The median age is 31.
- 0–4 years · before school
- 3.3%
- 5–14 years · school age
- 4.2%
- 15–19 years · teens
- 2.9%
- 20–34 years
- 53.5%
- 35–54 years
- 26.2%
- 55–64 years
- 5.6%
- 65 years and over
- 4.4%
VIC avg 5.8%
VIC avg 12.2%
VIC avg 5.6%
VIC avg 21.3%
VIC avg 26.8%
VIC avg 11.5%
VIC avg 16.8%
Share of all residents of West Melbourne - Residential (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 Victoria average, population-weighted across the 520 SA2s in the state and shown for context only - it is not a target or a pass mark.
Households and families
33% of families here have children living at home - fewer than the Victoria average of 61%. The largest overseas-born communities are China (11.3%), India (7.1%) and Malaysia (3.3%). 66% 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
- 24%
- One-parent family
- 8.9%
- Couple, no children
- 63.3%
VIC avg 45.2%
VIC avg 15.3%
VIC avg 37.8%
What people live in
Share of occupied private dwellings. Other and unstated structures are not shown.
- Separate house
- 1.3%
- Semi-detached / townhouse
- 20.2%
- Flat or apartment
- 77.8%
VIC avg 75.6%
VIC avg 13.5%
VIC avg 10.5%
Owned or rented
Share of occupied private dwellings. Other and unstated tenures are not shown.
- Owned outright
- 12.2%
- Owned with a mortgage
- 20.7%
- Rented
- 65.6%
VIC avg 32.5%
VIC avg 37.8%
VIC avg 28%
Figures describe West Melbourne - Residential (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census. The grey marker on each bar is the Victoria average, population-weighted across the 520 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.
Who lives in West Melbourne - Residential
Top 5 overseas birthplaces shown · 73.1% born in Australia or a country not in the top five.
- China · established by 2016
- 11.3%
- India · established by 2016
- 7.1%
- Malaysia · established by 2016
- 3.3%
- United Kingdom · established by 2016
- 2.8%
- South Korea · established by 2016
- 2.4%
VIC avg 2.3%
VIC avg 3.9%
VIC avg 0.6%
VIC avg 3%
VIC avg 0%
- Co-located communities
- West Melbourne - Residential is home to established China, India, Malaysia, United Kingdom and South Korea communities - each is 2% or more of residents born overseas here, not a ranking of one against another.
- Nearby
- North Melbourne, Docklands and Melbourne CBD - East also have an established China community.
- Settlement pattern
- Of overseas-born residents who stated when they arrived, 47.6% arrived in the last 5 years (2016–2021) (VIC avg 17.5%) and 14.9% arrived before 2001 (VIC avg 47.4%).
- English at home
- Of residents who speak a language other than English at home and stated their English proficiency, 11.7% report speaking English “not well” or “not at all” (VIC avg 14.1%) - a self-reported ABS figure across all languages combined, not a judgement of any one community.
Figures describe West Melbourne - Residential (ABS Statistical Area 2) at the 2021 Census. The grey marker on each bar is the Victoria average, population-weighted across the 520 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.
Socio-economic index (SEIFA)
- Decile (1 lowest – 10 highest)
- Decile 9 of 10
- Where this sits in VIC
- top 20% of Victoria 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.
Which way this area is moving
A single census tells you what West Melbourne - Residential 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, West Melbourne - Residential has seen more residents born overseas and more residents speaking another language at home.
- People counted
- +3,841 people since 2011
- Median age
- +1 year since 2011
- Children aged 0–14
- +0.1 pts since 2011
- Born overseas
- +16.1 pts since 2011
- Speak another language at home
- +11.3 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 areas we profile in Victoria - up to 500, 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.
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. Victoria in Future 2023 (Vic. Dept of Transport and Planning) projects the Melbourne council area, which contains West Melbourne - Residential along with its neighbouring suburbs, to grow to 242,090 people by 2036: 88,420 more people than the 153,670 counted in 2021.
This is the council area, not West Melbourne - Residential. Melbourne 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 2036. A projection is an assumption about the future, not a measurement of it, and it will be revised - this one was released September 2023. 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.
Lifestyle & getting around
Everything mapped inside the West Melbourne - Residential 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 VIC area so a number means something.
Everyday essentials
Supermarkets
Middle VIC area: 1
GPs & clinics
Middle VIC area: 1
Parks
Middle VIC area: 22
Playgrounds
Middle VIC area: 11
Train stations
Middle VIC area: 0
Libraries
Middle VIC area: 0
Community & recreation
Places of worship
Middle VIC area: 1
Community centres
Middle VIC area: 0
Swimming pools
Middle VIC area: 0
Sports centres
Middle VIC area: 2
Out with a baby
Baby-change tables
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 published7 min from Flagstaff Railway Station
Median scheduled weekday morning-peak travel time to the central-city terminus, from the closest station to the middle of this area (0.6 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
MappedThe Royal Melbourne Hospital · 1.2 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 West Melbourne - Residential 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 VIC area” is the median count across the 518 Victoria 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.
Risks & things to check
The checks families run one by one before committing to West Melbourne - Residential, in one place. Every line is an official published record for the West Melbourne - Residential area - we don't rate, score or rank any of them, and a line we can't answer says so.
-
Flooding
In an official overlay0.8% of the area
Part of this area sits inside a Victorian planning-scheme flood overlay - Land Subject to Inundation, Floodway, or Special Building (overland stormwater). Whether a specific address is affected depends on the property.
-
Bushfire
Not designatedNeither the Victorian Bushfire Management Overlay nor the state’s wider designated Bushfire Prone Area covers any part of this area. Both are reviewed and can change, so check the current maps before building.
-
Heritage controls
In an official overlay61.2% of the area
Part of this area sits inside the Victorian Heritage Overlay, 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.
-
Traffic noise
Freeway or highway presentKing Street · Curzon Street · Rosslyn Street · +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 8 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 in the overlayNo Victorian Airport Environs Overlay (including the Melbourne Airport one) intersects this area. The overlays cover land close to an airport under a mapped noise contour - aircraft still fly over areas outside them, including on flight paths.
-
Land contamination checks
In an official overlay70.7% of the area
Part of this area sits inside the Victorian Environmental Audit Overlay - land where a past use such as a service station, dry cleaner, factory or landfill means an environmental audit must be completed before it can be used for housing, childcare or a school. It flags land that must be checked, not land found to be contaminated, and it applies parcel by parcel.
-
Acid sulfate soils
None mappedVictoria's coastal acid sulfate soil mapping covers coastal and estuarine land 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
Official counts published1,220 incidents
Police-recorded criminal incidents in Years ending March; latest = year ending March 2026, down 4% 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 figure1.3% rented from a state or territory housing authority · 0.7% from a community housing provider
Share of occupied private dwellings here with a stated tenure (Census 2021). The middle VIC area is 1.0% public and 0.3% community, across 513 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 West Melbourne - Residential 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.
What's being built here
11 new homes were approved in West Melbourne - Residential in the year to June 2025. Councils approved 991 new dwellings here across the 5 years to June 2025 - an approval is permission to build, not a home that exists yet.
Approved in the year to June 2025
Middle VIC area: 44
Separate houses
Private sector, over the 4 of these 6 years where the breakdown is published
Townhouses & apartments
Private sector, over the 4 of these 6 years where the breakdown is published
The ABS did not publish a figure for every year between 2020 and 2025 here, so we draw no line - a chart with a hole closed up would misstate the shape of the change.
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 West Melbourne - Residential 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 491Victoria areas with a complete series - a typical area, for context, not a target or a pass mark.
Property & rent
- Median house price
- $1,520,000
- House price YoY
- +52.8%
- Median 3BR house rent
- -
Housing cost pressure
In West Melbourne - Residential, 32% of renting households spend more than 30% of their income on rent, and 18.2% 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
- 18.2%
- Rent over 30% of income
- 32%
VIC avg 15.4%
Share of households WITH a mortgage whose repayments take more than 30% of income. That's 132 of 673 households with a stated repayment.
VIC avg 30.9%
Share of RENTING households whose rent takes more than 30% of income. That's 734 of 2,149 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 VIC average, weighted by household base across the SA2s in the state that report each figure (509 for mortgage and 508 for rent), and is context only - not a target. Census 2021 - housing costs have moved since. Not financial advice.
Where did the gain come from?
+463Reading the streams: overseas arrivals were the dominant force - more came from abroad than the suburb grew on its own.
Other SA2s in Melbourne City
The next zoom out - sorted by 1-year growth
- 01Kensington (Vic.)+6.9%12,423 ppl
- 02Carlton+6.4%25,267 ppl
- 03Melbourne CBD - East+5.0%14,266 ppl
- 04Southbank (West) - South Wharf+4.4%8,122 ppl
- 05Docklands+4.0%19,139 ppl
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