Awards you can check
Every award here is computed from data a government measured and published — never from our own estimates. Each one shows its formula, its source, and exactly how many suburbs it was able to rank.
Why there is no national affordability award
Rent awards are possible in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, because those governments publish median rents from bonds actually lodged. Purchase-price awards are possible in Victoria and South Australia. Western Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Northern Territory publish neither, so no suburb in 4 of the 8 states and territories can be ranked on what it costs to live there.
We could fill those gaps with our own modelled figures and publish a tidy national ranking. We don't, because an award computed from an estimate is just an opinion with a trophy on it. The Census and SEIFA awards below do cover the whole country, because the ABS publishes nationally.
The awards
9 awards, computed 2026-07-31. Top 10 in each.
Most Affordable Suburbs to Rent a 3-Bedroom Home in New South Wales
The ten New South Wales suburbs with the lowest median weekly rent for a three-bedroom home, measured from bonds actually lodged with the state rental authority.
Ranked 839 suburbs with measured data
Most Affordable Suburbs to Rent a 3-Bedroom Home in Queensland
The ten Queensland suburbs with the lowest median weekly rent for a three-bedroom home, measured from bonds actually lodged with the state rental authority.
Ranked 494 suburbs with measured data
Most Affordable Suburbs to Rent a 3-Bedroom Home in Victoria
The ten Victoria suburbs with the lowest median weekly rent for a three-bedroom home, measured from bonds actually lodged with the state rental authority.
Ranked 158 suburbs with measured data
Most Affordable Suburbs to Buy in Victoria
The ten Victoria suburbs with the lowest median house sale price, from the state's published sales data.
Ranked 521 suburbs with measured data
Most Affordable Suburbs to Buy in Metropolitan Adelaide
The ten cheapest suburbs by median house sale price in metropolitan Adelaide. South Australia publishes metropolitan sales only, so this cannot cover the whole state and does not claim to.
Ranked 183 suburbs with measured data
Best Gross Rental Yield in Victoria
Victoria is the only state that publishes both bond rents and sale prices per suburb, so it is the only place this can be computed from measurement alone.
Ranked 150 suburbs with measured data
Highest Home Ownership in Australia
Where the most homes are owned rather than rented, from the Census.
Ranked 3,816 suburbs with measured data
Highest Household Income in Australia
The suburbs with the highest median household income in the country.
Ranked 3,817 suburbs with measured data
Least Disadvantaged Suburbs by SEIFA
The ABS's own index of relative socio-economic disadvantage, scaled 0–100 against every Australian postcode.
Ranked 3,817 suburbs with measured data
How an award is decided
- Only measured government data is eligible. Any figure our own model produced is excluded from ranking, even where it is the only number available.
- A suburb needs a population of 1,000 or more. Without that floor a hamlet of forty people with one cheap lease wins every affordability award — true, and useless.
- An award is only published if at least 12 suburbs qualify. Below that it is a list, not a ranking.
- Nobody can buy an award, a place in one, or a change to one. No award on this page has any commercial relationship attached to it.
- Non-residential localities are excluded: Hmas Cerberus, VIC — gazetted as a locality but not a place anyone lives.
Full formulas and sources are on each award's page, and the underlying datasets are listed on data sources.