Suburbs to avoid in Adelaide
No suburb is bad for everybody, and a list that says otherwise is an opinion with a number attached. What does exist is a short set of hazards the states measure and publish, suburb by suburb. This page ranks Adelaide suburbs on those, highest first: recorded crime, bushfire history, flood overlays and aircraft noise. Only suburbs with at least 1,000 residents are ranked.
Waterloo Corner carries the most measured hazard in the ranking, leading on recorded crime, bushfire history, flood overlays, and aircraft noise. Glenelg and Salisbury follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 318 eligible Adelaide suburbs.
Read each number for what it is. Recorded crime is offences per resident, so a suburb with a shopping centre, a nightlife strip or a railway interchange carries crimes committed against businesses and visitors — the busiest retail suburb is usually near the top and is not a dangerous place to live. Bushfire history records where fire has burned, and is highest in the leafy suburbs at the bush edge that people move to on purpose. A flood overlay is a planning control, not a prediction. Aircraft noise comes from airport contours and changes street by street. All of it is a suburb average, and nobody lives in a suburb average: check the address before ruling anywhere in or out.
Adelaide suburbs with the highest measured hazards
Ranked on recorded crime (weighted heaviest), bushfire history, flood overlays and aircraft noise, each measured against other suburbs in the same pool. A suburb with no crime record is excluded, and a hazard the state does not publish is left out of the score rather than counted as zero.
Waterloo Corner
SA 5110 · 1,103 residents86/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 82% of Adelaide · bushfire history · flood overlay · aircraft noise
Glenelg
SA 5045 · 3,440 residents84/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 96% of Adelaide · flood overlay · aircraft noise
Salisbury
SA 5108 · 8,841 residents81/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 96% of Adelaide · flood overlay · aircraft noise
Para Hills West
SA 5096 · 3,295 residents80/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 84% of Adelaide · flood overlay · aircraft noise
Angle Vale
SA 5117 · 4,051 residents78/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 86% of Adelaide · bushfire history · flood overlay
West Richmond
SA 5033 · 1,087 residents77/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 73% of Adelaide · flood overlay · aircraft noise
Elizabeth
SA 5112 · 1,033 residents76/100 hazard score · Adelaide's highest recorded crime · flood overlay
Brahma Lodge
SA 5109 · 3,380 residents75/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 78% of Adelaide · flood overlay · aircraft noise
Port Adelaide
SA 5015 · 1,338 residents75/100 hazard score · Adelaide's highest recorded crime · flood overlay
Salisbury Downs
SA 5108 · 6,296 residents75/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 86% of Adelaide · flood overlay · aircraft noise
Wayville
SA 5034 · 1,922 residents75/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 96% of Adelaide · flood overlay
Peterhead
SA 5016 · 1,201 residents74/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 98% of Adelaide · flood overlay
St Marys
SA 5042 · 3,010 residents74/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 84% of Adelaide · bushfire history · flood overlay
Virginia
SA 5120 · 2,759 residents74/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 75% of Adelaide · bushfire history · flood overlay
Pooraka
SA 5095 · 7,583 residents74/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 82% of Adelaide · flood overlay · aircraft noise
Ranked from 318 qualifying suburbs.
40% recorded crime · 20% recorded bushfire history · 20% flood overlays · 20% aircraft noise. Each hazard is a percentile within Adelaide's candidate pool — the highest reading scores highest on that leg — then blended, crime-led. A hazard the state does not publish at suburb level is left out and the other weights scaled up, rather than counted as zero. Crime is recorded offences per resident from state police data, never compared across state lines; bushfire and flood come from mapped overlays and noise from airport ANEF contours. Suburbs with no crime record, or no measured hazard at all, are excluded. Socio-economic measures are deliberately not part of the score. See how we calculate for the full methodology.
Common questions about this ranking
Which Adelaide suburbs should I avoid?
None of them for everybody. A suburb near the top of this list carries more of one or more measured hazards than its neighbours, which matters more to some buyers than others — a family by a bushland reserve accepts bushfire risk that a retiree may not. Use the list to decide which addresses to look at more closely, never to rule a whole suburb out.
How is this ranking scored?
Each Adelaide suburb is scored on 40% recorded crime, 20% recorded bushfire history, 20% flood overlays, and 20% aircraft noise. Every hazard is turned into a percentile within Adelaide, so a score reads as how the suburb compares with the rest of the city, then blended with crime weighted heaviest.
Why is a busy shopping or nightlife suburb near the top?
Recorded crime is offences per resident. Offences committed against shops, venues and visitors are divided by the few people who live nearby, so commercial centres score high without being dangerous places to live. It measures reported offences, not your personal risk, and is only ever compared within the same state.
Why is SEIFA or income not part of the score?
Because they describe the people who live somewhere, not a hazard you would face there. Adding them would turn this into a ranking of lower-income suburbs under the word "avoid". Income and socio-economic data are on every suburb page.
Why are some suburbs missing from the list?
A suburb only appears if it has a crime record, at least 1,000 residents and at least one measured hazard. A suburb without a crime record is excluded rather than scored, and in states where suburb-level crime data is not published the ranking is not produced.
Same list in other cities
- Suburbs to avoid in Sydney
- Suburbs to avoid in Melbourne
- Suburbs to avoid in Brisbane
- Suburbs to avoid in Perth
- Suburbs to avoid in Hobart
- Suburbs to avoid in Darwin
- Suburbs to avoid in Canberra
- Suburbs to avoid in Newcastle
- Suburbs to avoid in Central Coast
- Suburbs to avoid in Sunshine Coast
- Suburbs to avoid in Gold Coast
- Suburbs to avoid in Wollongong
- Suburbs to avoid in Geelong
- Suburbs to avoid in Townsville
- Suburbs to avoid in Toowoomba
- Suburbs to avoid in Busselton
- Suburbs to avoid in Ballarat
- Suburbs to avoid in Cairns
- Suburbs to avoid in Albany
- Suburbs to avoid in Ballina
- Suburbs to avoid in Geraldton
- Suburbs to avoid in Warragul
- Suburbs to avoid in Bundaberg
- Suburbs to avoid in Launceston
- Suburbs to avoid in Bendigo
- Suburbs to avoid in Rockhampton
- Suburbs to avoid in Mackay
- Suburbs to avoid in Albury – Wodonga
- Suburbs to avoid in Camden Haven
- Suburbs to avoid in Burnie
- Suburbs to avoid in Wagga Wagga
- Suburbs to avoid in Coffs Harbour
- Suburbs to avoid in Alice Springs
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Related
Rankings last computed 12 October 2026. Recomputed after each ACARA schools data refresh.
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