Cairns suburbs people moved to from the city

Palm Cove tops the ranking: 14.7% of its residents lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne. Clifton Beach and Trinity Park follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 31 eligible Cairns suburbs.

This page ranks Cairns suburbs by the share of residents aged five and over who lived in a capital city five years before the 2021 Census. Suburbs inside the capitals are not ranked, and only suburbs with at least 1,000 residents qualify.

These are the places people from the capitals moved to between 2016 and 2021, and each row names the capital most of them came from. It counts arrivals only: people who moved the other way are not in it, so a suburb near the top is not necessarily growing. Not every move is a sea change or a tree change: mining towns and Defence bases rank high because jobs bring people there. The Central Coast is part of Greater Sydney in the ABS geography; we count it as a place of its own, so moves from the Central Coast are not moves from Sydney. Source: ABS 2021 Census, via TableBuilder.

Cairns suburbs where the most residents moved from a capital city

Ranked by the share of residents aged five and over who lived in a capital city five years before the 2021 Census, among suburbs outside the capitals with at least 1,000 residents. It counts arrivals only: people who moved the other way are not in it.

1

Palm Cove

QLD 4879 · 2,450 residents

14.7% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 352 residents

C 100.0
2

Clifton Beach

QLD 4879 · 3,192 residents

13.3% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 410 residents

B 96.7
3

Trinity Park

QLD 4879 · 3,536 residents

11.0% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 363 residents

B 93.3
4

Trinity Beach

QLD 4879 · 6,594 residents

10.9% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 685 residents

C 90.0
5

Cairns North

QLD 4870 · 5,334 residents

10.6% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 544 residents

C 86.7
6

Kewarra Beach

QLD 4879 · 6,133 residents

10.2% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 590 residents

B 83.3
7

Smithfield

QLD 4878 · 6,664 residents

9.8% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 613 residents

C 80.0
8

Parramatta Park

QLD 4870 · 3,621 residents

8.2% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 286 residents

C 76.7
9

Yorkeys Knob

QLD 4878 · 2,794 residents

7.3% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 197 residents

D 73.3
10

Westcourt

QLD 4870 · 3,841 residents

6.7% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 246 residents

D 70.0
11

Edge Hill

QLD 4870 · 4,088 residents

6.6% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 256 residents

C 66.7
12

Cairns City

QLD 4870 · 3,616 residents

6.0% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 211 residents

B 63.3
13

Whitfield

QLD 4870 · 4,262 residents

5.9% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 243 residents

C 60.0
14

Redlynch

QLD 4870 · 10,571 residents

5.9% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 584 residents

C 56.7
15

Brinsmead

QLD 4870 · 5,537 residents

5.8% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 303 residents

B 53.3

Ranked from 31 qualifying suburbs.

How we ranked these

100% share of residents aged five and over who lived in one of the eight capital cities five years before the 2021 Census, percentile-ranked within Cairns's candidate pool. Suburbs that touch a capital's statistical area are not ranked, because the count for their own area includes people who never moved. The Central Coast counts as a place of its own, not as Sydney. Only suburbs with at least 1,000 residents qualify, and the larger number of arrivals breaks ties. It counts arrivals, not net migration. Source: ABS 2021 Census, via TableBuilder; the ABS adjusts small counts slightly to protect privacy. See how we calculate for the full methodology.

Common questions about this ranking

What are the cairns suburbs people moved to from the city?

Palm Cove tops the ranking: 14.7% of its residents lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne. Clifton Beach and Trinity Park follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 31 eligible Cairns suburbs.

How is this ranking put together?

Each Cairns suburb is ranked by the share of its residents aged five and over who lived in one of the eight capital cities five years before the 2021 Census. Suburbs inside the capitals are not ranked, and only suburbs with at least 1,000 residents are included.

Does this show where people are leaving?

No. It counts people who arrived from a capital, not people who left the suburb. A place near the top can have lost as many residents as it gained, so it is not a measure of growth.

Why are some suburbs near a capital missing?

A suburb that touches a capital's statistical area is left out: the Census count for its own area includes people who never moved, so a share would overstate the arrivals.

How current is it?

It covers moves between August 2016 and August 2021, from the 2021 Census, the most recent available until results from the August 2026 Census are released in 2027.

Same list in other cities

Related

Rankings last computed 28 September 2026. Recomputed after each ACARA schools data refresh.

Was the information on this page useful to you?

Save this page for later

We'll email you a link to this page so you can finish reading it on any device. We use your address once to send it and don't keep it.

or