Safest suburbs in Cairns

White Rock is Cairns's safest ranked suburb, with the city's lowest recorded crime. Freshwater and Trinity Park follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 31 eligible Cairns suburbs.

This page ranks Cairns suburbs from safest, leading on recorded crime and factoring in bushfire and flood risk. Each risk is measured relative to other suburbs in the same state, and suburbs without crime data are excluded rather than shown as risk-free. Only suburbs with at least 1,000 residents are ranked.

The score is crime-led: 60% recorded-crime safety, 20% bushfire and 20% flood, because the dominant question behind "safest suburbs" is crime — but a leafy suburb with serious bushfire exposure shouldn't top a safety list on low crime alone. Each leg is an inverted percentile within Cairns's pool, so a suburb reads as "safer than X% of Cairns" on that hazard. Crime is recorded-offence rate per resident from state police data, ranked within the state — it reflects reported offences, not your personal risk, and collection differs between states, so we never compare across state lines. Bushfire and flood come from mapped hazard overlays; a suburb with no mapped overlay scores as low-risk on that leg. This is descriptive risk data, not a guarantee about any individual street or property.

The safest suburbs in Cairns

Ranked on recorded crime (weighted heaviest), bushfire and flood risk — each measured relative to other suburbs in the same state. Suburbs without crime data are excluded rather than shown as risk-free.

1

White Rock

QLD 4868 · 4,918 residents

83/100 safety · among Cairns's lowest recorded crime

C 83.0
2

Freshwater

QLD 4870 · 2,142 residents

79/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 93% of Cairns

A 79.0
3

Trinity Park

QLD 4879 · 3,536 residents

75/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 87% of Cairns

B 75.0
4

Kanimbla

QLD 4870 · 2,827 residents

73/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 83% of Cairns

B 73.0
5

Kewarra Beach

QLD 4879 · 6,133 residents

71/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 97% of Cairns · some bushfire exposure

B 71.0
6

Brinsmead

QLD 4870 · 5,537 residents

71/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 80% of Cairns

B 71.0
7

Clifton Beach

QLD 4879 · 3,192 residents

69/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 77% of Cairns

B 69.0
8

Caravonica

QLD 4878 · 2,183 residents

68/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 90% of Cairns · some bushfire exposure

C 68.3
9

Bayview Heights

QLD 4868 · 4,175 residents

63/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 67% of Cairns

B 63.0
10

Trinity Beach

QLD 4879 · 6,594 residents

57/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 73% of Cairns · some bushfire exposure

C 57.0
11

Redlynch

QLD 4870 · 10,571 residents

56/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 70% of Cairns · some bushfire exposure

C 56.3
12

Holloways Beach

QLD 4878 · 2,398 residents

54/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 52% of Cairns

C 54.0
13

Mount Sheridan

QLD 4868 · 8,678 residents

50/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 45% of Cairns

C 50.0
14

Yorkeys Knob

QLD 4878 · 2,794 residents

50/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 45% of Cairns

D 50.0
15

Edge Hill

QLD 4870 · 4,088 residents

48/100 safety · lower recorded crime than 60% of Cairns · some bushfire exposure

C 48.0

Ranked from 31 qualifying suburbs.

How we ranked these

60% recorded crime · 20% bushfire · 20% flood. Each risk is turned into an inverted percentile within Cairns's candidate pool — the lowest-risk suburb scores highest on that leg — then blended, crime-led. Crime is the recorded-offence rate per resident from state police data, ranked within the state; it reflects reported offences, not personal risk, and is never compared across state lines. Bushfire and flood come from mapped hazard overlays. Suburbs without crime data are excluded rather than shown as risk-free. See how we calculate for the full methodology.

Common questions about this ranking

What are the safest suburbs in Cairns?

White Rock is Cairns's safest ranked suburb, with the city's lowest recorded crime. Freshwater and Trinity Park follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 31 eligible Cairns suburbs.

How is this ranking scored?

Each eligible Cairns suburb is scored on three risks, crime-led: 60% recorded crime, 20% recorded bushfire history, and 20% flood overlays. Each is turned into an inverted percentile within Cairns — a suburb with the lowest recorded crime scores highest on the crime leg — then blended. Crime leads because it's the risk most people mean by 'safest'. QLD publishes no suburb-level flood overlay, so flood does not separate suburbs here; the order comes from crime and bushfire history.

What does the crime figure actually measure?

It's the rate of recorded offences per resident from state police data, ranked against other suburbs in the same state. Two important limits: it counts reported offences, not your personal risk, and different states record and categorise crime differently — so we only ever compare suburbs within the same state, never across state lines.

Why are some suburbs missing from the list?

A suburb only appears if it has crime data and at least 1,000 residents. Suburbs without a crime record are excluded rather than shown as risk-free — otherwise a data gap would masquerade as a perfectly safe suburb. In states where suburb-level crime data isn't published, this ranking isn't produced at all.

How often is this list updated?

The top 15 is recomputed whenever the underlying risk data refreshes — crime data on each state police release, and bushfire and flood as their mapped hazard overlays update. See the footer for the last computed date.

Same list in other cities

Related

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

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