Geelong suburbs people moved to from the city

Point Lonsdale tops the ranking: 19% of its residents lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne. Torquay and Curlewis follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 43 eligible Geelong suburbs.

This page ranks Geelong 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.

Geelong 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

Point Lonsdale

VIC 3225 · 3,788 residents

19.0% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 691 residents

B 100.0
2

Torquay

VIC 3228 · 18,534 residents

18.9% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 3,243 residents

A 97.6
3

Curlewis

VIC 3222 · 4,175 residents

17.9% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 684 residents

C 95.2
4

Ocean Grove

VIC 3226 · 17,714 residents

16.2% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 2,712 residents

B 92.9
5

Armstrong Creek

VIC 3217 · 11,247 residents

15.7% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 1,573 residents

C 90.5
6

Barwon Heads

VIC 3227 · 4,353 residents

15.6% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 654 residents

B 88.1
7

Mount Duneed

VIC 3217 · 6,182 residents

15.6% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 871 residents

B 85.7
8

Queenscliff

VIC 3225 · 1,516 residents

15.3% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 228 residents

A 83.3
9

Jan Juc

VIC 3228 · 4,151 residents

13.9% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 544 residents

A 81.0
10

Geelong

VIC 3220 · 5,811 residents

13.4% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 754 residents

B 78.6
11

Geelong West

VIC 3218 · 7,345 residents

13.4% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 914 residents

B 76.2
12

East Geelong

VIC 3219 · 4,012 residents

12.4% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 471 residents

B 73.8
13

Charlemont

VIC 3217 · 2,612 residents

12.2% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 288 residents

C 71.4
14

South Geelong

VIC 3220 · 1,014 residents

11.4% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 108 residents

C 69.0
15

Clifton Springs

VIC 3222 · 7,646 residents

11.1% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Melbourne · 808 residents

B 66.7

Ranked from 43 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 Geelong'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 geelong suburbs people moved to from the city?

Point Lonsdale tops the ranking: 19% of its residents lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne. Torquay and Curlewis follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 43 eligible Geelong suburbs.

How is this ranking put together?

Each Geelong 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 12 October 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