Suburbs to avoid in Geraldton
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 Geraldton suburbs on those, highest first: recorded crime, bushfire history, flood overlays and aircraft noise. Only suburbs with at least 1,000 residents are ranked.
Spalding carries the most measured hazard in the ranking, leading on recorded crime, bushfire history, and flood overlays. Sunset Beach and Utakarra follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 17 eligible Geraldton 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.
Geraldton 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.
Spalding
WA 6530 · 1,992 residents82/100 hazard score · bushfire history · flood overlay
Sunset Beach
WA 6530 · 1,558 residents70/100 hazard score · bushfire history · flood overlay
Utakarra
WA 6530 · 1,467 residents62/100 hazard score · bushfire history
Geraldton
WA 6530 · 3,246 residents62/100 hazard score · Geraldton's highest recorded crime
Wonthella
WA 6530 · 1,711 residents62/100 hazard score · flood overlay
Bluff Point
WA 6530 · 1,381 residents59/100 hazard score · flood overlay
Rangeway
WA 6530 · 1,871 residents58/100 hazard score
Waggrakine
WA 6530 · 2,679 residents54/100 hazard score · bushfire history
Glenfield
WA 6532 · 1,009 residents44/100 hazard score · bushfire history
Wandina
WA 6530 · 4,375 residents42/100 hazard score · bushfire history
Beachlands
WA 6530 · 1,400 residents42/100 hazard score
Beresford
WA 6530 · 1,463 residents39/100 hazard score
Drummond Cove
WA 6532 · 1,605 residents39/100 hazard score · bushfire history
Strathalbyn
WA 6530 · 1,165 residents37/100 hazard score · flood overlay
Woorree
WA 6530 · 1,295 residents36/100 hazard score · flood overlay
Ranked from 17 qualifying suburbs. Too small a field for percentile comparisons, so each row shows its score rather than the share of Geraldton it ranks above.
40% recorded crime · 20% recorded bushfire history · 20% flood overlays · 20% aircraft noise. Each hazard is a percentile within Geraldton'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 Geraldton 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 Geraldton 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 Geraldton, 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
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Rankings last computed 28 September 2026. Recomputed after each ACARA schools data refresh.
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