Gold Coast suburbs people moved to from the city

Pimpama tops the ranking: 16.7% of its residents lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Brisbane. Casuarina and Broadbeach follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 69 eligible Gold Coast suburbs.

This page ranks Gold Coast 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.

Gold Coast 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

Pimpama

QLD 4209 · 24,601 residents

16.7% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 3,661 residents

B 100.0
2

Casuarina

NSW 2487 · 3,256 residents

15.6% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Sydney · 475 residents

C 98.5
3

Broadbeach

QLD 4218 · 6,786 residents

15.5% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 1,025 residents

B 97.1
4

Coomera

QLD 4209 · 20,225 residents

15.3% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 2,824 residents

C 95.6
5

Ormeau Hills

QLD 4208 · 4,521 residents

14.7% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 598 residents

B 94.1
6

Hope Island

QLD 4212 · 14,522 residents

14.1% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 1,977 residents

A 92.7
7

Mermaid Beach

QLD 4218 · 7,329 residents

13.2% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 934 residents

A 91.2
8

Main Beach

QLD 4217 · 3,998 residents

13.2% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 517 residents

B 89.7
9

Kingscliff

NSW 2487 · 8,355 residents

12.7% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Sydney · 1,016 residents

C 88.2
10

Coolangatta

QLD 4225 · 6,491 residents

12.2% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 766 residents

C 86.8
11

Surfers Paradise

QLD 4217 · 26,412 residents

12.2% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 3,124 residents

B 85.3
12

Ormeau

QLD 4208 · 15,938 residents

12.1% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 1,797 residents

B 83.8
13

Biggera Waters

QLD 4216 · 9,973 residents

11.9% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 1,145 residents

B 82.3
14

Palm Beach

QLD 4221 · 16,349 residents

11.3% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 1,758 residents

B 80.9
15

Yatala

QLD 4207 · 1,405 residents

10.8% lived in a capital five years earlier · most from Brisbane · 146 residents

C 79.4

Ranked from 69 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 Gold Coast'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 gold Coast suburbs people moved to from the city?

Pimpama tops the ranking: 16.7% of its residents lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Brisbane. Casuarina and Broadbeach follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 69 eligible Gold Coast suburbs.

How is this ranking put together?

Each Gold Coast 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.

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