Suburbs to avoid in Gold Coast
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 Gold Coast suburbs on those, highest first: recorded crime, bushfire history, flood overlays and aircraft noise. Only suburbs with at least 1,000 residents are ranked.
Tweed Heads South carries the most measured hazard in the ranking, leading on recorded crime, bushfire history, and aircraft noise. Bilinga and Tweed Heads follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 71 eligible Gold Coast 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.
Gold Coast 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.
Tweed Heads South
NSW 2486 · 7,941 residents91/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 98% of Gold Coast · bushfire history · aircraft noise
Bilinga
QLD 4225 · 1,883 residents82/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 96% of Gold Coast · aircraft noise
Tweed Heads
NSW 2485 · 9,176 residents79/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 94% of Gold Coast · aircraft noise
Coolangatta
QLD 4225 · 6,491 residents76/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 89% of Gold Coast · aircraft noise
Chinderah
NSW 2487 · 1,639 residents75/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 87% of Gold Coast · bushfire history
Burleigh Heads
QLD 4220 · 10,572 residents72/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 84% of Gold Coast · bushfire history
Nerang
QLD 4211 · 17,048 residents71/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 76% of Gold Coast · bushfire history
Yatala
QLD 4207 · 1,405 residents70/100 hazard score · Gold Coast's highest recorded crime
Broadbeach
QLD 4218 · 6,786 residents69/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 98% of Gold Coast
Broadbeach Waters
QLD 4218 · 8,164 residents67/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 94% of Gold Coast
Palm Beach
QLD 4221 · 16,349 residents66/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 67% of Gold Coast · aircraft noise
Surfers Paradise
QLD 4217 · 26,412 residents66/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 91% of Gold Coast
Burleigh Waters
QLD 4220 · 14,556 residents66/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 73% of Gold Coast · bushfire history
Southport
QLD 4215 · 36,786 residents64/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 89% of Gold Coast
Oxenford
QLD 4210 · 12,273 residents64/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 63% of Gold Coast · bushfire history
Ranked from 71 qualifying suburbs.
50% recorded crime · 25% recorded bushfire history · 25% aircraft noise. Each hazard is a percentile within Gold Coast'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 Gold Coast 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 Gold Coast suburb is scored on 50% recorded crime, 25% recorded bushfire history, and 25% aircraft noise. Every hazard is turned into a percentile within Gold Coast, so a score reads as how the suburb compares with the rest of the city, then blended with crime weighted heaviest. Flood overlays is left out because the state does not publish it at suburb level, rather than being counted as zero.
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
- Suburbs to avoid in Sydney
- Suburbs to avoid in Melbourne
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Related
Rankings last computed 12 October 2026. Recomputed after each ACARA schools data refresh.
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