Suburbs to avoid in Mackay
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 Mackay suburbs on those, highest first: recorded crime, bushfire history, flood overlays and aircraft noise. Only suburbs with at least 1,000 residents are ranked.
The suburb of Mackay carries the most measured hazard in the ranking, leading on recorded crime. West Mackay and North Mackay follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 17 eligible Mackay 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.
Mackay 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.
Mackay
QLD 4740 · 4,026 residents75/100 hazard score · Mackay's highest recorded crime
West Mackay
QLD 4740 · 6,536 residents72/100 hazard score
North Mackay
QLD 4740 · 6,194 residents69/100 hazard score
Andergrove
QLD 4740 · 9,924 residents64/100 hazard score
Slade Point
QLD 4740 · 3,450 residents64/100 hazard score
South Mackay
QLD 4740 · 6,918 residents59/100 hazard score
East Mackay
QLD 4740 · 3,725 residents56/100 hazard score
Rural View
QLD 4740 · 5,657 residents53/100 hazard score
Beaconsfield
QLD 4740 · 5,899 residents50/100 hazard score
Bakers Creek
QLD 4740 · 1,590 residents47/100 hazard score
Blacks Beach
QLD 4740 · 4,153 residents44/100 hazard score
Bucasia
QLD 4750 · 4,915 residents38/100 hazard score
Glenella
QLD 4740 · 4,545 residents38/100 hazard score
Shoal Point
QLD 4750 · 1,104 residents38/100 hazard score
Ooralea
QLD 4740 · 3,691 residents31/100 hazard score
Ranked from 17 qualifying suburbs. Too small a field for percentile comparisons, so each row shows its score rather than the share of Mackay it ranks above.
50% recorded crime · 25% recorded bushfire history · 25% aircraft noise. Each hazard is a percentile within Mackay'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 Mackay 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 Mackay suburb is scored on 50% recorded crime, 25% recorded bushfire history, and 25% aircraft noise. Every hazard is turned into a percentile within Mackay, 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
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Related
Rankings last computed 28 September 2026. Recomputed after each ACARA schools data refresh.
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