Suburbs to avoid in Sunshine 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 Sunshine 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.
Noosa Heads carries the most measured hazard in the ranking, leading on recorded crime and bushfire history. Warana and Noosaville follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 74 eligible Sunshine 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.
Sunshine 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.
Noosa Heads
QLD 4567 · 5,120 residents82/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 92% of Sunshine Coast · bushfire history
Warana
QLD 4575 · 3,831 residents78/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 85% of Sunshine Coast · bushfire history
Noosaville
QLD 4566 · 8,716 residents75/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 81% of Sunshine Coast · bushfire history
Landsborough
QLD 4550 · 4,446 residents75/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 88% of Sunshine Coast · bushfire history
Yandina
QLD 4561 · 3,073 residents73/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 89% of Sunshine Coast · bushfire history
Marcoola
QLD 4564 · 3,355 residents71/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 81% of Sunshine Coast · bushfire history
Caloundra
QLD 4551 · 3,932 residents70/100 hazard score · Sunshine Coast's highest recorded crime
Palmview
QLD 4553 · 5,236 residents69/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 72% of Sunshine Coast · bushfire history
Maroochydore
QLD 4558 · 20,629 residents69/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 99% of Sunshine Coast
Buddina
QLD 4575 · 4,236 residents68/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 97% of Sunshine Coast
Glenview
QLD 4553 · 1,396 residents68/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 81% of Sunshine Coast · bushfire history
Coolum Beach
QLD 4573 · 9,152 residents68/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 68% of Sunshine Coast · bushfire history
Nambour
QLD 4560 · 12,145 residents68/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 96% of Sunshine Coast
Mooloolaba
QLD 4557 · 8,202 residents67/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 94% of Sunshine Coast
Beerwah
QLD 4519 · 7,734 residents67/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 72% of Sunshine Coast · bushfire history
Ranked from 74 qualifying suburbs.
50% recorded crime · 25% recorded bushfire history · 25% aircraft noise. Each hazard is a percentile within Sunshine 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 Sunshine 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 Sunshine Coast suburb is scored on 50% recorded crime, 25% recorded bushfire history, and 25% aircraft noise. Every hazard is turned into a percentile within Sunshine 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
- Suburbs to avoid in Brisbane
- Suburbs to avoid in Perth
- Suburbs to avoid in Adelaide
- Suburbs to avoid in Hobart
- Suburbs to avoid in Darwin
- Suburbs to avoid in Canberra
- Suburbs to avoid in Newcastle
- Suburbs to avoid in Central Coast
- Suburbs to avoid in Gold Coast
- Suburbs to avoid in Wollongong
- Suburbs to avoid in Geelong
- Suburbs to avoid in Townsville
- Suburbs to avoid in Toowoomba
- Suburbs to avoid in Busselton
- Suburbs to avoid in Ballarat
- Suburbs to avoid in Cairns
- Suburbs to avoid in Albany
- Suburbs to avoid in Ballina
- Suburbs to avoid in Geraldton
- Suburbs to avoid in Warragul
- Suburbs to avoid in Bundaberg
- Suburbs to avoid in Launceston
- Suburbs to avoid in Bendigo
- Suburbs to avoid in Rockhampton
- Suburbs to avoid in Mackay
- Suburbs to avoid in Albury – Wodonga
- Suburbs to avoid in Camden Haven
- Suburbs to avoid in Burnie
- Suburbs to avoid in Wagga Wagga
- Suburbs to avoid in Coffs Harbour
- Suburbs to avoid in Alice Springs
- Suburbs to avoid in Mount Isa
Related
Rankings last computed 12 October 2026. Recomputed after each ACARA schools data refresh.
Was the information on this page useful to you?
Thanks! Anything we could improve?
We hate spam as much as you do — we'll never use your email for marketing, and we might not be able to reply to everyone.
Thanks for your feedback! 🙏