Suburbs to avoid in Sydney
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 Sydney suburbs on those, highest first: recorded crime, bushfire history, flood overlays and aircraft noise. Only suburbs with at least 1,000 residents are ranked.
Kemps Creek carries the most measured hazard in the ranking, leading on recorded crime, bushfire history, and aircraft noise. Horsley Park and Luddenham follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 541 eligible Sydney 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.
Sydney 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.
Kemps Creek
NSW 2178 · 2,121 residents94/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 94% of Sydney · bushfire history · aircraft noise
Horsley Park
NSW 2175 · 1,790 residents88/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 81% of Sydney · bushfire history · aircraft noise
Luddenham
NSW 2745 · 1,927 residents87/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 80% of Sydney · bushfire history · aircraft noise
Airds
NSW 2560 · 3,265 residents84/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 96% of Sydney · bushfire history
Melonba
NSW 2765 · 1,439 residents83/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 98% of Sydney · bushfire history
Windsor
NSW 2756 · 1,915 residents83/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 99% of Sydney · aircraft noise
Bringelly
NSW 2556 · 2,433 residents83/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 78% of Sydney · bushfire history · aircraft noise
Penrith
NSW 2750 · 17,966 residents82/100 hazard score · Sydney's highest recorded crime · bushfire history
Brookvale
NSW 2100 · 3,389 residents82/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 98% of Sydney · bushfire history
Shalvey
NSW 2770 · 3,455 residents81/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 94% of Sydney · bushfire history
Campbelltown
NSW 2560 · 16,577 residents80/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 99% of Sydney · bushfire history
Macquarie Park
NSW 2113 · 11,071 residents80/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 92% of Sydney · bushfire history
Glenfield
NSW 2167 · 10,536 residents80/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 90% of Sydney · bushfire history
North St Marys
NSW 2760 · 4,123 residents80/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 97% of Sydney · bushfire history
Willmot
NSW 2770 · 2,382 residents80/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 92% of Sydney · bushfire history
Ranked from 541 qualifying suburbs.
50% recorded crime · 25% recorded bushfire history · 25% aircraft noise. Each hazard is a percentile within Sydney'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 Sydney 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 Sydney suburb is scored on 50% recorded crime, 25% recorded bushfire history, and 25% aircraft noise. Every hazard is turned into a percentile within Sydney, 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 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 Sunshine 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.
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