Suburbs to avoid in Toowoomba
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 Toowoomba suburbs on those, highest first: recorded crime, bushfire history, flood overlays and aircraft noise. Only suburbs with at least 1,000 residents are ranked.
Newtown carries the most measured hazard in the ranking, leading on recorded crime and aircraft noise. Wilsonton and Wilsonton Heights follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 30 eligible Toowoomba 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.
Toowoomba 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.
Newtown
QLD 4350 · 10,039 residents82/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 93% of Toowoomba · aircraft noise
Wilsonton
QLD 4350 · 5,891 residents79/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 83% of Toowoomba · aircraft noise
Wilsonton Heights
QLD 4350 · 2,747 residents75/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 79% of Toowoomba · aircraft noise
Toowoomba City
QLD 4350 · 2,321 residents73/100 hazard score · Toowoomba's highest recorded crime
Drayton
QLD 4350 · 1,813 residents72/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 97% of Toowoomba
Torrington
QLD 4350 · 1,070 residents70/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 69% of Toowoomba · aircraft noise
South Toowoomba
QLD 4350 · 5,512 residents68/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 90% of Toowoomba
Harlaxton
QLD 4350 · 2,824 residents66/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 86% of Toowoomba
North Toowoomba
QLD 4350 · 3,332 residents61/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 76% of Toowoomba
Harristown
QLD 4350 · 9,081 residents60/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 72% of Toowoomba
Kearneys Spring
QLD 4350 · 9,419 residents55/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 64% of Toowoomba
Rockville
QLD 4350 · 3,204 residents55/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 64% of Toowoomba
Cotswold Hills
QLD 4350 · 1,620 residents53/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 59% of Toowoomba
East Toowoomba
QLD 4350 · 5,953 residents51/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 55% of Toowoomba
Glenvale
QLD 4350 · 8,120 residents49/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 52% of Toowoomba
Ranked from 30 qualifying suburbs.
50% recorded crime · 25% recorded bushfire history · 25% aircraft noise. Each hazard is a percentile within Toowoomba'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 Toowoomba 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 Toowoomba suburb is scored on 50% recorded crime, 25% recorded bushfire history, and 25% aircraft noise. Every hazard is turned into a percentile within Toowoomba, 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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Rankings last computed 12 October 2026. Recomputed after each ACARA schools data refresh.
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