Suburbs to avoid in Townsville
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 Townsville suburbs on those, highest first: recorded crime, bushfire history, flood overlays and aircraft noise. Only suburbs with at least 1,000 residents are ranked.
Garbutt carries the most measured hazard in the ranking, leading on recorded crime, bushfire history, and aircraft noise. Vincent and Aitkenvale follow. These 15 suburbs came from a field of 39 eligible Townsville 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.
Townsville 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.
Garbutt
QLD 4814 · 2,309 residents96/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 97% of Townsville · bushfire history · aircraft noise
Vincent
QLD 4814 · 2,213 residents74/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 80% of Townsville · aircraft noise
Aitkenvale
QLD 4814 · 4,797 residents70/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 97% of Townsville
Townsville City
QLD 4810 · 2,945 residents70/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 97% of Townsville
Stuart
QLD 4811 · 1,576 residents68/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 72% of Townsville · bushfire history
Thuringowa Central
QLD 4817 · 1,953 residents67/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 92% of Townsville
Pimlico
QLD 4812 · 2,557 residents66/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 90% of Townsville
South Townsville
QLD 4810 · 2,424 residents64/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 87% of Townsville
Hyde Park
QLD 4812 · 1,374 residents63/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 84% of Townsville
Heatley
QLD 4814 · 3,907 residents62/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 57% of Townsville · aircraft noise
Rosslea
QLD 4812 · 1,903 residents61/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 80% of Townsville
West End
QLD 4810 · 3,891 residents57/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 72% of Townsville
Hermit Park
QLD 4812 · 3,512 residents57/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 72% of Townsville
Belgian Gardens
QLD 4810 · 2,073 residents57/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 72% of Townsville
Gulliver
QLD 4812 · 2,884 residents57/100 hazard score · more recorded crime than 49% of Townsville · aircraft noise
Ranked from 39 qualifying suburbs.
50% recorded crime · 25% recorded bushfire history · 25% aircraft noise. Each hazard is a percentile within Townsville'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 Townsville 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 Townsville suburb is scored on 50% recorded crime, 25% recorded bushfire history, and 25% aircraft noise. Every hazard is turned into a percentile within Townsville, 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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