Saratoga vs Woy Woy
Saratoga is the younger of the two, with a median age of 43 against 48 in Woy Woy. In both, most households own their home and most homes are detached houses. In Saratoga, about half of households are couple families. In Woy Woy, about half of households are people living alone. Houses cost more in Saratoga: a median of $1.3 million, against $1.05 million in Woy Woy, and rent is higher there too. On these figures, Saratoga tends to suit couples, while Woy Woy suits people living alone, older residents, and buyers on a tighter budget.
Which one suits you?
There is no overall winner — the suburb that suits a family with school-age kids is routinely the wrong one for someone commuting into the city. So each of these answers its own question, against a checklist you can see, using the same figures in the tables below.
Families with school-age kids
They split
one each way, out of the 6 things we measure here
- Saratoga carries lower crime risk (20/100 vs 86/100)
- Woy Woy has more childcare (9 vs 1)
Weighs schools, house stock, crime, parks, childcare, and who already lives there.
First-home buyers
Woy Woy
ahead on 2 of the 3 things we measure here
- has cheaper houses ($1,050,000 vs $1,300,000)
- has cheaper units ($787,500 vs $965,000)
- But Saratoga leaves households under less mortgage stress (25% vs 38%)
Weighs house prices, unit prices, and mortgage stress.
Renters
Woy Woy
ahead on 2 of the 3 things we measure here
- has a bigger rental market to choose from (40% vs 16%)
- has cheaper rent ($380/wk vs $485/wk)
- But Saratoga leaves renters under less rental stress (24% vs 33%)
Weighs rent, rental stress, and how much is for rent.
Commuting to the city
Woy Woy
ahead on 3 of the 4 things we measure here
- gets more of its commuters onto trains and trams (6% vs 1%)
- has a shorter drive in (73 min vs 80 min)
- sits closer to the CBD (81.4 km vs 86.1 km)
Weighs distance, drive time, rail access, and walkability.
Downsizers and retirees
Woy Woy
ahead on 3 of the 5 things we measure here
- has more units and townhouses to downsize into (38% vs 5%)
- has more GPs (6 vs 1)
- has more residents already 65 and over (28% vs 20%)
- But Saratoga carries lower crime risk (20/100 vs 86/100)
Weighs smaller dwellings, who already lives there, GPs, walkability, and crime.
Investors
Woy Woy
ahead on the one thing that separates them
- returns a higher gross yield on houses (3.7% vs 2.8%)
Weighs house yield and population growth.
Where they sit
Saratoga and Woy Woy drawn to the same scale. Both outlines are shown together, so the map answers whether they share a border and how their areas compare.
Bars start at zero. Scores, risks and rankings are drawn against their full 0–100 range; other rows are drawn in proportion to the larger of the two.
Side by side, out of 100
Risks are inverted — shown as safety and low exposure — so a longer bar always means better.
Demographics
Woy Woy has more residents (11,072 vs 3,982); Saratoga has higher household incomes ($103,428 vs $59,852).
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,982 | 11,072 +178% vs other |
| Population trend (2016 → 2021) | +1.1% | +4.0% |
| Median age | 43 | 48 |
| Median household income | $103,428/yr +42% vs other | $59,852/yr |
| Median weekly rent | $485/wk +22% vs other | $380/wk |
Age profile
Share of residents in each band, 2021 Census.
Bars are drawn against the largest share shown (14.2%).
Who lives together
Household composition, 2021 Census.
Who owns and who rents
Occupied private dwellings by tenure, 2021 Census.
Qualifications
Highest non-school qualification, residents 15+, 2021 Census.
Bars are drawn against the largest share shown (18.6%).
Where residents were born
Largest overseas birthplaces, as a share of all residents, 2021 Census. A dash means that country is not among the suburb's own eight largest.
Bars are drawn against the largest share shown (5.5%).
What people live in
Occupied private dwellings by structure, 2021 Census.
Property market
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Median house price | $1,300,000 | $1,050,000 |
| Median unit price | $965,000 | $787,500 |
| Median land price | — same for both | |
| Typical days to sell (houses) | 32 days from 48 sales | 29 days from 93 sales |
House price by bedroom count
Only bed counts both suburbs published enough sales for. Sale counts are shown because the buckets differ in depth.
7 vs 36 sales
41 vs 92 sales
29 vs 36 sales
6 vs 14 sales
Zoning mix
Woy Woy has more land zoned for conservation (64% vs 20%).
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental | 20% | 64% |
| Residential | 61% | 20% |
| Parks and recreation | 17% | 5% |
| Infrastructure and transport | 1% | 8% |
| Industrial | 0% | 2% |
| Zoning sets what may be built, not what is there today. A single address can sit in a different zone to the suburb around it. Zones as at 2026-09. | ||
Development activity
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| New dwellings approved | 1,441 across Central Coast (NSW) same for both | |
| Approvals change year on year | +67% same for both | |
Gross rental yield
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 2.8% $880/wk on $1.62M | 3.7% $680/wk on $960K |
| Units | — same for both | |
Ranking within NSW
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| House price | Higher than 70% of NSW | Higher than 51% of NSW |
| Income | Higher than 71% of NSW | Higher than 21% of NSW |
| Schools | — | Higher than 33% of NSW |
| Walkability | Higher than 84% of NSW | Higher than 82% of NSW |
| Affordability | Higher than 43% of NSW | Higher than 27% of NSW |
| EV adoption | Higher than 84% of NSW | Higher than 75% of NSW |
| NBN connectivity | Higher than 66% of NSW | Higher than 71% of NSW |
| Rental yield (houses) | Higher than 15% of NSW | Higher than 56% of NSW |
Liveability
Saratoga scores higher overall (67 vs 23).
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Grade | B | D |
| Score | 67/100 | 23/100 |
| Socio-economic band | very advantaged area decile 9/10 | below-average income decile 2/10 |
Risk profile
Woy Woy carries more crime risk (86 vs 20); Woy Woy carries more bushfire risk (83 vs 28).
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Bushfire | Low 28/100 | High 83/100 |
| Crime | Low 20/100 | High 86/100 |
| Flood | Not mapped no mapped data here same for both | |
| Coastal erosion | None 0/100 same for both | |
| Aircraft noise | None 0/100 same for both | |
| Industrial facilities nearby | 3 within 5 km | 1 within 5 km |
Schools
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Inside the suburb | 1 | 6 |
| Rated above peers | 0 same for both | |
| Rated at peers | 1 | 3 |
| Rated below peers | 0 same for both | |
Schools in Saratoga
- Brisbania Public School Government · Primary at peers
Schools in Woy Woy
- St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School Catholic · Primary at peers
- Woy Woy Public School Government · Primary at peers
- Woy Woy South Public School Government · Primary at peers
- Brisbane Water Secondary College Woy Woy Campus Government · Secondary
- Aspect Central Coast School, Woy Woy Independent · Primary · Special school
- EOC Broken Bay - Woy Woy Catholic · Primary · Special school
Amenities in the suburb
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 0 | 2 |
| Cafes & restaurants | 0 | 10 |
| Parks & reserves | 4 | 17 |
| Childcare | 1 | 9 |
| GPs | 1 | 6 |
| Pharmacies | 1 | 2 |
| Hospitals | 0 | 2 |
| Police stations | 0 | 1 |
| Banks & Bank@Post | 0 | 4 |
| Waterways | 0 | 3 |
Mobility
Saratoga sits further from the CBD (86.1 km vs 81.4 km).
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Walkability score | 58/100 | 52/100 |
| Distance to Sydney | 86.1 km +5% vs other | 81.4 km |
| Drive time (normal traffic) | 80 min | 73 min |
| Public transport score | 79/100 Bus | 91/100 Rail · Bus |
| Peak arrivals per hour | 63.8 7-9am + 5-7pm | 329.8 7-9am + 5-7pm |
| Median peak wait | 0 min scheduled, not actual same for both | |
| Electric vehicle share | 1.2% postcode 2251 | 0.8% postcode 2256 |
| Rooftop solar per 100 dwellings | 38 postcode 2251 | 31 postcode 2256 |
How people get to work
Method of travel on census day 2021 — which fell during COVID restrictions, so working from home is inflated and every travel mode understated.
Bars are drawn against the largest share shown (57.7%).
Setting
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Elevation | 8 m above sea level, at the suburb centre | 97 m above sea level, at the suburb centre |
| Distance to the ocean | 3.5 km | 3.5 km 4.6 km to a named beach |
NBN connectivity
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Connectivity score | 49/100 | 62/100 |
| Most common technology | Fibre to the node same for both | |
| Full-fibre (FTTP) share | 8% 1,658 premises | 31% 5,959 premises |
Climate
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual rainfall | 1,272 mm | 1,176 mm |
| Summer max (Jan) | 26.4°C | — |
| Winter min (Jul) | 10.6°C | — |
Air quality (annual mean)
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| PM2.5 | 5.1 µg/m³ same for both | |
| PM10 | 14.8 µg/m³ same for both | |
| NO₂ | 0.36 pphm same for both | |
Council rates
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Average residential rate | $1,409/yr same for both | |
| Council | Central Coast (NSW) same for both | |
Federal electorate
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Division | Robertson same for both | |
| Member | Gordon Reid same for both | |
| Party | Australian Labor Party same for both | |
First Home Owner Grant
| Saratoga | Woy Woy | |
|---|---|---|
| Grant amount | $10,000 same for both | |
| Property price cap | $600,000 same for both | |
| Eligibility | New same for both | |
Tags
Saratoga
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Information shown is provided as-is from Australian government and commercial data sources.
Always verify with the relevant authority before making property decisions.
See Data Sources and How We Calculate for details.