Arcadia is a suburb in New South Wales, 44 km from Sydney CBD, around 53 minutes by car. Population is 1,475; the median age is 46 and the median household income is $138,268 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the top 20% nationally. Population grew 6.5% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $485 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $3,300. The area shows high bushfire risk. 1 school sits within the suburb boundary, and walkability is low.
Is Arcadia a good suburb?
Arcadia scores a B (62/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on community, weaker on transit and prices.
Mixed results
1 school
Car-dependent
Walkability 25/100 · 44.5 km · 53 min drive to Sydney
Above the state median
Median $3.23M · Less affordable than 90% of NSW
Moderate bushfire risk
Fire 62/100 · Crime 20/100
Very advantaged
SEIFA decile 10/10 · median age 46 · 1,475 residents
Liveability Rating
62 / 100 · Ranked #452 in NSWEach bar is Arcadia's rank among NSW suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better). Scored on 4 of 5 factors: no school data, so the other factors carry its weight.
No flood data is published for New South Wales — a blank here means we hold no data, not that there is no risk.
How do you rate the liveability in Arcadia?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
62 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataArcadia's house market is moving lower: the median sale price reached $3.23 million, roughly 37% below where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$3,225,000
29% above its 3 neighbours (median $2,500,000)
Based on 13 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 64 days — median across 4 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 4 bed 9 sales $3.23M
Land
$3,612,500
Based on only 4 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Typically sold in 38 days — median across 4 sales that recorded a listing period
Rental Market
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- All rentals
- $982/wk
- 10 bonds
- +46% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2159 (NSW publishes bonds by postcode, which can cover several suburbs). Change since 2021 compares the median of the first four quarters with the last four. Asking rents above come from advertised listings.
Short-Stay Rentals
3 active Airbnb listings: 3 whole homes and 0 rooms. Whole homes are about 0.6% of the suburb's homes.
Airbnb only, as at Jun 2026; other platforms are not included. Active means reviewed in the past 12 months. The share is against private dwellings at the 2021 Census.
Is Arcadia safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Arcadia sits in the low band, with 16 incidents recorded in 2025 — down about 6% on the prior year.
16 offences
5.9% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20254 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 1 of them fatal
Crashes are counted where they happened, so a main road through the suburb carries people passing through; this is not a measure of risk to residents. Roads are listed with 3 or more serious crashes.
Council Flood Studies
The Council Of The Shire Of Hornsby has published 4 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Schools
One school serve Arcadia, and the cohort is trailing peer-suburb performance.
- • 60 students in one school (avg 60)
Primary
Walkability
Arcadia is car-dependent on foot — at 25/100, most errands require a car.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Arcadia.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 35.2 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 9.7 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 4.3 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 0 min
- Span of service
- 13.1 hours
Scheduled service only, based on the 21 October 2026 timetable. Reliability (delays, cancellations) not measured.
NBN connectivity
The internet access technology available across NBN premises in Arcadia.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 52%
- Premises covered
- 489
NBN Co fixed-line and fixed-wireless premises, as at 30 December 2025. Higher-quality technologies (full fibre) score above copper, wireless, and satellite. Actual speeds depend on your plan.
Amenities
Hornsby: council population
The three add up to the change above. These are council-wide figures from the ABS, not figures for this suburb alone — this suburb's own population is in the census section above.
Socio-economic profile
The ABS scores 5 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 3 different deciles — a narrow range, so the average describes the suburb closely.
Arcadia is home to about 1,500 residents, with a median age of 46, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $138,000 a year, with unemployment at 2.9%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
1,475
Median Age
46
Median Household Income
$138,268/yr
Census Median Rent
$485/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$3,300/mo
Avg Household Size
3.2
Median Personal Income
$47,840/yr
Unemployment Rate
2.9%
Unoccupied Dwellings
3.8%
Total Dwellings
447
Owner-Occupier Rate
88.3%
Houses
98.9%
Rental Stress
18.2%
Mortgage Stress
28.6%
Work From Home
49.8%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 79.6%
- English Spoken at Home
- 88.1%
- Employment Rate
- 60.5%
- Completed Year 12
- 49.4%
Occupations
Religion
Country of Birth (overseas)
Largest overseas birthplaces, as a share of all residents.
When They Arrived
Share of all residents by the year they arrived in Australia. Periods cover different numbers of years, so compare the shape rather than the bar widths.
12 residents (0.8%) arrived since 2016. Australia’s borders were closed to most arrivals from March 2020, so the last two years of that period are much smaller than the ones before them — nationally 260,799 people arrived in 2019 against 28,521 in 2021.
Where New Residents Came From
Where residents aged five and over lived five years before the 2021 Census, for those who lived somewhere else.
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 1,412 residents aged five and over. Areas are ABS statistical regions. Small counts are approximate: the ABS adjusts every figure slightly to protect privacy.
Languages Spoken at Home
Top languages other than English, as a share of all residents.
Age Distribution
Family & Household Composition
Commute to Work
10% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (71 of 743).
City centre: the ABS area around each capital's CBD, such as Sydney Inner City or Perth City (which takes in Subiaco and Leederville). 2021 Census place of work.
Education
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,488 a year through Hornsby based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 51%
- Environmental 44%
- Parks and recreation 4%
- Zones under 1% 1%
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 — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Hornsby
In the year to August 2026, 260 new dwellings were approved across Hornsby. That mix is 216 houses and 44 units. Approvals are down 78.7% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Local Aboriginal Land Councils are statutory bodies under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, responsible for land claims and land management for their members. Their boundaries are administrative and are not a statement of whose Country this is. NSW does not publish a register of Aboriginal parties by area — they are registered for each project.
Air Quality
MODERATEPM2.5 averaged 6.1 µg/m³ in 2025 — below Australia's NEPM annual standard (8 µg/m³), slightly above the stricter WHO guideline (5 µg/m³).
PM10 averaged 15.5 µg/m³ · NO₂ averaged 0.53 pphm. Days over the limit in 2025: PM10 1 · NO₂ 0 · ozone 0.
From the Rouse Hill monitoring station, 17.1 km away.
Climate & Setting
from Macquarie Park (Willandra Village), 19.2 kmHigh rainfall.
- Elevation
- 191 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 15.0 km
- Near high-voltage lines
- 5.2% of addresses
- 29 within 100 m of an overhead line of 110 kV or more
- Annual rainfall
- 1,176 mm
- 92 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- —
- Winter min (Jul)
- —
Elevation is the ground at the suburb centre, from Geoscience Australia's National Digital Elevation Model. Approximate — it reads high in dense built-up areas. It is a measure of height above sea level and not an indicator of flood risk, which depends on height above nearby waterways.
EV adoption
In postcode 2159, 62 of 4,473 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 3.0% (134 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 4.4%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2159, 926 rooftop-solar systems totalling 9.2 MW have been installed since 2001, against 1,742 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 92 went up in the last year.
Counts every system certified since 2001, so a roof re-fitted with a newer system is counted twice, and small commercial systems are included alongside houses — useful for comparing postcodes, not an estimate of how many homes have working panels today.
2026 covers part of the year only, to 2026-07.
First Home Owner Grant
FY2026-27$10,000 for new homes priced up to $600,000.
Off-the-plan or contracted-build value cap is $750,000 (vs $600,000 for completed new homes). Stamp duty concessions are a separate scheme (First Home Buyers Assistance).
Mortgage repayments
2 mortgage brokers are registered in this suburb, 4 across postcode 2159.
Transfer duty at the owner-occupier rate, and it excludes first home buyer concessions — those can cut it substantially or remove it entirely. Excludes legal, inspection and lender fees. Check with Revenue NSW
The First Home Owner Grant applies to newly built homes only, so it isn't available on an established purchase. A first home buyer building or buying new under $600,000 may qualify for $10,000 — see what qualifies with Revenue NSW.
At $3,225,000 this is $2,625,000 above the $600,000 First Home Owner Grant cap. A first home buyer may qualify for $10,000 on a newly built home — check eligibility with Revenue NSW.
A deposit under 20% usually attracts Lenders Mortgage Insurance, which this doesn't include.
Principal and interest over 30 years, fixed rate. Excludes fees, offset, redraw and LMI. Default rate is the median comparison rate across 1788 advertised products as at 2026-10-27 — indicative only, and not an offer. Your rate depends on the lender, your deposit and your circumstances. Not financial advice.
Federal Electorate
Currently held by Julian Leeser Liberal
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Julian Leeser | 48.4% | 51.6% | +5.9 |
| 2022 | Julian Leeser | 40.2% | 59.8% | -5.9 |
| 2019 | Julian Leeser | 34.4% | 65.7% | -0.8 |
Results are per division — federal electoral boundaries are redrawn periodically, so the history reflects this division's past, not necessarily the exact suburb's voters across time.
State Electorate
Currently held by James Wallace Liberal — elected at the Oct 2024 by-election, after the results below
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Matt Kean LP | 58.0% |
| 2019 | Matthew Kean LP | 66.3% |
| 2015 | Matt Kean LP | 68.9% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2021, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this suburb's voters. Results: © State of New South Wales through the NSW Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0, adapted.
Looking at a specific address in Arcadia?
Every figure above is a suburb average, and an average smooths over the difference between a street of family homes and a block of flats. Look up one address and you get the census for the few hundred people around it, its own nearest schools and stops, and what the state has mapped for that block.
- The census for a few hundred neighbours, not all 1,475 residents
- Nearest and zoned schools, with the walk from that door
- Flood, bushfire and noise mapping, where the state publishes it
Free to look up. Subscribers see every section in full — $29/month.
Featured in
Checking the whole city?
Suburbs to avoid in Sydney There is no list of bad suburbs, but there are hazards the state measures and publishes — recorded crime, bushfire exposure, flood overlays and aircraft noise. Sydney suburbs ranked on them, with what the numbers do and don't mean.Nearby suburbs
Glenorie NSW 2157
Galston NSW 2159
Middle Dural NSW 2158
Fiddletown NSW 2159
Berrilee NSW 2159
Berowra Waters NSW 2082
Compare Arcadia to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other NSW suburb — type a name and pick one.
Or jump straight to a nearby comparison:
Common questions about Arcadia
Is Arcadia a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Arcadia is low (20/100, ranked against other NSW suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Arcadia?
Arcadia has a moderate recorded bushfire history (62/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Arcadia a good place to live?
Arcadia has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of B (62/100), ranked against other NSW suburbs on school quality (25%), safety (25%), SEIFA socio-economic advantage (25%), walkability (15%) and CBD access (10%). Whether it suits you depends on what you weigh — each of those is on this page.
What is the population of Arcadia?
Arcadia, NSW had a population of 1,475 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Arcadia, NSW?
The postcode for Arcadia, NSW is 2159.
How far is Arcadia from Sydney?
Arcadia is 44 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 53 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Arcadia?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Arcadia was $138,268 a year. It is the most recent suburb-level income figure until 2026 Census results are released in 2027.
What is the median weekly rent in Arcadia?
There are too few current rental listings in Arcadia for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $485, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in Arcadia?
The median age of residents in Arcadia was 46 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Arcadia at risk of bushfire?
Arcadia has a moderate recorded bushfire history (62/100). The score comes from Geoscience Australia's historical bushfire boundaries, with planned burns excluded: the area of recorded fires touching the suburb relative to its size, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history. It records where fire has burned, not a bushfire-prone land designation, which your council's planning scheme sets.
How are the schools in Arcadia?
There is 1 school inside the Arcadia boundary: 1 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Arcadia walkable?
Arcadia scores 25/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it car-dependent. The score is a weighted average of public transport, schools, parks, supermarkets, GPs, pharmacies, childcare, and hospitals within walking distance.
What is the air quality in Arcadia?
The nearest government air-quality monitoring station to Arcadia (Rouse Hill) recorded a 2025 annual mean PM2.5 of 6.1 µg/m³ and PM10 of 15.5 µg/m³. That puts Arcadia below the Australian NEPM annual standard of 8 µg/m³ but above the stricter WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³.
What is the weather like in Arcadia?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Arcadia, Macquarie Park (Willandra Village) (19.2 km away), 1,176 mm of rain a year over 92 rainy days over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Arcadia?
First-home buyers in NSW may be eligible for $10,000 towards new homes with a purchase price up to $600,000. The grant is administered by Revenue NSW; confirm current eligibility before signing a contract — state rules and amounts can change.
What council does Arcadia belong to?
Arcadia sits within the Hornsby local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Arcadia?
The average residential rates bill through Hornsby is $1,488 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Arcadia?
Across Hornsby, 260 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 78.7% on the same period a year earlier. These are LGA-level totals — every suburb in the council shares the same figure.
Which federal electorate is Arcadia in?
Arcadia sits within the federal Division of Berowra, currently held by Julian Leeser (Liberal).
Search another suburb or address
Data freshness
- Census · 2021
- Median sale prices · Oct 2026
- For-sale & rental market · Oct 2026
- Council rates · FY 2024–25
- Building approvals · Aug 2026
- Schools · 2025
- Public transport · Oct 2026
- NBN connectivity · Dec 2025
- Crime · 2025
- Road crashes · 2021–2025
- Air quality · 2025
- Climate · 2006–2026
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- Short-stay rentals · Jun 2026
- State electorate · 2023
- Amenities · Sep 2026
- Health & emergency facilities · Sep 2026
- Industrial emissions (NPI) · 2024/2025
- Coastal erosion · 1988–2025
- Aircraft noise · 2024
Vintages show when each source's data is from. See all data sources.
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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.