Byron Bay NSW 2481
Byron Bay is a suburb in New South Wales, 760 km from Sydney CBD, around 8 hours 10 minutes by car. Population is 6,330; the median age is 39 and the median household income is $81,172 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the top 40% nationally. The suburb grew 14.7% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $600 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $2,167. Byron Bay is characterised by high crime risk and high coastal erosion risk. 4 schools sit within the suburb boundary, and walkability is moderate.
Is Byron Bay a good suburb?
Byron Bay scores a D (27/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on community, weaker on schools, prices, and safety.
Below the state average
4 schools · Bottom 19% in NSW
Some car dependence
Walkability 41/100 · 759.6 km · 491 min drive to Sydney
Above the state median
Median $2.23M · Less affordable than 95% of NSW
High crime risk
Fire 57/100 · Crime 95/100
Advantaged
SEIFA decile 8/10 · median age 39 · 6,330 residents
Liveability Rating
27 / 100 · Ranked #1333 in NSWEach bar is Byron Bay's rank among NSW suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better).
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 Byron Bay?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
27 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataByron Bay's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $2.23 million, roughly 23% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$2,225,000
Based on 133 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 41 days — median across 84 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 9 sales $1.13M
- 3 bed 46 sales $1.8M
- 4 bed 43 sales $2.45M
- 5 bed 17 sales $4.1M
- 6 bed 5 sales $5.45M
Units
$1,390,000
Based on 64 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 71 days — median across 41 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 1 bed 16 sales $834K
- 2 bed 22 sales $1.17M
- 3 bed 23 sales $1.54M
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Byron Bay are currently listed at around $2.38 million on average. Based on 33 houses listed in the past six months.
Houses
$2.38M
33 houses listed in the last 6 months.
Units
$1.26M
20 units listed in the last 6 months.
53 of the suburb's 2,364 dwellings (2.2%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Byron Bay rent for around $1,425 a week on average, based on 40 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$1,425/wk
40 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$850/wk
11 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
51 rentals advertised against an estimated 995 rented homes (5.1%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $1,100/wk
- 30 bonds
- +19% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $850/wk
- 10 bonds
- +32% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2481 (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.
Rental affordability
June quarter 202555 Severely unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 55% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2481.
SGS Rental Affordability Index: a score of 100 means rent takes 30% of income, the usual housing-stress line; lower scores are less affordable. "Region" is the capital city or the rest of the state.
Gross rental yield
Indicative$1,425/week ($74,000 a year) on a $2.38 million median
$850/week ($44,000 a year) on a $1.26 million median
Gross yield — before strata, rates, management, insurance and vacancy. Calculated from median advertised rents and median asking prices over the last 6 months. How we calculate.
Short-Stay Rentals
909 active Airbnb listings: 792 whole homes and 117 rooms. Whole homes are about 23.5% 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 Byron Bay safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Byron Bay sits in the high band, with 1,195 incidents recorded in 2025 — down about 2% on the prior year.
1,195 offences
2.4% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202518 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 2 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
Byron Shire Council has published 5 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Coastal Erosion
Shoreline Change Summary
1989–2025Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 1.2 km
- Rate
- -0.03 m/yr
- Net Movement
- -8.0 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
Four schools serve Byron Bay, and the cohort is trailing peer-suburb performance.
- • 1,701 students across 4 schools (avg 425)
- • Sectors: 2 Government, 1 Independent, 1 Catholic
- • ICSEA 1050-1096, median 1080 (above the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Byron Bay High School (820 students)
Primary
Secondary
Walkability
Byron Bay is car-dependent on foot — at 41/100, most errands require a car. Within the suburb there are 7 supermarkets, 15 parks and 74 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Byron Bay.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 68.8 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 37.8 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 13.6 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 0 min
- Span of service
- 22.1 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 Byron Bay.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 31%
- Premises covered
- 5,639
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
Byron: 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 16 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 6 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this suburb rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Byron Bay is home to about 6,300 residents, with a median age of 39, broadly in line with the national figure. Median household income runs at $81,000 a year, with unemployment at 5.6%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
6,330
Median Age
39
Median Household Income
$81,172/yr
Census Median Rent
$600/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$2,167/mo
Avg Household Size
2.3
Median Personal Income
$41,860/yr
Unemployment Rate
5.6%
Unoccupied Dwellings
42.6%
Total Dwellings
2,364
Owner-Occupier Rate
57.9%
Houses
55.6%
Rental Stress
38.4%
Mortgage Stress
32.0%
Work From Home
31.1%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
49 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 69 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 949 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 60.8%
- English Spoken at Home
- 76.1%
- Employment Rate
- 56.3%
- Completed Year 12
- 57.3%
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.
723 residents (11.4%) 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.
14.2% of residents (865) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (469).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 6,104 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
3% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (80 of 3,164).
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.
Local Jobs
People who work in this suburb against employed people who live here, 2021 Census.
About 7,245 people work here; 3,164 employed residents live here.
A jobs hub: 2.3 jobs for every working resident. At least 56% of the people who work here must live elsewhere.
Counts are by place of work and place of usual residence. The ABS counts jobs in zones; where a zone spans several places, its jobs are shared out by land use. The ABS also adjusts every figure slightly to protect privacy.
Education
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,577 a year through Byron based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Environmental 48%
- Residential 17%
- Rural and farming 12%
- Other and special use 9%
- Infrastructure and transport 6%
- Parks and recreation 5%
- Industrial 3%
- Commercial 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 — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Byron
In the year to August 2026, 129 new dwellings were approved across Byron. That mix is 109 houses and 20 units. Approvals are down 65.4% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Tweed Byron 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.
Climate & Setting
from Murwillumbah (Bray Park), 40.5 kmHigh rainfall — warm summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 6 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 1.2 km
- 1.5 km to a named beach
- Annual rainfall
- 1,569 mm
- 108 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 29.1°C
- 4 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 9.1°C
- 0 frost days ≤ 0°C
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 2481, 226 of 11,639 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 3.2% (369 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 5.1%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2481, 3,786 rooftop-solar systems totalling 28.5 MW have been installed since 2001, against 6,169 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 263 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
6 mortgage brokers are registered in this suburb, 8 across postcode 2481.
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 $2,225,000 this is $1,625,000 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 2026-10-26 — 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 Justine Elliot Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Justine Elliot | 60.0% | 40.0% | +1.8 |
| 2022 | Justine Elliot | 58.2% | 41.8% | -4.2 |
| 2019 | Justine Elliot | 54.1% | 45.9% | -0.1 |
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 Tamara Smith The Greens
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Tamara Smith GRN | 57.7% |
| 2019 | Tamara Smith GRN | 55.4% |
| 2015 | Tamara Smith GRN | 53.1% |
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 Byron Bay?
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 6,330 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.
Nearby suburbs
Compare Byron Bay 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 Byron Bay
Is Byron Bay a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Byron Bay is high (95/100, ranked against other NSW suburbs on offences per resident). Offences against shops, venues and visitors are divided by the people who live here, so suburbs with large daytime or visitor populations rank higher than living there may feel.
What natural hazards affect Byron Bay?
Byron Bay has a moderate recorded bushfire history (57/100, 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 Byron Bay a good place to live?
Byron Bay has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (27/100), 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 Byron Bay?
Byron Bay, NSW had a population of 6,330 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Byron Bay, NSW?
The postcode for Byron Bay, NSW is 2481.
How far is Byron Bay from Sydney?
Byron Bay is 760 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 491 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Byron Bay?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Byron Bay was $81,172 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 Byron Bay?
The median advertised rent in Byron Bay is $1,425 a week for houses (40 listings) and $850 a week for units (11 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Byron Bay?
The median age of residents in Byron Bay was 39 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Byron Bay at risk of bushfire?
Byron Bay has a moderate recorded bushfire history (57/100). 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 Byron Bay?
There are 4 schools inside the Byron Bay boundary: 1 at and 3 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Byron Bay walkable?
Byron Bay scores 41/100 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 weather like in Byron Bay?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Byron Bay, Murwillumbah (Bray Park) (40.5 km away), summer days average 29.1°C, winter nights 9.1°C, 1,569 mm of rain a year over 108 rainy days, and 4 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Byron Bay?
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 Byron Bay belong to?
Byron Bay sits within the Byron local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Byron Bay?
The average residential rates bill through Byron is $1,577 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Byron Bay?
Across Byron, 129 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 65.4% 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 Byron Bay in?
Byron Bay sits within the federal Division of Richmond, currently held by Justine Elliot (Australian Labor Party).
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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
- 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.