Chain Valley Bay sits 116 km from Sydney CBD in New South Wales, around 1 hour 30 minutes by car. Census data records 2,773 residents with a median age of 63 and a median household income of $45,032 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the bottom 20% nationally. Population grew 12.8% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $370 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,647. The area shows high bushfire risk. Walkability is low.
Is Chain Valley Bay a good suburb?
Chain Valley Bay scores a D (27/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on transit, prices, safety, and community.
Car-dependent
Walkability 21/100 · 116.4 km · 92 min drive to Sydney
Above the state median
Median $820K · Less affordable than 79% of NSW
High bushfire risk
Fire 79/100 · Crime 24/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 63 · 2,773 residents
Liveability Rating
27 / 100 · Ranked #1331 in NSWEach bar is Chain Valley Bay'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 Chain Valley 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 dataChain Valley Bay's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $820,000, about 3% above where it sat a year earlier.
$820,000
7% below its 4 neighbours (median $880,000)
Based on 40 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 17 days — median across 21 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 3 bed 24 sales $800K
- 4 bed 10 sales $909K
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Chain Valley Bay are currently listed at around $875,000 on average. Based on 6 houses listed in the past six months.
$875K
6 houses listed in the last 6 months.
6 of the suburb's 1,239 dwellings (0.5%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $650/wk
- 133 bonds
- +38% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $520/wk
- 23 bonds
- +35% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2259 (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 202584 Unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 36% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2259.
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.
Is Chain Valley Bay safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Chain Valley Bay sits in the low band, with 41 incidents recorded in 2025 — down roughly 33% on the prior year.
41 offences
32.8% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20252 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital
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
Central Coast Council has published 31 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Schools
Walkability
Chain Valley Bay is very car-dependent on foot — at 21/100, nearly all errands require a car.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Chain Valley Bay.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 30.8 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 14.3 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 5.0 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 1 min
- Span of service
- 14.6 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 Chain Valley Bay.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 30%
- Premises covered
- 960
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
Central Coast (NSW): 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 7 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 4 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this suburb rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Chain Valley Bay is home to about 2,800 residents, with a median age of 63 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $45,000 a year, with unemployment at 5.9%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
2,773
Median Age
63
Median Household Income
$45,032/yr
Census Median Rent
$370/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,647/mo
Avg Household Size
2.1
Median Personal Income
$27,560/yr
Unemployment Rate
5.9%
Unoccupied Dwellings
5.0%
Total Dwellings
1,239
Owner-Occupier Rate
90.2%
Houses
90.1%
Rental Stress
42.7%
Mortgage Stress
43.9%
Work From Home
22.6%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 77.8%
- English Spoken at Home
- 90.6%
- Employment Rate
- 32.1%
- Completed Year 12
- 22.8%
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.
3 residents (0.1%) 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.
7.1% of residents (190) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (185).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 2,679 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
2% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (14 of 793).
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 $1,409 a year through Central Coast (NSW) based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Environmental 82%
- Residential 11%
- Parks and recreation 7%
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: Central Coast (NSW)
In the year to August 2026, 1,441 new dwellings were approved across Central Coast (NSW). That mix is 924 houses and 517 units. Approvals are up 66.7% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Darkinjung 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
CLEANPM2.5 averaged 5 µg/m³ in 2025 — below the WHO 2021 annual guideline (5 µg/m³). 1 day exceeded the daily threshold of 25 µg/m³.
PM10 averaged 11.6 µg/m³ · NO₂ averaged 0.27 pphm. Days over the limit in 2025: PM10 1 · NO₂ 0 · ozone 0.
From the Morisset monitoring station, 6.8 km away.
Climate & Setting
from Norah Head AWS, 12.8 kmHigh rainfall — warm summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 18 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 5.1 km
- Annual rainfall
- 1,272 mm
- 104 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 26.4°C
- 3 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 10.6°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.
Industrial Emissions Nearby
3 facilities within 5 km- 2.4 kmCoal MiningTop reported: Manganese & compounds · Fluoride compounds · Zinc and compounds
- 3.0 kmFossil Fuel Electricity GenerationTop reported: Sulfur dioxide · Oxides of Nitrogen · Carbon monoxide
- 3.5 kmCoal MiningTop reported: Fluoride compounds · Boron & compounds · Manganese & compounds
EV adoption
In postcode 2259, 343 of 53,188 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 2.6% (1,371 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 3.2%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2259, 14,019 rooftop-solar systems totalling 96.1 MW have been installed since 2001, against 25,175 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 1,032 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
29 mortgage brokers are registered in postcode 2259.
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 $820,000 this is $220,000 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 Pat Conroy Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Pat Conroy | 61.5% | 38.5% | +5.5 |
| 2022 | Pat Conroy | 55.8% | 44.2% | -1.4 |
| 2019 | Pat Conroy | 54.5% | 45.5% | +5.5 |
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 Yasmin Catley Labor
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Yasmin Catley ALP | 65.5% |
| 2019 | Yasmin Catley ALP | 60.6% |
| 2015 | Yasmin Catley ALP | 63.0% |
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 Chain Valley 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 2,773 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.
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Common questions about Chain Valley Bay
Is Chain Valley Bay a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Chain Valley Bay is low (24/100, ranked against other NSW suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Chain Valley Bay?
Chain Valley Bay has a high recorded bushfire history (79/100, 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 Chain Valley Bay a good place to live?
Chain Valley 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 Chain Valley Bay?
Chain Valley Bay, NSW had a population of 2,773 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Chain Valley Bay, NSW?
The postcode for Chain Valley Bay, NSW is 2259.
How far is Chain Valley Bay from Sydney?
Chain Valley Bay is 116 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 92 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Chain Valley Bay?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Chain Valley Bay was $45,032 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 Chain Valley Bay?
There are too few current rental listings in Chain Valley Bay for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $370, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in Chain Valley Bay?
The median age of residents in Chain Valley Bay was 63 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Chain Valley Bay at risk of bushfire?
Chain Valley Bay has a high recorded bushfire history (79/100). 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.
Is Chain Valley Bay walkable?
Chain Valley Bay scores 21/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it very 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 Chain Valley Bay?
The nearest government air-quality monitoring station to Chain Valley Bay (Morisset) recorded a 2025 annual mean PM2.5 of 5.0 µg/m³ and PM10 of 11.6 µg/m³. That puts Chain Valley Bay below the WHO annual guideline of 5 µg/m³.
What is the weather like in Chain Valley Bay?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Chain Valley Bay, Norah Head AWS (12.8 km away), summer days average 26.4°C, winter nights 10.6°C, 1,272 mm of rain a year over 104 rainy days, and 3 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Chain Valley 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 Chain Valley Bay belong to?
Chain Valley Bay sits within the Central Coast (NSW) local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Chain Valley Bay?
The average residential rates bill through Central Coast (NSW) is $1,409 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Chain Valley Bay?
Across Central Coast (NSW), 1,441 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 66.7% 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 Chain Valley Bay in?
Chain Valley Bay sits within the federal Division of Shortland, currently held by Pat Conroy (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
- Air quality · 2025
- Climate · 2006–2026
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- 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.
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