Chinderah NSW 2487

Chinderah sits 800 km from Sydney CBD in New South Wales, around 8 hours 30 minutes by car. Census data records 1,639 residents with a median age of 62 and a median household income of $37,388 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the bottom 20% nationally. The suburb grew 4.7% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $245 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,950. Chinderah is characterised by high crime risk. Walkability is low.

Is Chinderah a good suburb?

Chinderah scores a D (8/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on transit, prices, safety, and community.

Transit

Car-dependent

Walkability 0/100 · 800.4 km · 510 min drive to Sydney

Prices

Above the state median

Median $1.14M · Less affordable than 95% of NSW

Safety

High crime risk

Fire 47/100 · Crime 87/100

Community

Highly disadvantaged

SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 62 · 1,639 residents

D

Liveability Rating

8 / 100 · Ranked #1563 in NSW

Each bar is Chinderah'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.

Schools quality no data
no schools mapped
Safety
13
Bushfire Moderate · Crime High

No flood data is published for New South Wales — a blank here means we hold no data, not that there is no risk.

Socio-economic
6
Very disadvantaged
Walkability
5
Very car-dependent
CBD access
1
800.4 km · 510 min drive to Sydney
How it's calculated: Safety rank 13 × 25% + Socio-economic rank 6 × 25% + Walkability rank 5 × 15% + CBD access rank 1 × 10% = 8 / 100. Missing components rebalance the remaining weights.

How do you rate the liveability in Chinderah?

Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.

Our score

8 / 100

From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.

Residents say

…

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What applies here? (optional)

One rating per person. You can change yours at any time.

Median House Price

Public listings data

Chinderah's house market is moving lower: the median sale price reached $1.14 million, about 9% below where it sat a year earlier.

Houses

$1,137,500

last 4 quarters

6% below its 5 neighbours (median $1,210,000)

↓ −8.6% year-on-year

Based on 26 recorded sales in the last 24 months.

Typically sold in 65 days — median across 15 sales that recorded a listing period

By bedrooms

  • 2 bed 11 sales $950K
  • 3 bed 9 sales $1.33M

Land

$888,000

Based on only 4 sales — small sample, take as indicative.

Rental Market

Rent agreed on new leases

Jul–Sep 2026
3-bed houses
$1,148/wk
20 bonds
+39% since 2021
2-bed units
$820/wk
26 bonds
+45% since 2021

Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2487 (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 2025

69 Severely unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 43% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2487.

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.

Short-Stay Rentals

2 active Airbnb listings: 2 whole homes and 0 rooms. Whole homes are about 0.2% 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 Chinderah safe? Crime statistics

2025

Crime in Chinderah sits in the high band, with 166 incidents recorded in 2025 — down about 4% on the prior year.

166 offences

3.5% since 2024
Theft 76 (45.8%)
Property Damage 23 (13.9%)
Assault 16 (9.6%)
Harassment & Stalking 15 (9.0%)
Drug Offences 13 (7.8%)
Weapons Offences 11 (6.6%)
Disorderly Conduct 5 (3.0%)
Sexual Offences 5 (3.0%)
Arson 1 (0.6%)
Other Offences Against Person 1 (0.6%)

Crime Trend

Serious Road Crashes

2021–2025

27 crashes

where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 3 of them fatal

Where they happened

Pacific Highway 14 (51.9%)
Tweed Coast Road 5 (18.5%)
Chinderah Bay Drive 4 (14.8%)

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

Tweed Shire Council has published 8 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.

All 8 on the portal

Schools

No schools in this suburb boundary.

Walkability

Chinderah is very car-dependent on foot — at 0/100, nearly all errands require a car.

0
out of 100
Very Car-Dependent
Bottom 24% in NSW
Public Transport within 1 km not measured
Schools within 1.5 km 0
Parks within 800 m 0
Supermarkets within 1 km 0
GPs within 1 km 0
Pharmacies within 1 km 0
Childcare within 1 km 0
Hospitals within 5 km 0

We hold no public transport timetable data for this area, so public transport is not rated here and the score is spread across the remaining components. It is not counted as zero.

Public transport

Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Chinderah.

78
out of 100
Bus
Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
46.2 arrivals/hr
Off-peak weekday
32.1 arrivals/hr
Saturday
23.2 arrivals/hr
Median peak wait
1 min
Span of service
17.8 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 Chinderah.

55
connectivity score / 100
Most common
Fibre to the node
Full-fibre (FTTP) share
13%
Premises covered
1,628
Technology mix
Fibre to the node (FTTN) 73%
Fibre to the premises (FTTP) 13%
Fibre to the curb (FTTC) 11%
Fixed wireless (WIRELESS) 3%

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

Supermarkets
None
Shopping Centres
None
Cafes & Restaurants
3 in suburb
Parks & Reserves
4 in suburb
Sport & Recreation
1 in suburb
Beaches
None
Waterways
6 in suburb
Childcare
3 in suburb
GPs
None
Pharmacies
None
Hospitals
None
Police Stations
None
Banks & Bank@Post
None
Fuel Stations
4 in suburb
EV Chargers
None
Pubs & Bars
1 in suburb
Arts & Culture
None
Places of Worship
1 in suburb

Tweed: council population

The whole council area, not just Chinderah · estimated residents
at 30 June 2025
Residents
101,044
+0.7% in a year
Change
+716
people since 2024
Density
77
people per km² across the council area
What drove the change
Natural increase
-131
births minus deaths
Net internal migration
+427
moves within Australia
Net overseas migration
+420
arrivals minus departures

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

ABS SEIFA · ranked against every suburb in Australia, and within the state
2021 census
Advantage and disadvantage
1/10
1/10 within NSW
income, education, jobs and housing together
Economic resources
1/10
1/10 within NSW
income against housing cost and household size
Education and occupation
1/10
1/10 within NSW
qualifications and job type, income excluded
How evenly that is spread

The ABS scores 4 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.

Chinderah is home to about 1,600 residents, with a median age of 62 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $37,000 a year, with unemployment at 3.6%.

2021 Census · change since 2016

Population

1,639

4.7% since 2016

Median Age

62

3.3% since 2016

Median Household Income

$37,388/yr

8.3% since 2016
Bottom 2% in NSW

Census Median Rent

$245/wk

16.1% since 2016

Census Median Mortgage

$1,950/mo

12.5% since 2016

Avg Household Size

1.8

no change since 2016

Median Personal Income

$27,092/yr

17.6% since 2016

Unemployment Rate

3.6%

65.4% since 2016

Unoccupied Dwellings

4.1%

12.8% since 2016

Total Dwellings

828

5.5% since 2016

Owner-Occupier Rate

83.4%

1.7% since 2016

Houses

46.0%

21.1% since 2016

Rental Stress

34.1%

7.2% since 2016

Mortgage Stress

62.6%

4.0% since 2016

Work From Home

11.0%

103.7% since 2016

Dwelling Types

Flats / Apartments 437 (52.8%)
Houses 381 (46.0%)
Townhouses 10 (1.2%)

Property Ownership

Owned Outright 571 (72.3%)
Renting 131 (16.6%)
Mortgage 88 (11.1%)

Demographics

Born in Australia
74.8%
English Spoken at Home
90.1%
Employment Rate
31.5%
1.9% since 2016
Completed Year 12
25.3%

Occupations

Labourers 87 (18.3%)
Technicians & Trades 81 (17.1%)
Community & Personal Service 60 (12.6%)
Professionals 59 (12.4%)
Managers 51 (10.7%)
Clerical & Administrative 49 (10.3%)
Sales 37 (7.8%)
Machinery Operators & Drivers 26 (5.5%)

Religion

Christianity 845 (51.6%)
No Religion 600 (36.6%)
Buddhism 9 (0.5%)
Other Religions 7 (0.4%)
Hinduism 6 (0.4%)
Islam 4 (0.2%)

Country of Birth (overseas)

Largest overseas birthplaces, as a share of all residents.

England 96 (5.9%)
New Zealand 64 (3.9%)
Germany 11 (0.7%)
Scotland 9 (0.5%)
Netherlands 9 (0.5%)
Thailand 8 (0.5%)
South Africa 6 (0.4%)
China 5 (0.3%)

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.

2016-2021 9 (0.5%)
2011-2015 9 (0.5%)
2001-2010 27 (1.6%)
1991-2000 25 (1.5%)
1981-1990 38 (2.3%)
Before 1981 150 (9.2%)

9 residents (0.5%) 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.

4.0% of residents (65) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Brisbane (32).

Gold Coast 66 (4.1%)
Overseas 20 (1.2%)

Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 1,613 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.

Thai 5 (0.3%)
French 5 (0.3%)
Cantonese 4 (0.2%)
German 3 (0.2%)

Age Distribution

0-4 26 (1.6%)
5-14 103 (6.3%)
15-19 55 (3.4%)
20-24 44 (2.7%)
25-34 93 (5.7%)
35-44 108 (6.6%)
45-54 162 (9.9%)
55-64 299 (18.2%)
65-74 433 (26.4%)
75-84 245 (14.9%)
85+ 62 (3.8%)

Family & Household Composition

Lone Person 432 (70.6%)
Couple Families 87 (14.2%)
One Parent Families 58 (9.5%)
Group Household 24 (3.9%)
Other Families 11 (1.8%)

Commute to Work

Car (driver) 295 (73.6%)
Worked from Home 44 (11.0%)
Car (passenger) 25 (6.2%)
Walked Only 24 (6.0%)
Bus 9 (2.2%)
Bicycle 4 (1.0%)

2% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (10 of 475).

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

Certificate III & IV 324 (19.8%)
Advanced Diploma / Diploma 89 (5.4%)
Bachelor Degree 80 (4.9%)
Postgraduate Degree 17 (1.0%)
Graduate Diploma / Certificate 5 (0.3%)

Cars per Dwelling

0 cars 107 (13.3%)
1 car 460 (57.1%)
2 cars 144 (17.9%)
3 cars 61 (7.6%)
4+ cars 28 (3.5%)

Council Rates

Tweed
FY 2024-25

Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,745 a year through Tweed based on 2024 figures.

Avg residential rate
$1,745/yr
42% above the NSW average of $1,230 · median of 128 councils
Valuation basis
Unimproved Value
land only

How this land is zoned

Share of Chinderah's area by planning zone
2026-09
  • Rural and farming 70%
  • Infrastructure and transport 7%
  • Other and special use 6%
  • Industrial 5%
  • Residential 5%
  • Environmental 4%
  • Parks and recreation 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: Tweed

The whole council area, not just Chinderah · new residential dwellings
to 2026-08

In the year to August 2026, 331 new dwellings were approved across Tweed. That mix is 187 houses and 144 units. Approvals are down 49.7% on the same period a year earlier.

Trailing 12 months
331dwellings
-49.7% YoY
Houses
187
detached dwellings
Units
144
townhouses + apartments

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 Coolangatta, 9.9 km

High rainfall — mild summers, mild winters.

Elevation
0 m
above sea level, at the suburb centre
Distance to the ocean
3.2 km
4.5 km to a named beach
Annual rainfall
1,637 mm
113 rainy days
Summer max (Jan)
28.6°C
0 days ≥ 35°C
Winter min (Jul)
10.5°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

1 facility within 5 km

EV adoption

1.6%
of light vehicles are electric
Up from 0.07% in 2021
+0.5 points this year
Top 9% in NSW

In postcode 2487, 161 of 10,050 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 3.7% (370 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 5.3%.

Electric share, year by year
2021
0.07%
2022
0.27%
2023
0.57%
2024
1.11%
2025
1.60%

Rooftop solar

66
systems per 100 dwellings
Averaging 6.9 kW each

In postcode 2487, 4,375 rooftop-solar systems totalling 30.2 MW have been installed since 2001, against 6,665 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 258 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.

Systems installed, year by year
2019
378
2020
425
2021
401
2022
273
2023
287
2024
293
2025
249
2026
129

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).

Verify eligibility with Revenue NSW

Mortgage repayments

I'm looking for
Deposit
$
%
Monthly repayment
$5,933
Loan amount
$910,000
Total interest over 30 years
$1,225,707

2 mortgage brokers are registered in this suburb, 8 across postcode 2487.

Deposit
$227,500
Stamp duty
$45,374
Cash needed at settlement
$272,874

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.

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

Division of Richmond

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

Tweed District

Currently held by Geoff Provest The Nationals

Next state election: 13 March 2027.

Year Winner Won with
2023 Geoff Provest NP 53.6%
2019 Geoff Provest NP 55.0%
2015 Geoff Provest NP 53.2%

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 Chinderah?

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.

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Common questions about Chinderah

Is Chinderah a safe place to live?

Recorded crime in Chinderah is high (87/100, 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 Chinderah?

Chinderah has a moderate recorded bushfire history (47/100, 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 Chinderah a good place to live?

Chinderah has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (8/100), 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 Chinderah?

Chinderah, NSW had a population of 1,639 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.

What is the postcode for Chinderah, NSW?

The postcode for Chinderah, NSW is 2487.

How far is Chinderah from Sydney?

Chinderah is 800 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 510 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.

What is the median household income in Chinderah?

At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Chinderah was $37,388 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 Chinderah?

There are too few current rental listings in Chinderah for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $245, across all dwelling types.

What is the median age in Chinderah?

The median age of residents in Chinderah was 62 at the 2021 ABS Census.

Is Chinderah at risk of bushfire?

Chinderah has a moderate recorded bushfire history (47/100). 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.

What is the weather like in Chinderah?

At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Chinderah, Coolangatta (9.9 km away), summer days average 28.6°C, winter nights 10.5°C, 1,637 mm of rain a year over 113 rainy days, and 0 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.

Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Chinderah?

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 Chinderah belong to?

Chinderah sits within the Tweed local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.

How much are council rates in Chinderah?

The average residential rates bill through Tweed is $1,745 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.

How much is being built near Chinderah?

Across Tweed, 331 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 49.7% 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 Chinderah in?

Chinderah sits within the federal Division of Richmond, currently held by Justine Elliot (Australian Labor Party).

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