Located in Victoria, Cottles Bridge sits 39 km from Melbourne CBD, around 53 minutes by car. The locality has 609 residents, a median age of 52, and a median household income of $112,840 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the top 20% nationally. Population grew 1.3% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $260 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $2,524. The area shows high bushfire risk. 1 school sits within the locality boundary, and walkability is low.
Is Cottles Bridge a good place to live?
Cottles Bridge scores a B (56/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on community, weaker on safety.
Mixed results
1 school
Some car dependence
Walkability 0/100 · 39.3 km · 53 min drive to Melbourne
Median available
Median $1.46M
High bushfire risk
Fire 89/100 · Crime 17/100 · Flood 23/100
Very advantaged
SEIFA decile 10/10 · median age 52 · 609 residents
Liveability Rating
56 / 100 · Ranked #323 in VICEach bar is Cottles Bridge's rank among VIC suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better). Scored on 4 of 5 factors: no school data, so the other factors carry its weight.
How do you rate the liveability in Cottles Bridge?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
56 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataCottles Bridge's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $1.46 million, roughly 49% above where it sat a year earlier.
$1,462,500
45% above its 3 neighbours (median $1,012,000)
Based on 11 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 44 days — median across 4 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 4 bed 5 sales $1.25M
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Cottles Bridge are currently listed at around $1.93 million on average. Based on 5 houses listed in the past six months.
$1.93M
5 houses listed in the last 6 months.
5 of the suburb's 213 dwellings (2.3%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Short-Stay Rentals
5 active Airbnb listings: 5 whole homes and 0 rooms. Whole homes are about 2.1% of the locality'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 Cottles Bridge safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Cottles Bridge sits in the low band, with 6 incidents recorded in 2026 — down roughly 46% on the prior year.
6 offences
45.5% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20255 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital
Where they happened
Crashes are counted where they happened, so a main road through the locality carries people passing through; this is not a measure of risk to residents. Roads are listed with 3 or more serious crashes.
Schools
One school serves Cottles Bridge, but none have published comparable ratings yet.
- • 31 students in one school (avg 31)
Primary
Walkability
Cottles Bridge is very car-dependent on foot — at 0/100, nearly all errands require a car.
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.
NBN connectivity
The internet access technology available across NBN premises in Cottles Bridge.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 0%
- Premises covered
- 219
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
Nillumbik: council population
The three add up to the change above. These are council-wide figures from the ABS, not figures for this locality alone — this locality's own population is in the census section above.
Socio-economic profile
Cottles Bridge is home to 609 residents, with a median age of 52 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $113,000 a year, with unemployment at 4.2%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
609
Median Age
52
Median Household Income
$112,840/yr
Census Median Rent
$260/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$2,524/mo
Avg Household Size
2.7
Median Personal Income
$43,420/yr
Unemployment Rate
4.2%
Unoccupied Dwellings
8.0%
Total Dwellings
213
Owner-Occupier Rate
89.0%
Houses
100.0%
Rental Stress
12.0%
Mortgage Stress
26.8%
Work From Home
34.6%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 82.1%
- English Spoken at Home
- 94.3%
- Employment Rate
- 61.5%
- Completed Year 12
- 54.4%
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.
0 residents (0.0%) 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.
Age Distribution
Family & Household Composition
Commute to Work
5% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (16 of 322).
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 $2,696 a year through Nillumbik based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Environmental 96%
- Parks and recreation 3%
- Infrastructure and transport 1%
Zoning sets what may be built, not what is there today. A single address can sit in a different zone to the locality around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Nillumbik
In the year to August 2026, 98 new dwellings were approved across Nillumbik. That mix is 65 houses and 33 units. Approvals are up 8.3% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
The Registered Aboriginal Party for this area is Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation (appointed 2008).
Registered Aboriginal Parties are appointed by the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 as the primary guardians, keepers and knowledge holders of Aboriginal cultural heritage for their area. They are the body to contact about cultural heritage here.
Air Quality
CLEANPM2.5 averaged 3.9 µg/m³ in 2025 — below the WHO 2021 annual guideline (5 µg/m³).
From the Macleod monitoring station, 19.4 km away.
Climate & Setting
from Toolangi (Mount St Leonard Dpi), 24.8 kmHigh rainfall — mild summers, cool winters.
- Elevation
- 139 m
- above sea level, at the locality centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 35.9 km
- Annual rainfall
- 1,215 mm
- 82 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 22.9°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 3.8°C
Elevation is the ground at the locality 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 3099, 52 of 4,255 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.8% (77 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 3.0%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 3099, 749 rooftop-solar systems totalling 4.7 MW have been installed since 2001, against 1,822 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 43 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 $750,000.
The separate First Home Buyer Duty Reduction (stamp-duty concession) runs alongside this grant.
0 first-home grants were paid in postcode 3099 in 2025-26. The most was 27, in 2002-03.
Grants on new and established homes; established homes stopped qualifying in mid-2013.
Mortgage repayments
1 mortgage broker is registered in postcode 3099.
Land 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 State Revenue Office Victoria
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 $750,000 may qualify for $10,000 — see what qualifies with State Revenue Office Victoria.
At $1,462,500 this is $712,500 above the $750,000 First Home Owner Grant cap. A first home buyer may qualify for $10,000 on a newly built home — check eligibility with State Revenue Office Victoria.
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 Rob Mitchell Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Rob Mitchell | 54.8% | 45.2% | +0.9 |
| 2022 | Rob Mitchell | 53.3% | 46.7% | +2.0 |
| 2019 | Rob Mitchell | 55.0% | 45.0% | +1.0 |
Results are per division — federal electoral boundaries are redrawn periodically, so the history reflects this division's past, not necessarily the exact locality's voters across time.
State Electorate
Currently held by Cindy McLeish Liberal
Next state election: 28 November 2026.
| Year | Winner | Won with | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Cindy McLeish LP | 53.3% | 42.9% | 57.1% |
| 2018 | Cindy McLeish LP | 50.2% | 47.6% | 52.4% |
| 2014 | Cindy McLeish LP | 51.7% | 46.2% | 53.8% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2021, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this locality's voters. Results: Victorian Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0.
Looking at a specific address in Cottles Bridge?
Every figure above is a locality 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 609 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.
Checking the whole city?
Suburbs to avoid in Melbourne 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. Melbourne suburbs ranked on them, with what the numbers do and don't mean.Nearby suburbs
Compare Cottles Bridge to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other VIC suburb — type a name and pick one.
Or jump straight to a nearby comparison:
Common questions about Cottles Bridge
Is Cottles Bridge a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Cottles Bridge is low (17/100, ranked against other VIC suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Cottles Bridge?
Cottles Bridge has a high recorded bushfire history (89/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). Flood overlays cover a low share of it (23/100). These are locality-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Cottles Bridge a good place to live?
Cottles Bridge has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of B (56/100), ranked against other VIC 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 Cottles Bridge?
Cottles Bridge, VIC had a population of 609 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Cottles Bridge, VIC?
The postcode for Cottles Bridge, VIC is 3099.
How far is Cottles Bridge from Melbourne?
Cottles Bridge is 39 km from Melbourne 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 Cottles Bridge?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Cottles Bridge was $112,840 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 Cottles Bridge?
There are too few current rental listings in Cottles Bridge for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $260, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in Cottles Bridge?
The median age of residents in Cottles Bridge was 52 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Cottles Bridge at risk of bushfire?
Cottles Bridge has a high recorded bushfire history (89/100). The score comes from Geoscience Australia's historical bushfire boundaries, with planned burns excluded: the area of recorded fires touching the locality 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 Cottles Bridge?
There is 1 school inside the Cottles Bridge boundary, none of which has enough NAPLAN and ICSEA data for a quality band.
What is the air quality in Cottles Bridge?
The nearest government air-quality monitoring station to Cottles Bridge (Macleod) recorded a 2025 annual mean PM2.5 of 3.9 µg/m³. That puts Cottles Bridge below the WHO annual guideline of 5 µg/m³.
What is the weather like in Cottles Bridge?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Cottles Bridge, Toolangi (Mount St Leonard Dpi) (24.8 km away), summer days average 22.9°C, winter nights 3.8°C, and 1,215 mm of rain a year over 82 rainy days over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Cottles Bridge?
First-home buyers in VIC may be eligible for $10,000 towards new homes with a purchase price up to $750,000. The grant is administered by State Revenue Office Victoria; confirm current eligibility before signing a contract — state rules and amounts can change.
What council does Cottles Bridge belong to?
Cottles Bridge sits within the Nillumbik local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Cottles Bridge?
The average residential rates bill through Nillumbik is $2,696 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Cottles Bridge?
Across Nillumbik, 98 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 8.3% 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 Cottles Bridge in?
Cottles Bridge sits within the federal Division of Mcewen, currently held by Rob Mitchell (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
- NBN connectivity · Dec 2025
- Crime · 2026
- 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 · 2022
- 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.