Cowes sits 138 km from Melbourne CBD in Victoria, around 1 hour 55 minutes by car. Census data records 6,593 residents with a median age of 55 and a median household income of $53,352 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the lower-middle tier nationally. The town grew 36.2% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $331 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,550. Cowes is characterised by high crime risk and no recorded bushfire exposure. Of 2 schools within the town boundary, 1 ranks above the state average, and walkability is low.
Is Cowes a good town?
Cowes scores a C (45/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on transit and prices.
Mixed results
2 schools · 1 above peer schools
Car-dependent
Walkability 16/100 · 138.3 km · 113 min drive to Melbourne
Above the state median
Median $700K · Less affordable than 85% of VIC
Moderate crime risk
Fire 0/100 · Crime 69/100 · Flood 23/100
Below-average income
SEIFA decile 3/10 · median age 55 · 6,593 residents
Liveability Rating
45 / 100 · Ranked #499 in VICEach bar is Cowes'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 Cowes?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
45 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataCowes's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $700,000, about 2% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$700,000
14% below its 6 neighbours (median $810,000)
Based on 252 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 57 days — median across 132 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 22 sales $545K
- 3 bed 125 sales $650K
- 4 bed 83 sales $775K
- 5 bed 12 sales $858K
Land
$446,000
Based on 38 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 117 days — median across 19 sales that recorded a listing period
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Cowes are currently listed at around $760,000 on average. Based on 209 houses listed in the past six months.
Houses
$760K
209 houses listed in the last 6 months.
Units
$489K
26 units listed in the last 6 months.
235 of the suburb's 2,747 dwellings (8.6%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Cowes rent for around $520 a week on average, based on 37 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$520/wk
37 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$420/wk
7 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
44 rentals advertised against an estimated 766 rented homes (5.7%) in the last 6 months.
Rental affordability
June quarter 2025102 Moderately unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 29% of its income on the median rent in postcode 3922.
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$520/week ($27,000 a year) on a $760,000 median
$420/week ($22,000 a year) on a $489,000 median
Based on a small sample (7 listings) — indicative only.
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.
Is Cowes safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Cowes sits in the moderate band, with 376 incidents recorded in 2026 — down roughly 21% on the prior year.
376 offences
21.3% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202524 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 5 of them fatal
Where they happened
Crashes are counted where they happened, so a main road through the town carries people passing through; this is not a measure of risk to residents. Roads are listed with 3 or more serious crashes.
Coastal Erosion
Shoreline Change Summary
1988–2025Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 2.4 km
- Rate
- -0.14 m/yr
- Net Movement
- 4.1 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
Two schools serve Cowes, and results are mixed — some outperforming peer-suburb schools, some below. Cowes Primary School leads the pack.
- • 633 students across 2 schools (avg 316)
- • Sectors: 1 Government, 1 Catholic
- • ICSEA 995-1019, median 1007 (around the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Cowes Primary School (523 students)
Primary
Walkability
Cowes is very car-dependent on foot — at 16/100, nearly all errands require a car. Within the town there are 4 supermarkets, 9 parks and 44 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Cowes.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 7.0 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 4.4 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 2.6 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 3 min
- Span of service
- 16.3 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 Cowes.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 54%
- Premises covered
- 6,893
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
Bass Coast: council population
The three add up to the change above. These are council-wide figures from the ABS, not figures for this town alone — this town's own population is in the census section above.
Socio-economic profile
The ABS scores 18 small areas inside this town and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 5 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this town rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Cowes is home to about 6,600 residents, with a median age of 55 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $53,000 a year, with unemployment at 4.4%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
6,593
Median Age
55
Median Household Income
$53,352/yr
Census Median Rent
$331/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,550/mo
Avg Household Size
2.1
Median Personal Income
$30,472/yr
Unemployment Rate
4.4%
Unoccupied Dwellings
107.0%
Total Dwellings
2,747
Owner-Occupier Rate
72.1%
Houses
83.4%
Rental Stress
32.3%
Mortgage Stress
34.9%
Work From Home
21.8%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
30 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 21 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 727 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 73.1%
- English Spoken at Home
- 85.5%
- Employment Rate
- 41.8%
- Completed Year 12
- 37.0%
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.
125 residents (1.9%) 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.
23.5% of residents (1,483) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne (1,430).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 6,318 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 (54 of 2,362).
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 town against employed people who live here, 2021 Census.
About 2,243 people work here; 2,362 employed residents live here.
Roughly as many jobs as working residents (0.9 per resident).
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 $1,727 a year through Bass Coast based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 57%
- Residential 33%
- Infrastructure and transport 4%
- Parks and recreation 4%
- Zones under 1% 2%
Zoning sets what may be built, not what is there today. A single address can sit in a different zone to the town around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Bass Coast
In the year to August 2026, 393 new dwellings were approved across Bass Coast. That mix is 369 houses and 24 units.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
The Registered Aboriginal Party for this area is Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (appointed 2017).
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.
Climate & Setting
from Rhyll, 6.6 kmModerate rainfall — warm summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 31 m
- above sea level, at the town centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 2.4 km
- 2.6 km to a named beach
- Annual rainfall
- 704 mm
- 106 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 24.1°C
- 3 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 8.6°C
- 0 frost days ≤ 0°C
Elevation is the ground at the town 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- 2.0 kmSewerage and Drainage ServicesTop reported: Total Nitrogen · Total Phosphorus · Ammonia (total)
EV adoption
In postcode 3922, 80 of 9,815 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 2.6% (259 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 3.5%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 3922, 2,719 rooftop-solar systems totalling 18.0 MW have been installed since 2001, against 9,345 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 158 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.
2 first-home grants were paid in postcode 3922 in 2025-26, rank 176 of 298 Victorian postcodes. The most was 76, in 2001-02.
Grants on new and established homes; established homes stopped qualifying in mid-2013.
Mortgage repayments
1 mortgage broker is registered in this town.
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 $700,000 this is under 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 Mary Aldred Liberal
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Mary Aldred | 45.9% | 54.1% | -1.2 |
| 2022 | Russell Broadbent | 47.1% | 52.9% | -4.0 |
| 2019 | Russell Broadbent | 42.6% | 57.4% | -0.1 |
Results are per division — federal electoral boundaries are redrawn periodically, so the history reflects this division's past, not necessarily the exact town's voters across time.
State Electorate
Currently held by Jordan Crugnale Australian Labor Party - Victorian Branch
Next state election: 28 November 2026.
| Year | Winner | Won with | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Jordan Crugnale ALP | 50.2% | 50.2% | 49.8% |
| 2018 | Jordan Crugnale ALP | 52.4% | 52.4% | 47.6% |
| 2014 | Brian Paynter LP | 54.5% | 45.5% | 54.5% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2021, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this town's voters. Results: Victorian Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0.
Looking at a specific address in Cowes?
Every figure above is a town 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 6,593 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
Nearby suburbs
Ventnor VIC 3922
Rhyll VIC 3923
Sunset Strip VIC 3922
Wimbledon Heights VIC 3922
Silverleaves VIC 3922
Smiths Beach VIC 3922
Compare Cowes 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 Cowes
Is Cowes a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Cowes is moderate (69/100, ranked against other VIC suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Cowes?
Cowes has no recorded bushfire history. Flood overlays cover a low share of it (23/100). These are town-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Cowes a good place to live?
Cowes has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of C (45/100), 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 Cowes?
Cowes, VIC had a population of 6,593 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Cowes, VIC?
The postcode for Cowes, VIC is 3922.
How far is Cowes from Melbourne?
Cowes is 138 km from Melbourne CBD by road, about 113 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Cowes?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Cowes was $53,352 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 Cowes?
The median advertised rent in Cowes is $520 a week for houses (37 listings) and $420 a week for units (7 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Cowes?
The median age of residents in Cowes was 55 at the 2021 ABS Census.
How are the schools in Cowes?
There are 2 schools inside the Cowes boundary: 1 above and 1 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Cowes walkable?
Cowes scores 16/100 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 weather like in Cowes?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Cowes, Rhyll (6.6 km away), summer days average 24.1°C, winter nights 8.6°C, 704 mm of rain a year over 106 rainy days, and 3 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Cowes?
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 Cowes belong to?
Cowes sits within the Bass Coast local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Cowes?
The average residential rates bill through Bass Coast is $1,727 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Cowes?
Across Bass Coast, 393 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). These are LGA-level totals — every suburb in the council shares the same figure.
Which federal electorate is Cowes in?
Cowes sits within the federal Division of Monash, currently held by Mary Aldred (Liberal).
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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 · 2026
- Road crashes · 2021–2025
- Climate · 2006–2026
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- 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.