Daylesford VIC 3460
Daylesford is a town in Victoria, 113 km from Melbourne CBD, around 1 hour 25 minutes by car. Population is 2,781; the median age is 55 and the median household income is $61,620 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the middle range nationally. Population grew 9.1% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $331 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,532. The area shows high crime risk and high bushfire risk. Of 4 schools within the town boundary, 2 rank above the state average, and walkability is moderate.
Is Daylesford a good town?
Daylesford scores a C (49/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on schools and transit, weaker on prices and safety.
Above the state average
4 schools · 2 above peer schools · Top 14% in VIC
Very walkable
Walkability 67/100 · 112.6 km · 86 min drive to Melbourne
Above the state median
Median $820K · Less affordable than 84% of VIC
High crime risk
Fire 66/100 · Crime 74/100 · Flood 37/100
Mid-range socio-economic
SEIFA decile 6/10 · median age 55 · 2,781 residents
Liveability Rating
49 / 100 · Ranked #449 in VICEach bar is Daylesford's rank among VIC suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better).
How do you rate the liveability in Daylesford?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
49 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataThe median house sale price in Daylesford sits at $820,000, broadly flat year-on-year.
Houses
$820,000
Based on 134 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 63 days — median across 72 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 25 sales $650K
- 3 bed 78 sales $815K
- 4 bed 24 sales $1.45M
Land
$392,500
Based on 24 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 146 days — median across 11 sales that recorded a listing period
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Daylesford are currently listed at around $1.01 million on average. Based on 131 houses listed in the past six months.
$1.01M
131 houses listed in the last 6 months.
133 of the suburb's 1,264 dwellings (10.5%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Daylesford rent for around $625 a week on average, based on 22 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$625/wk
22 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$450/wk
6 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
28 rentals advertised against an estimated 341 rented homes (8.2%) in the last 6 months.
Rental affordability
June quarter 202594 Unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 32% of its income on the median rent in postcode 3460.
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$625/week ($32,000 a year) on a $1.01 million median
Not enough unit sales and rentals in the window to calculate a yield.
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 Daylesford safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Daylesford sits in the high band, with 185 incidents recorded in 2026 — down about 8% on the prior year.
185 offences
8.4% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202511 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 town carries people passing through; this is not a measure of risk to residents. Roads are listed with 3 or more serious crashes.
Schools
Four schools serve Daylesford, and results are mixed — some outperforming peer-suburb schools, some below. Daylesford Secondary College and St Michael's School lead the pack.
- • 716 students across 4 schools (avg 179)
- • Sectors: 2 Government, 1 Independent, 1 Catholic
- • ICSEA 1007-1062, median 1036 (above the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Daylesford Secondary College (417 students)
Primary
Secondary
Walkability
Daylesford is somewhat walkable on foot — at 67/100, a short cluster of errands work on foot but most trips still benefit from a car. Within the town there are 2 supermarkets, 11 parks and 17 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Daylesford.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 1.5 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 1.2 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 0.6 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 33 min
- Span of service
- 13.2 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 Daylesford.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 35%
- Premises covered
- 2,342
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
Hepburn: 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 9 small areas inside this town and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 4 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this town rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Daylesford is home to about 2,800 residents, with a median age of 55 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $62,000 a year, with unemployment at 4.1%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
2,781
Median Age
55
Median Household Income
$61,620/yr
Census Median Rent
$331/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,532/mo
Avg Household Size
1.9
Median Personal Income
$37,180/yr
Unemployment Rate
4.1%
Unoccupied Dwellings
45.7%
Total Dwellings
1,264
Owner-Occupier Rate
73.0%
Houses
89.2%
Rental Stress
27.9%
Mortgage Stress
29.8%
Work From Home
31.7%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
35 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 18 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 324 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 73.7%
- English Spoken at Home
- 83.3%
- Employment Rate
- 47.5%
- Completed Year 12
- 49.1%
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.
70 residents (2.5%) 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.
17.1% of residents (461) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne (410).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 2,693 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
6% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (74 of 1,168).
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 $1,748 a year through Hepburn based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 54%
- Parks and recreation 28%
- Residential 13%
- Infrastructure and transport 4%
- Zones under 1% 1%
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: Hepburn
In the year to August 2026, 104 new dwellings were approved across Hepburn. Almost all of the pipeline is detached houses. Approvals are down 5.9% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
The Registered Aboriginal Party for this area is Dja Dja Wurrung Clans 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.
Climate & Setting
from Eberys, 20.2 kmModerate rainfall.
- Elevation
- 641 m
- above sea level, at the town centre
- Annual rainfall
- 531 mm
- 76 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- —
- Winter min (Jul)
- —
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- 1.2 km
EV adoption
In postcode 3460, 34 of 2,772 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 2.2% (62 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 3.5%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 3460, 680 rooftop-solar systems totalling 4.5 MW have been installed since 2001, against 1,853 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 58 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 3460 in 2025-26. The most was 21, in 2008-09.
Grants on new and established homes; established homes stopped qualifying in mid-2013.
Mortgage repayments
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 $820,000 this is $70,000 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 Catherine King Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Catherine King | 60.7% | 39.3% | -2.3 |
| 2022 | Catherine King | 63.0% | 37.0% | -2.7 |
| 2019 | Catherine King | 61.0% | 39.0% | -3.6 |
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 Mary-Anne Thomas Australian Labor Party - Victorian Branch
Next state election: 28 November 2026.
| Year | Winner | Won with | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Mary-Anne Thomas ALP | 59.5% | 59.5% | 40.5% |
| 2018 | Mary-Anne Thomas ALP | 50.6% | 63.2% | 36.8% |
| 2014 | Mary-Anne Thomas ALP | 53.8% | 53.8% | 46.2% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2021, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this town's voters. Results: Victorian Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0.
Looking at a specific address in Daylesford?
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 2,781 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
Hepburn VIC 3461
Hepburn Springs VIC 3461
Coomoora VIC 3461
Eganstown VIC 3461
Musk VIC 3461
Musk Vale VIC 3461
Compare Daylesford 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 Daylesford
Is Daylesford a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Daylesford is high (74/100, ranked against other VIC 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 Daylesford?
Daylesford has a moderate recorded bushfire history (66/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). Flood overlays cover a low share of it (37/100). These are town-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Daylesford a good place to live?
Daylesford has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of C (49/100), 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 Daylesford?
Daylesford, VIC had a population of 2,781 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Daylesford, VIC?
The postcode for Daylesford, VIC is 3460.
How far is Daylesford from Melbourne?
Daylesford is 113 km from Melbourne CBD by road, about 86 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Daylesford?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Daylesford was $61,620 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 Daylesford?
The median advertised rent in Daylesford is $625 a week for houses (22 listings) and $450 a week for units (6 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Daylesford?
The median age of residents in Daylesford was 55 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Daylesford at risk of bushfire?
Daylesford has a moderate recorded bushfire history (66/100). The score comes from Geoscience Australia's historical bushfire boundaries, with planned burns excluded: the area of recorded fires touching the town 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 Daylesford?
There are 4 schools inside the Daylesford boundary: 2 above, 1 at, and 1 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Daylesford walkable?
Daylesford scores 67/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it somewhat walkable. 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 Daylesford?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Daylesford, Eberys (20.2 km away), 531 mm of rain a year over 76 rainy days over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Daylesford?
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 Daylesford belong to?
Daylesford sits within the Hepburn local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Daylesford?
The average residential rates bill through Hepburn is $1,748 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Daylesford?
Across Hepburn, 104 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 5.9% 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 Daylesford in?
Daylesford sits within the federal Division of Ballarat, currently held by Catherine King (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 · 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.