East Ballina NSW 2478
East Ballina is a suburb in New South Wales, 735 km from Sydney CBD, around 7 hours 55 minutes by car. Population is 5,882; the median age is 48 and the median household income is $80,808 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the top 40% nationally. The suburb grew 5.6% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $460 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,800. East Ballina is characterised by no recorded bushfire exposure. 2 schools sit within the suburb boundary, and walkability is moderate.
Is East Ballina a good suburb?
East Ballina scores a B (59/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on transit and community, weaker on prices.
Mixed results
2 schools
Very walkable
Walkability 66/100 · 735.1 km · 476 min drive to Sydney
Above the state median
Median $1.35M
Moderate crime risk
Fire 0/100 · Crime 46/100
Advantaged
SEIFA decile 7/10 · median age 48 · 5,882 residents
Liveability Rating
59 / 100 · Ranked #543 in NSWEach bar is East Ballina'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 East Ballina?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
59 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataEast Ballina's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $1.35 million, 0.7% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$1,355,000
Based on 86 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 35 days — median across 27 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 3 bed 47 sales $1.26M
- 4 bed 28 sales $1.43M
Units
$782,500
Based on 34 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 58 days — median across 6 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 18 sales $735K
- 3 bed 12 sales $1.05M
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in East Ballina are currently listed at around $1.34 million on average. Based on 3 houses listed in the past six months.
$1.34M
3 houses listed in the last 6 months.
3 of the suburb's 2,409 dwellings (0.1%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in East Ballina rent for around $890 a week on average, based on 12 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$890/wk
12 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$750/wk
5 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
17 rentals advertised against an estimated 689 rented homes (2.5%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $830/wk
- 48 bonds
- +22% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $620/wk
- 22 bonds
- +38% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2478 (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 202573 Severely unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 41% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2478.
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$890/week ($46,000 a year) on a $1.34 million median
Based on a small sample (3 listings) — indicative only.
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.
Short-Stay Rentals
81 active Airbnb listings: 80 whole homes and 1 room. Whole homes are about 3.1% 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 East Ballina safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in East Ballina sits in the moderate band, with 165 incidents recorded in 2025 — down roughly 22% on the prior year.
165 offences
22.5% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20258 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
Ballina Shire Council has published 6 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Coastal Erosion
Shoreline Change Summary
1988–2025Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 1.1 km
- Rate
- -0.36 m/yr
- Net Movement
- -7.5 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
Two schools serve East Ballina, and the cohort is trailing peer-suburb performance.
- • 467 students across 2 schools (avg 234)
- • ICSEA 896-1053, median 974 (below the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Southern Cross Public School (388 students)
Primary
Combined
Walkability
East Ballina is somewhat walkable on foot — at 66/100, a short cluster of errands work on foot but most trips still benefit from a car.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside East Ballina.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 57.5 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 24.7 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 6.1 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 0 min
- Span of service
- 11.4 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 East Ballina.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 35%
- Premises covered
- 3,045
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
Ballina: 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 17 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.
East Ballina is home to about 5,900 residents, with a median age of 48, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $81,000 a year, with unemployment at 3.1%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
5,882
Median Age
48
Median Household Income
$80,808/yr
Census Median Rent
$460/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,800/mo
Avg Household Size
2.3
Median Personal Income
$42,328/yr
Unemployment Rate
3.1%
Unoccupied Dwellings
8.4%
Total Dwellings
2,409
Owner-Occupier Rate
71.4%
Houses
61.1%
Rental Stress
29.6%
Mortgage Stress
26.7%
Work From Home
19.7%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
30 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 3 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 672 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 83.4%
- English Spoken at Home
- 91.2%
- Employment Rate
- 55.6%
- Completed Year 12
- 44.8%
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.
86 residents (1.5%) 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.
8.0% of residents (449) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (246).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 5,612 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
1% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (24 of 2,756).
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 suburb against employed people who live here, 2021 Census.
About 924 people work here; 2,756 employed residents live here.
Mostly a place people commute from: 0.3 jobs per working resident. At least 66% of employed residents must work outside the suburb.
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 $1,264 a year through Ballina based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Residential 34%
- Other and special use 32%
- Parks and recreation 18%
- Environmental 15%
- 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 suburb around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Ballina
In the year to August 2026, 238 new dwellings were approved across Ballina. That mix is 154 houses and 84 units. Approvals are up 210.0% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Jali 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.
Setting
- Elevation
- 6 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 1.1 km
- 1.5 km to a named beach
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- 3.7 kmPetroleum Product WholesalingTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds · Xylenes (individual or mixed isomers)
EV adoption
In postcode 2478, 266 of 25,197 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 3.8% (965 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 4.9%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2478, 9,182 rooftop-solar systems totalling 55.6 MW have been installed since 2001, against 13,886 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 503 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
9 mortgage brokers are registered in postcode 2478.
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 $1,355,000 this is $755,000 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 2026-10-27 — 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 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
Currently held by Tamara Smith The Greens
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Tamara Smith GRN | 57.7% |
| 2019 | Tamara Smith GRN | 55.4% |
| 2015 | Tamara Smith GRN | 53.1% |
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 East Ballina?
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 5,882 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
- #1 in The best beachside suburbs in Ballina
- #1 in Best Ballina suburbs for good public primary schools
- #1 in The most liveable suburbs in Ballina
- #1 in Sportiest Ballina suburbs
- #2 in Ballina suburbs with the most parkland nearby
- #2 in Ballina's most educated suburbs
- #2 in Most walkable suburbs in Ballina
- #2 in Ballina suburbs with the largest non-religious population
- #2 in Ballina suburbs that suit young professionals
- #3 in Ballina suburbs with the most apartments
- #3 in Ballina suburbs where the most residents moved from a capital city
- #3 in Ballina suburbs where the most homes are owned outright
- #3 in The safest suburbs in Ballina
- #4 in Ballina's highest-income suburbs
- #4 in Ballina suburbs with the deepest rental markets
- #4 in Ballina suburbs where seniors live
- #5 in Ballina suburbs with the biggest house blocks
- #5 in Ballina suburbs that added the most residents, 2016-2021
- #5 in Ballina's most owner-occupied suburbs
- #5 in Ballina suburbs where young families live
- #6 in Ballina suburbs with the best public transport
- #7 in Best Ballina suburbs to rent in
- #7 in Ballina suburbs that grew fastest, 2016-2021
- #7 in Ballina suburbs with the best NBN connectivity
Nearby suburbs
Compare East Ballina to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other NSW suburb — type a name and pick one.
Or jump straight to a nearby comparison:
Common questions about East Ballina
Is East Ballina a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in East Ballina is moderate (46/100, ranked against other NSW suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect East Ballina?
East Ballina has no recorded bushfire history. These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is East Ballina a good place to live?
East Ballina has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of B (59/100), 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 East Ballina?
East Ballina, NSW had a population of 5,882 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for East Ballina, NSW?
The postcode for East Ballina, NSW is 2478.
How far is East Ballina from Sydney?
East Ballina is 735 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 476 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in East Ballina?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in East Ballina was $80,808 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 East Ballina?
The median advertised rent in East Ballina is $890 a week for houses (12 listings) and $750 a week for units (5 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in East Ballina?
The median age of residents in East Ballina was 48 at the 2021 ABS Census.
How are the schools in East Ballina?
There are 2 schools inside the East Ballina boundary: 1 at and 1 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is East Ballina walkable?
East Ballina scores 66/100 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.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in East Ballina?
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 East Ballina belong to?
East Ballina sits within the Ballina local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in East Ballina?
The average residential rates bill through Ballina is $1,264 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near East Ballina?
Across Ballina, 238 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 210.0% 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 East Ballina in?
East Ballina sits within the federal Division of Richmond, currently held by Justine Elliot (Australian Labor Party).
Search another suburb or address
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
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- Short-stay rentals · Jun 2026
- 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.
Was the information on this page useful to you?
Thanks! Anything we could improve?
We hate spam as much as you do — we'll never use your email for marketing, and we might not be able to reply to everyone.
Thanks for your feedback! 🙏
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.