Katoomba NSW 2780
Located in New South Wales, Katoomba sits 103 km from Sydney CBD, around 1 hour 30 minutes by car. The suburb has 8,268 residents, a median age of 48, and a median household income of $60,892 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the lower-middle tier nationally. The suburb grew 3.8% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $350 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,600. Katoomba is characterised by high crime risk and high bushfire risk. Of 4 schools within the suburb boundary, 2 rank above the state average, and walkability is moderate.
Is Katoomba a good suburb?
Katoomba scores a C (42/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on schools, weaker on safety.
Above the state average
4 schools · 2 above peer schools · Top 15% in NSW
Some car dependence
Walkability 42/100 · 102.9 km · 89 min drive to Sydney
Around the state median
Median $900K
High bushfire risk
Fire 80/100 · Crime 82/100
Below-average income
SEIFA decile 4/10 · median age 48 · 8,268 residents
Liveability Rating
42 / 100 · Ranked #973 in NSWEach bar is Katoomba's rank among NSW suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better).
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 Katoomba?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
42 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataKatoomba's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $900,000, about 8% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$900,000
Based on 250 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 34 days — median across 142 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 1 bed 5 sales $610K
- 2 bed 53 sales $795K
- 3 bed 118 sales $895K
- 4 bed 47 sales $1.1M
- 5 bed 13 sales $1.18M
Units
$600,000
Based on 17 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 48 days — median across 7 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 13 sales $589K
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Katoomba are currently listed at around $978,000 on average. Based on 108 houses listed in the past six months.
Houses
$978K
108 houses listed in the last 6 months.
Units
$549K
3 units listed in the last 6 months.
111 of the suburb's 3,762 dwellings (3.0%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Katoomba rent for around $650 a week on average, based on 35 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$650/wk
35 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$500/wk
18 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
53 rentals advertised against an estimated 1,298 rented homes (4.1%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $690/wk
- 23 bonds
- +28% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2780 (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 2025142 Acceptable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 21% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2780.
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$650/week ($34,000 a year) on a $978,000 median
$500/week ($26,000 a year) on a $549,000 median
Based on a small sample (3 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 Katoomba safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Katoomba sits in the high band, with 709 incidents recorded in 2025 — up about 3% on the prior year.
709 offences
2.6% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20256 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 1 of them fatal
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
Blue Mountains City Council has published 5 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
- Bullaburra to Linden Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan 2021
- Hazelbrook Creek and Woodford Creek Catchment FRMS&P 2018
- Lapstone, South Glenbrook and South Blaxland Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan 2015
- South Leura Floodplain Risk Management Study & Plan 2008
- South Leura Flood Study; South Leura Floodplain Management Study & Plan Draft 2005
Schools
Four schools serve Katoomba, and results are mixed — some outperforming peer-suburb schools, some below. Katoomba North Public School and St Canice's Primary School lead the pack.
- • 1,267 students across 4 schools (avg 317)
- • Sectors: 3 Government, 1 Catholic
- • ICSEA 986-1035, median 1027 (above the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Katoomba High School (862 students)
Primary
Secondary
Walkability
Katoomba is car-dependent on foot — at 42/100, most errands require a car. Within the suburb there are 5 supermarkets, 29 parks and 54 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Katoomba.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 175.5 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 231.9 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 131.4 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 0 min
- Span of service
- 23.4 hours
- Direct to CBD (peak)
- 30 min wait
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 Katoomba.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 32%
- Premises covered
- 5,542
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
Blue Mountains: 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 24 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 6 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this suburb rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Katoomba is home to about 8,300 residents, with a median age of 48, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $61,000 a year, with unemployment at 6.0%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
8,268
Median Age
48
Median Household Income
$60,892/yr
Census Median Rent
$350/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,600/mo
Avg Household Size
2.1
Median Personal Income
$33,748/yr
Unemployment Rate
6.0%
Unoccupied Dwellings
20.3%
Total Dwellings
3,762
Owner-Occupier Rate
65.5%
Houses
81.8%
Rental Stress
29.9%
Mortgage Stress
31.5%
Work From Home
40.1%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
78 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 149 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 1,259 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 73.3%
- English Spoken at Home
- 86.0%
- Employment Rate
- 49.9%
- Completed Year 12
- 50.2%
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.
212 residents (2.6%) 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.
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 7,952 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 (214 of 3,562).
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 4,824 people work here; 3,562 employed residents live here.
Roughly as many jobs as working residents (1.4 per resident). At least 24% of the people who work here must live elsewhere.
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 $2,080 a year through Blue Mountains based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Environmental 73%
- Residential 11%
- Infrastructure and transport 7%
- Parks and recreation 4%
- Industrial 3%
- Other and special use 1%
- 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: Blue Mountains
In the year to August 2026, 123 new dwellings were approved across Blue Mountains. That mix is 109 houses and 14 units. Approvals are up 13.6% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Deerubbin 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 Katoomba (Farnells Rd), 1.2 kmHigh rainfall — warm summers, cold winters with occasional frost.
- Elevation
- 1,033 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Annual rainfall
- 1,496 mm
- 122 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 23.6°C
- 1 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 3.7°C
- 9 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
2 facilities within 5 km- 1.4 km
- 2.0 km
EV adoption
In postcode 2780, 156 of 9,641 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 3.5% (335 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 5.1%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2780, 2,365 rooftop-solar systems totalling 15.6 MW have been installed since 2001, against 7,331 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 197 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
1 mortgage broker is registered in postcode 2780.
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 $900,000 this is $300,000 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 Susan Templeman Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Susan Templeman | 57.7% | 42.3% | +1.4 |
| 2022 | Susan Templeman | 57.8% | 42.2% | -7.6 |
| 2019 | Susan Templeman | 50.2% | 49.8% | +2.0 |
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 Trish Doyle Labor
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Trish Doyle ALP | 71.9% |
| 2019 | Trish Doyle ALP | 64.9% |
| 2015 | Trish Doyle ALP | 58.1% |
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 Katoomba?
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 8,268 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
Compare Katoomba 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 Katoomba
Is Katoomba a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Katoomba is high (82/100, 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 Katoomba?
Katoomba has a high recorded bushfire history (80/100, 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 Katoomba a good place to live?
Katoomba has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of C (42/100), 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 Katoomba?
Katoomba, NSW had a population of 8,268 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Katoomba, NSW?
The postcode for Katoomba, NSW is 2780.
How far is Katoomba from Sydney?
Katoomba is 103 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 89 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Katoomba?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Katoomba was $60,892 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 Katoomba?
The median advertised rent in Katoomba is $650 a week for houses (35 listings) and $500 a week for units (18 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Katoomba?
The median age of residents in Katoomba was 48 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Katoomba at risk of bushfire?
Katoomba has a high recorded bushfire history (80/100). 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.
How are the schools in Katoomba?
There are 4 schools inside the Katoomba boundary: 2 above and 2 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Katoomba walkable?
Katoomba scores 42/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it 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 Katoomba?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Katoomba, Katoomba (Farnells Rd) (1.2 km away), summer days average 23.6°C, winter nights 3.7°C, 1,496 mm of rain a year over 122 rainy days, and 1 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Katoomba?
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 Katoomba belong to?
Katoomba sits within the Blue Mountains local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Katoomba?
The average residential rates bill through Blue Mountains is $2,080 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Katoomba?
Across Blue Mountains, 123 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 13.6% 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 Katoomba in?
Katoomba sits within the federal Division of Macquarie, currently held by Susan Templeman (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
- Climate · 2006–2026
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- 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.