Maclean NSW 2463
Maclean is a town in New South Wales, 648 km from Sydney CBD, around 7 hours by car. Population is 2,778; the median age is 56 and the median household income is $50,180 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the bottom 20% nationally. Population grew 5.7% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $330 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,387. The area shows high crime risk. 3 schools sit within the town boundary, and walkability is low.
Is Maclean a good town?
Maclean scores a D (18/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on schools, transit, safety, and community.
Below the state average
3 schools · Bottom 15% in NSW
Car-dependent
Walkability 21/100 · 648.3 km · 421 min drive to Sydney
Around the state median
Median $678K · Cheaper than 75% of NSW
High crime risk
Fire 28/100 · Crime 88/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 56 · 2,778 residents
Liveability Rating
18 / 100 · Ranked #1496 in NSWEach bar is Maclean'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 Maclean?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
18 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataMaclean's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $678,000, 0.1% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$678,500
29% below its 3 neighbours (median $955,000)
Based on 114 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 35 days — median across 57 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 11 sales $550K
- 3 bed 73 sales $675K
- 4 bed 25 sales $760K
- 5 bed 5 sales $860K
Units
$447,500
Based on 10 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 45 days — median across 5 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 8 sales $438K
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Maclean are currently listed at around $699,000 on average. Based on 33 houses listed in the past six months.
$699K
33 houses listed in the last 6 months.
34 of the suburb's 1,127 dwellings (3.0%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Maclean rent for around $640 a week on average, based on 8 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
$640/wk
8 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
10 rentals advertised against an estimated 363 rented homes (2.8%) in the last 6 months.
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $600/wk
- 13 bonds
- +34% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2463 (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 2025100 Moderately unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 30% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2463.
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$640/week ($33,000 a year) on a $699,000 median
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
10 active Airbnb listings: 5 whole homes and 5 rooms. Whole homes are about 0.4% of the town'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 Maclean safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Maclean sits in the high band, with 268 incidents recorded in 2025 — up about 8% on the prior year.
268 offences
8.1% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20258 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 3 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.
Council Flood Studies
Clarence Valley Council has published 10 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Schools
Three schools serve Maclean, and performance is broadly on par with peer-suburb schools.
- • 1,022 students across 3 schools (avg 341)
- • Sectors: 2 Government, 1 Catholic
- • ICSEA 908-1019, median 959 (below the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Maclean High School (689 students)
Primary
Secondary
Walkability
Maclean is very car-dependent on foot — at 21/100, nearly all errands require a car. Within the town there are 3 supermarkets, 10 parks and 10 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Maclean.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 25.5 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 10.9 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 4.6 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 1 min
- Span of service
- 14.3 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 Maclean.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 29%
- Premises covered
- 1,583
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
Clarence Valley: 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 3 different deciles — a narrow range, so the average describes the town closely.
Maclean is home to about 2,800 residents, with a median age of 56 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $50,000 a year, with unemployment at 7.2%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
2,778
Median Age
56
Median Household Income
$50,180/yr
Census Median Rent
$330/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,387/mo
Avg Household Size
2.1
Median Personal Income
$27,300/yr
Unemployment Rate
7.2%
Unoccupied Dwellings
9.8%
Total Dwellings
1,127
Owner-Occupier Rate
67.8%
Houses
86.8%
Rental Stress
34.2%
Mortgage Stress
33.2%
Work From Home
10.3%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
14 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 36 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 344 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 81.1%
- English Spoken at Home
- 89.2%
- Employment Rate
- 36.9%
- Completed Year 12
- 30.6%
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.
38 residents (1.4%) 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.
5.6% of residents (149) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Brisbane (65).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 2,648 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 (11 of 883).
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 $1,380 a year through Clarence Valley based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Environmental 40%
- Rural and farming 26%
- Residential 21%
- Infrastructure and transport 9%
- Parks and recreation 3%
- Commercial 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: Clarence Valley
In the year to August 2026, 246 new dwellings were approved across Clarence Valley. That mix is 213 houses and 33 units. Approvals are down 80.4% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Yaegl 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 Harwood Island (Harwood Sugar Mill), 4.7 kmHigh rainfall.
- Elevation
- 6 m
- above sea level, at the town centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 7.3 km
- Annual rainfall
- 1,408 mm
- 108 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
2 facilities within 5 km- 2.3 kmPetroleum Product WholesalingTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds · n-Hexane · Toluene (methylbenzene)
- 4.3 kmSugar ManufacturingTop reported: Carbon monoxide · Oxides of Nitrogen · Particulate Matter ≤10.0 µm (PM10)
EV adoption
In postcode 2463, 17 of 6,789 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 2.0% (137 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 2.3%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2463, 2,495 rooftop-solar systems totalling 16.3 MW have been installed since 2001, against 3,582 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 202 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 2463.
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 $678,500 this is $78,500 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 Kevin Hogan The Nationals
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Kevin Hogan | 40.7% | 59.3% | +1.4 |
| 2022 | Kevin Hogan | 39.3% | 60.7% | +1.3 |
| 2019 | Kevin Hogan | 40.5% | 59.5% | +7.2 |
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 Richie Williamson The Nationals
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Richie Williamson NP | 64.2% |
| 2019 | Chris Gulaptis NP | 64.5% |
| 2015 | Chris Gulaptis NP | 59.7% |
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: © State of New South Wales through the NSW Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0, adapted.
Looking at a specific address in Maclean?
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 2,778 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
Gulmarrad NSW 2463
Townsend NSW 2463
Harwood NSW 2465
Ashby NSW 2463
James Creek NSW 2463
South Arm NSW 2460
Compare Maclean 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 Maclean
Is Maclean a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Maclean is high (88/100, 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 Maclean?
Maclean has a low recorded bushfire history (28/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). These are town-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Maclean a good place to live?
Maclean has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (18/100), 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 Maclean?
Maclean, NSW had a population of 2,778 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Maclean, NSW?
The postcode for Maclean, NSW is 2463.
How far is Maclean from Sydney?
Maclean is 648 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 421 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Maclean?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Maclean was $50,180 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 Maclean?
The median advertised rent in Maclean is $640 a week for houses (8 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Maclean?
The median age of residents in Maclean was 56 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Maclean at risk of bushfire?
Maclean has a low recorded bushfire history (28/100). 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 Maclean?
There are 3 schools inside the Maclean boundary: 3 at similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Maclean walkable?
Maclean scores 21/100 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 Maclean?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Maclean, Harwood Island (Harwood Sugar Mill) (4.7 km away), 1,408 mm of rain a year over 108 rainy days over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Maclean?
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 Maclean belong to?
Maclean sits within the Clarence Valley local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Maclean?
The average residential rates bill through Clarence Valley is $1,380 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Maclean?
Across Clarence Valley, 246 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 80.4% 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 Maclean in?
Maclean sits within the federal Division of Page, currently held by Kevin Hogan (The Nationals).
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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 · 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
- 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.
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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.