Merbein VIC 3505
Merbein sits 555 km from Melbourne CBD in Victoria, around 6 hours 15 minutes by car. Census data records 2,770 residents with a median age of 44 and a median household income of $59,644 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the bottom 20% nationally. The suburb grew 2.1% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $210 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,025. Merbein is characterised by high flood risk and high crime risk. 2 schools sit within the suburb boundary, and walkability is low.
Is Merbein a good suburb?
Merbein scores a D (17/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on prices, weaker on transit, safety, and community.
Mixed results
2 schools
Car-dependent
Walkability 25/100 · 554.8 km · 376 min drive to Melbourne
More affordable than most
Median $420K · More affordable than 78% of VIC
High crime risk
Fire 0/100 · Crime 79/100 · Flood 90/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 44 · 2,770 residents
Liveability Rating
17 / 100 · Ranked #847 in VICEach bar is Merbein'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 Merbein?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
17 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataMerbein's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $420,000, about 1% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$420,500
Based on 102 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 28 days — median across 32 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 8 sales $348K
- 3 bed 70 sales $420K
- 4 bed 17 sales $603K
Land
$128,400
Based on 29 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 94 days — median across 8 sales that recorded a listing period
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Merbein are currently listed at around $520,000 on average. Based on 33 houses listed in the past six months.
$520K
33 houses listed in the last 6 months.
35 of the suburb's 1,050 dwellings (3.3%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Merbein rent for around $450 a week on average, based on 14 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$450/wk
14 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$310/wk
4 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
18 rentals advertised against an estimated 238 rented homes (7.6%) in the last 6 months.
Gross rental yield
Indicative$450/week ($23,000 a year) on a $520,000 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 Merbein safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Merbein sits in the high band, with 209 incidents recorded in 2026 — up roughly 37% on the prior year.
209 offences
36.6% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20256 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 1 of them fatal
Where they happened
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.
Schools
Two schools serve Merbein, and performance is broadly on par with peer-suburb schools.
- • 797 students across 2 schools (avg 398)
- • Sectors: 1 Government, 1 Catholic
- • ICSEA 944-1006, median 975 (below the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Merbein P-10 College (644 students)
Primary
Combined
Walkability
Merbein is car-dependent on foot — at 25/100, most errands require a car.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Merbein.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 14.0 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 9.7 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 3.2 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 1 min
- Span of service
- 11.3 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 Merbein.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 38%
- Premises covered
- 1,515
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
Mildura: 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 9 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 3 different deciles — a narrow range, so the average describes the suburb closely.
Merbein is home to about 2,800 residents, with a median age of 44, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $60,000 a year, with unemployment at 5.1%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
2,770
Median Age
44
Median Household Income
$59,644/yr
Census Median Rent
$210/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,025/mo
Avg Household Size
2.3
Median Personal Income
$31,616/yr
Unemployment Rate
5.1%
Unoccupied Dwellings
10.9%
Total Dwellings
1,050
Owner-Occupier Rate
77.3%
Houses
89.8%
Rental Stress
18.3%
Mortgage Stress
20.6%
Work From Home
7.5%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
23 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 11 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 226 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 84.0%
- English Spoken at Home
- 88.1%
- Employment Rate
- 49.5%
- Completed Year 12
- 24.0%
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.
17 residents (0.6%) 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.
2.8% of residents (73) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne (39).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 2,611 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
Education
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $2,340 a year through Mildura based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 56%
- Parks and recreation 33%
- Residential 5%
- Infrastructure and transport 5%
- Industrial 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: Mildura
In the year to August 2026, 446 new dwellings were approved across Mildura. That mix is 391 houses and 55 units. Approvals are up 29.4% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
The Registered Aboriginal Party for this area is First People of the Millewa-Mallee Aboriginal Corporation (appointed 2018).
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 Mildura Airport, 9.0 kmDry climate — very hot summers, cold winters with occasional frost.
- Elevation
- 56 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Annual rainfall
- 278 mm
- 40 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 33.0°C
- 45 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 4.9°C
- 7 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.
EV adoption
In postcode 3505, 4 of 4,773 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 0.6% (29 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 0.7%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 3505, 1,040 rooftop-solar systems totalling 8.6 MW have been installed since 2001, against 1,940 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 37 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.
7 first-home grants were paid in postcode 3505 in 2025-26, rank 108 of 298 Victorian postcodes. The most was 39, in 2000-01.
Grants on new and established homes; established homes stopped qualifying in mid-2013.
Mortgage repayments
1 mortgage broker is registered in postcode 3505.
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 $420,500 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 2026-10-26 — 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 Anne Webster The Nationals
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Anne Webster | 31.0% | 69.0% | -0.1 |
| 2022 | Anne Webster | 31.0% | 69.0% | +3.3 |
| 2019 | Anne Webster | 33.8% | 66.2% | -3.6 |
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 Jade Benham The Nationals
Next state election: 28 November 2026.
| Year | Winner | Won with | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Jade Benham NP | 51.2% | 35.9% | 64.1% |
| 2018 | Ali Cupper IND | 50.3% | 44.4% | 55.6% |
| 2014 | Peter Crisp NP | 52.0% | 29.8% | 70.2% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2021, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this suburb's voters. Results: Victorian Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0.
Looking at a specific address in Merbein?
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 2,770 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 Merbein 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 Merbein
Is Merbein a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Merbein is high (79/100, 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 Merbein?
Merbein has no recorded bushfire history. Flood overlays cover a high share of it (90/100). These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Merbein a good place to live?
Merbein has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (17/100), 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 Merbein?
Merbein, VIC had a population of 2,770 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Merbein, VIC?
The postcode for Merbein, VIC is 3505.
How far is Merbein from Melbourne?
Merbein is 555 km from Melbourne CBD by road, about 376 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Merbein?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Merbein was $59,644 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 Merbein?
The median advertised rent in Merbein is $450 a week for houses (14 listings) and $310 a week for units (4 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Merbein?
The median age of residents in Merbein was 44 at the 2021 ABS Census.
How are the schools in Merbein?
There are 2 schools inside the Merbein boundary: 2 at similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Merbein walkable?
Merbein scores 25/100 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 Merbein?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Merbein, Mildura Airport (9 km away), summer days average 33°C, winter nights 4.9°C, 278 mm of rain a year over 40 rainy days, and 45 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Merbein?
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 Merbein belong to?
Merbein sits within the Mildura local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Merbein?
The average residential rates bill through Mildura is $2,340 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Merbein?
Across Mildura, 446 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 29.4% 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 Merbein in?
Merbein sits within the federal Division of Mallee, currently held by Anne Webster (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 · 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.