Pearl Beach NSW 2256
Pearl Beach is a suburb in New South Wales, 90 km from Sydney CBD, around 1 hour 25 minutes by car. Population is 510; the median age is 64 and the median household income is $91,572 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the top 20% nationally. Population fell 4.9% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $488 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $2,167. The area shows high bushfire risk. Walkability is low.
Is Pearl Beach a good suburb?
Pearl Beach scores a C (40/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on community, weaker on prices and safety.
Some car dependence
Walkability 32/100 · 89.6 km · 86 min drive to Sydney
Above the state median
Median $1.71M · Less affordable than 78% of NSW
High bushfire risk
Fire 94/100 · Crime 51/100
Very advantaged
SEIFA decile 9/10 · median age 64 · 510 residents
Liveability Rating
40 / 100 · Ranked #1020 in NSWEach bar is Pearl Beach'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 Pearl Beach?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
40 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataPearl Beach's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $1.71 million, roughly 16% above where it sat a year earlier.
$1,710,000
Based on 39 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 81 days — median across 26 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 3 bed 18 sales $1.61M
- 4 bed 10 sales $1.76M
- 5 bed 6 sales $2.16M
Rental Market
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $748/wk
- 40 bonds
- +26% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $530/wk
- 12 bonds
- +29% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2256 (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 2025125 Acceptable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 24% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2256.
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.
Is Pearl Beach safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Pearl Beach sits in the moderate band, with 16 incidents recorded in 2025 — down roughly 33% on the prior year.
16 offences
33.3% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–2025No crash in Pearl Beach killed anyone or put anyone in hospital in 2021–2025.
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
Central Coast Council has published 31 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
1988–2024Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 335 m
- Rate
- -0.02 m/yr
- Net Movement
- 2.0 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
Walkability
Pearl Beach is car-dependent on foot — at 32/100, most errands require a car.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Pearl Beach.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 15.0 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 1.3 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 3.0 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 1 min
- Span of service
- 11.8 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 Pearl Beach.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 43%
- Premises covered
- 664
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
Central Coast (NSW): 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
Pearl Beach is home to 510 residents, with a median age of 64 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $92,000 a year, with unemployment at 3.2%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
510
Median Age
64
Median Household Income
$91,572/yr
Census Median Rent
$488/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$2,167/mo
Avg Household Size
2.0
Median Personal Income
$45,344/yr
Unemployment Rate
3.2%
Unoccupied Dwellings
145.9%
Total Dwellings
229
Owner-Occupier Rate
86.4%
Houses
96.5%
Rental Stress
27.7%
Mortgage Stress
28.4%
Work From Home
65.0%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 67.6%
- English Spoken at Home
- 87.8%
- Employment Rate
- 38.1%
- Completed Year 12
- 62.9%
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.
11 residents (2.2%) 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.
Languages Spoken at Home
Top languages other than English, as a share of all residents.
Age Distribution
Family & Household Composition
Commute to Work
15% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (27 of 181).
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 $1,409 a year through Central Coast (NSW) based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Residential 52%
- Environmental 23%
- Parks and recreation 15%
- Infrastructure and transport 10%
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: Central Coast (NSW)
In the year to August 2026, 1,441 new dwellings were approved across Central Coast (NSW). That mix is 924 houses and 517 units. Approvals are up 66.7% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Darkinjung 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 Macquarie Park (Willandra Village), 31.9 kmHigh rainfall.
- Elevation
- 10 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 226 m
- 343 m to a named beach
- Annual rainfall
- 1,176 mm
- 92 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- —
- Winter min (Jul)
- —
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- 4.3 kmOther Electricity GenerationTop reported: Carbon monoxide · Oxides of Nitrogen · Sulfur dioxide
EV adoption
In postcode 2256, 91 of 10,801 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 2.9% (310 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 3.7%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2256, 2,398 rooftop-solar systems totalling 15.2 MW have been installed since 2001, against 7,824 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 150 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
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 $1,710,000 this is $1,110,000 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 Gordon Reid Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Gordon Reid | 59.4% | 40.6% | +7.1 |
| 2022 | Gordon Reid | 52.3% | 47.7% | -6.5 |
| 2019 | Lucy Wicks | 45.8% | 54.2% | +3.1 |
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 Liesl Tesch Labor
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Liesl Tesch ALP | 65.4% |
| 2019 | Liesl Tesch ALP | 57.3% |
| 2015 | Kathy Smith ALP | 50.2% |
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: © State of New South Wales through the NSW Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0, adapted.
Looking at a specific address in Pearl Beach?
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 510 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 Pearl Beach 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 Pearl Beach
Is Pearl Beach a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Pearl Beach is moderate (51/100, ranked against other NSW suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Pearl Beach?
Pearl Beach has a high recorded bushfire history (94/100, 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 Pearl Beach a good place to live?
Pearl Beach has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of C (40/100), 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 Pearl Beach?
Pearl Beach, NSW had a population of 510 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Pearl Beach, NSW?
The postcode for Pearl Beach, NSW is 2256.
How far is Pearl Beach from Sydney?
Pearl Beach is 90 km from Sydney 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 Pearl Beach?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Pearl Beach was $91,572 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 Pearl Beach?
There are too few current rental listings in Pearl Beach for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $488, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in Pearl Beach?
The median age of residents in Pearl Beach was 64 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Pearl Beach at risk of bushfire?
Pearl Beach has a high recorded bushfire history (94/100). 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.
Is Pearl Beach walkable?
Pearl Beach scores 32/100 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 Pearl Beach?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Pearl Beach, Macquarie Park (Willandra Village) (31.9 km away), 1,176 mm of rain a year over 92 rainy days over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Pearl Beach?
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 Pearl Beach belong to?
Pearl Beach sits within the Central Coast (NSW) local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Pearl Beach?
The average residential rates bill through Central Coast (NSW) is $1,409 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Pearl Beach?
Across Central Coast (NSW), 1,441 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 66.7% 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 Pearl Beach in?
Pearl Beach sits within the federal Division of Robertson, currently held by Gordon Reid (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.