Portland VIC 3305
Portland sits 358 km from Melbourne CBD in Victoria, around 4 hours 30 minutes by car. Census data records 10,016 residents with a median age of 47 and a median household income of $59,592 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the bottom 20% nationally. The suburb grew 3.1% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $250 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,083. Portland is characterised by high bushfire risk and high crime risk. Of 9 schools within the suburb boundary, 3 rank above the state average, and walkability is moderate.
Is Portland a good suburb?
Portland scores a D (29/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on schools, transit, and prices, weaker on safety and community.
Above the state average
9 schools · 3 above peer schools · Top 24% in VIC
Very walkable
Walkability 63/100 · 358.5 km · 268 min drive to Melbourne
More affordable than most
Median $470K · More affordable than 82% of VIC
High bushfire risk
Fire 94/100 · Crime 86/100 · Flood 39/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 2/10 · median age 47 · 10,016 residents
Liveability Rating
29 / 100 · Ranked #738 in VICEach bar is Portland's rank among VIC suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better).
How do you rate the liveability in Portland?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
29 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataPortland's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $470,000, roughly 25% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$470,000
Based on 341 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 56 days — median across 137 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 23 sales $365K
- 3 bed 221 sales $430K
- 4 bed 79 sales $575K
- 5 bed 9 sales $630K
Land
$220,000
Based on 43 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 96 days — median across 10 sales that recorded a listing period
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Portland are currently listed at around $580,000 on average. Based on 133 houses listed in the past six months.
Houses
$580K
133 houses listed in the last 6 months.
Units
$400K
27 units listed in the last 6 months.
160 of the suburb's 4,154 dwellings (3.9%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Portland rent for around $580 a week on average, based on 43 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$580/wk
43 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$380/wk
9 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
52 rentals advertised against an estimated 1,147 rented homes (4.5%) in the last 6 months.
Rental affordability
June quarter 2025114 Moderately unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 26% of its income on the median rent in postcode 3305.
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$580/week ($30,000 a year) on a $580,000 median
$380/week ($20,000 a year) on a $400,000 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
73 active Airbnb listings: 62 whole homes and 11 rooms. Whole homes are about 1.3% 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 Portland safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Portland sits in the high band, with 1,122 incidents recorded in 2026 — down about 9% on the prior year.
1,122 offences
8.9% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202525 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital
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.
Coastal Erosion
Shoreline Change Summary
1988–2025Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 1.2 km
- Rate
- -0.02 m/yr
- Net Movement
- 3.6 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
Nine schools serve Portland, and results are mixed — some outperforming peer-suburb schools, some below. Bayview College and Portland Primary School lead the pack.
- • 1,726 students across 8 schools (avg 216)
- • Sectors: 6 Government, 2 Independent, 1 Catholic
- • ICSEA 897-1009, median 970 (below the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Portland Secondary College (505 students)
Primary
Secondary
Combined
Walkability
Portland is somewhat walkable on foot — at 63/100, a short cluster of errands work on foot but most trips still benefit from a car. Within the suburb there are 3 supermarkets, 21 parks and 8 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Portland.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 8.5 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 36.3 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 15.9 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 1 min
- Span of service
- 19.5 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 Portland.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 39%
- Premises covered
- 5,892
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
Glenelg: 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 27 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 5 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this suburb rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Portland is home to about 10,000 residents, with a median age of 47, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $60,000 a year, with unemployment at 5.3%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
10,016
Median Age
47
Median Household Income
$59,592/yr
Census Median Rent
$250/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,083/mo
Avg Household Size
2.2
Median Personal Income
$32,084/yr
Unemployment Rate
5.3%
Unoccupied Dwellings
13.1%
Total Dwellings
4,154
Owner-Occupier Rate
72.4%
Houses
88.2%
Rental Stress
21.8%
Mortgage Stress
21.8%
Work From Home
6.8%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
214 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 18 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 1,111 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 83.5%
- English Spoken at Home
- 90.0%
- Employment Rate
- 49.3%
- Completed Year 12
- 29.3%
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.
123 residents (1.2%) 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.
Where New Residents Came From
Where residents aged five and over lived five years before the 2021 Census, for those who lived somewhere else.
5.9% of residents (568) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne (398).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 9,560 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
Local Jobs
People who work in this suburb against employed people who live here, 2021 Census.
About 5,132 people work here; 4,162 employed residents live here.
Roughly as many jobs as working residents (1.2 per resident). At least 17% 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 $1,852 a year through Glenelg based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Industrial 28%
- Residential 27%
- Parks and recreation 13%
- Rural and farming 11%
- Infrastructure and transport 10%
- Commercial 5%
- Environmental 2%
- Other and special use 2%
- Not zoned 3%
Planning zones cover 97% of the suburb's area. The rest is unzoned land such as water or road reserve.
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: Glenelg
In the year to August 2026, 60 new dwellings were approved across Glenelg. That mix is 35 houses and 25 units. Approvals are down 65.0% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
The Registered Aboriginal Party for this area is Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (appointed 2007).
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 Portland, 2.1 kmModerate rainfall.
- Elevation
- 16 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 1.2 km
- 2.9 km to a named beach
- Annual rainfall
- 661 mm
- 73 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
3 facilities within 5 km- 1.5 kmOther Warehousing and Storage ServicesTop reported: Oxides of Nitrogen · Carbon monoxide · Particulate Matter ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5)
- 2.9 kmAluminium SmeltingTop reported: Carbon monoxide · Sulfur dioxide · Oxides of Nitrogen
- 3.5 kmFertiliser ManufacturingTop reported: Chlorine & compounds · Fluoride compounds · Mercury & compounds
EV adoption
In postcode 3305, 19 of 12,613 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.1% (144 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 1.3%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 3305, 2,008 rooftop-solar systems totalling 12.3 MW have been installed since 2001, against 6,137 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 71 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.
2 first-home grants were paid in postcode 3305 in 2025-26, rank 176 of 298 Victorian postcodes. The most was 120, in 2001-02.
Grants on new and established homes; established homes stopped qualifying in mid-2013.
Mortgage repayments
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 $470,000 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 Dan Tehan Liberal
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Dan Tehan | 39.1% | 60.9% | -2.3 |
| 2022 | Dan Tehan | 40.9% | 59.1% | -1.1 |
| 2019 | Dan Tehan | 39.6% | 60.4% | +1.2 |
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 Roma Britnell Liberal
Next state election: 28 November 2026.
| Year | Winner | Won with | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Roma Britnell LP | 58.0% | 42.0% | 58.0% |
| 2018 | Roma Britnell LP | 52.3% | 47.7% | 52.3% |
| 2014 | Denis Napthine LP | 57.0% | 39.0% | 61.0% |
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 Portland?
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 10,016 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.
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Nearby suburbs
Compare Portland to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other VIC suburb — type a name and pick one.
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Common questions about Portland
Is Portland a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Portland is high (86/100, 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 Portland?
Portland has a high recorded bushfire history (94/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). Flood overlays cover a low share of it (39/100). These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Portland a good place to live?
Portland has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (29/100), 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 Portland?
Portland, VIC had a population of 10,016 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Portland, VIC?
The postcode for Portland, VIC is 3305.
How far is Portland from Melbourne?
Portland is 358 km from Melbourne CBD by road, about 268 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Portland?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Portland was $59,592 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 Portland?
The median advertised rent in Portland is $580 a week for houses (43 listings) and $380 a week for units (9 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Portland?
The median age of residents in Portland was 47 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Portland at risk of bushfire?
Portland 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.
How are the schools in Portland?
There are 9 schools inside the Portland boundary: 3 above, 3 at, and 1 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Portland walkable?
Portland scores 63/100 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.
What is the weather like in Portland?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Portland, Portland (2.1 km away), 661 mm of rain a year over 73 rainy days over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Portland?
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 Portland belong to?
Portland sits within the Glenelg local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Portland?
The average residential rates bill through Glenelg is $1,852 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Portland?
Across Glenelg, 60 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 65.0% 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 Portland in?
Portland sits within the federal Division of Wannon, currently held by Dan Tehan (Liberal).
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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
- Short-stay rentals · Jun 2026
- 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.