Red Cliffs VIC 3496
Red Cliffs is a town in Victoria, 531 km from Melbourne CBD, around 5 hours 55 minutes by car. Population is 5,294; the median age is 41 and the median household income is $67,080 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the bottom 20% nationally. Population grew 4.6% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $240 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,083. The area shows high flood risk and high crime risk. Of 5 schools within the town boundary, 3 rank above the state average, and walkability is low.
Is Red Cliffs a good town?
Red Cliffs scores a D (28/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on schools and prices, weaker on transit, safety, and community.
Above the state average
5 schools · 3 above peer schools · Top 11% in VIC
Car-dependent
Walkability 0/100 · 530.8 km · 353 min drive to Melbourne
More affordable than most
Median $465K · More affordable than 88% of VIC
High flood risk
Fire 28/100 · Crime 69/100 · Flood 93/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 2/10 · median age 41 · 5,294 residents
Liveability Rating
28 / 100 · Ranked #751 in VICEach bar is Red Cliffs's rank among VIC suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better).
How do you rate the liveability in Red Cliffs?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
28 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataRed Cliffs's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $465,000, roughly 12% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$465,000
Based on 88 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 27 days — median across 56 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 7 sales $330K
- 3 bed 51 sales $435K
- 4 bed 27 sales $531K
Land
$300,000
Based on only 8 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Typically sold in 33 days — median across 7 sales that recorded a listing period
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Red Cliffs are currently listed at around $525,000 on average. Based on 46 houses listed in the past six months.
Houses
$525K
46 houses listed in the last 6 months.
Units
$254K
3 units listed in the last 6 months.
49 of the suburb's 1,917 dwellings (2.6%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Red Cliffs rent for around $485 a week on average, based on 32 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
$485/wk
32 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
34 rentals advertised against an estimated 487 rented homes (7.0%) in the last 6 months.
Rental affordability
June quarter 2025123 Acceptable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 24% of its income on the median rent in postcode 3496.
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$485/week ($25,000 a year) on a $525,000 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.
Is Red Cliffs safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Red Cliffs sits in the moderate band, with 308 incidents recorded in 2026 — up about 6% on the prior year.
308 offences
6.2% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202517 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 3 of them fatal
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.
Schools
Five schools serve Red Cliffs, and the cohort skews above peer-suburb performance. Red Cliffs East Primary School and Red Cliffs Secondary College lead the pack.
- • 699 students across 4 schools (avg 175)
- • Sectors: 3 Government, 1 Independent, 1 Catholic
- • ICSEA 906-985, median 951 (below the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Red Cliffs Secondary College (348 students)
Primary
Secondary
Combined
Walkability
Red Cliffs is very car-dependent on foot — at 0/100, nearly all errands require a car. Within the town there are 2 supermarkets, 16 parks and 3 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
We hold no public transport timetable data for this area, so public transport is not rated here and the score is spread across the remaining components. It is not counted as zero.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Red Cliffs.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 18.0 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 9.9 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 7.3 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 1 min
- Span of service
- 23.2 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 Red Cliffs.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 27%
- Premises covered
- 2,544
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 town alone — this town's own population is in the census section above.
Socio-economic profile
The ABS scores 15 small areas inside this town and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 5 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this town rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Red Cliffs is home to about 5,300 residents, with a median age of 41, broadly in line with the national figure. Median household income runs at $67,000 a year, with unemployment at 5.5%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
5,294
Median Age
41
Median Household Income
$67,080/yr
Census Median Rent
$240/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,083/mo
Avg Household Size
2.5
Median Personal Income
$35,048/yr
Unemployment Rate
5.5%
Unoccupied Dwellings
10.0%
Total Dwellings
1,917
Owner-Occupier Rate
74.6%
Houses
92.1%
Rental Stress
18.6%
Mortgage Stress
19.4%
Work From Home
9.6%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
41 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 15 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 464 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 80.9%
- English Spoken at Home
- 83.9%
- Employment Rate
- 52.5%
- Completed Year 12
- 27.4%
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.
154 residents (2.9%) 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 (139) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne (94).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 5,016 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 72%
- Parks and recreation 24%
- Residential 1%
- Industrial 1%
- Infrastructure and transport 1%
- Zones under 1% 1%
Rezoned since Oct 2025
- Public Conservation and Resource Zone → Farming Zone · C116mild, Oct 2025 1.0 ha
Land in this town moved from one zone to another by a planning scheme amendment (Vicmap Planning, CC BY 4.0). Exhibited amendments are proposals and can change or lapse.
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: 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, 18.9 kmDry climate — very hot summers, cold winters with occasional frost.
- Elevation
- 59 m
- above sea level, at the town centre
- Near high-voltage lines
- 0.4% of addresses
- 14 within 100 m of an overhead line of 110 kV or more
- 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 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- 0.3 kmWine and Other Alcoholic Beverage ManufacturingTop reported: Total Volatile Organic Compounds · Ethanol
- 3.5 kmWine and Other Alcoholic Beverage ManufacturingTop reported: Ethanol · Total Volatile Organic Compounds
EV adoption
In postcode 3496, 6 of 6,034 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 0.8% (51 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 0.9%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 3496, 1,338 rooftop-solar systems totalling 11.2 MW have been installed since 2001, against 2,585 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 62 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.
6 first-home grants were paid in postcode 3496 in 2025-26, rank 120 of 298 Victorian postcodes. The most was 56, in 2000-01.
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 $465,000 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 2026-10-27 — 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 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 town'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 town's voters. Results: Victorian Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0.
Looking at a specific address in Red Cliffs?
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 5,294 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 Red Cliffs 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 Red Cliffs
Is Red Cliffs a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Red Cliffs is moderate (69/100, ranked against other VIC suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Red Cliffs?
Red Cliffs has a low recorded bushfire history (28/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). Flood overlays cover a high share of it (93/100). These are town-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Red Cliffs a good place to live?
Red Cliffs has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (28/100), 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 Red Cliffs?
Red Cliffs, VIC had a population of 5,294 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Red Cliffs, VIC?
The postcode for Red Cliffs, VIC is 3496.
How far is Red Cliffs from Melbourne?
Red Cliffs is 531 km from Melbourne CBD by road, about 353 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Red Cliffs?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Red Cliffs was $67,080 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 Red Cliffs?
The median advertised rent in Red Cliffs is $485 a week for houses (32 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Red Cliffs?
The median age of residents in Red Cliffs was 41 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Red Cliffs at risk of bushfire?
Red Cliffs 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 Red Cliffs?
There are 5 schools inside the Red Cliffs boundary: 3 above and 1 at similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
What is the weather like in Red Cliffs?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Red Cliffs, Mildura Airport (18.9 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 Red Cliffs?
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 Red Cliffs belong to?
Red Cliffs sits within the Mildura local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Red Cliffs?
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 Red Cliffs?
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 Red Cliffs in?
Red Cliffs 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.