Scarsdale VIC 3351
Scarsdale sits 139 km from Melbourne CBD in Victoria, around 1 hour 50 minutes by car. Census data records 855 residents with a median age of 39 and a median household income of $80,496 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the lower-middle tier nationally. Population grew 14.9% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $240 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,473. The area shows high bushfire risk. Walkability is low.
Is Scarsdale a good place to live?
Scarsdale scores a C (31/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on transit and safety.
Car-dependent
Walkability 13/100 · 139.2 km · 111 min drive to Melbourne
Median available
Median $625K
High bushfire risk
Fire 73/100 · Crime 35/100 · Flood 33/100
Below-average income
SEIFA decile 3/10 · median age 39 · 855 residents
Liveability Rating
31 / 100 · Ranked #696 in VICEach bar is Scarsdale'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 Scarsdale?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
31 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataScarsdale's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $625,000, roughly 23% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$625,000
In line with its 5 neighbours (median $610,000)
Based on 19 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 30 days — median across 8 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 3 bed 9 sales $620K
Land
$277,500
Based on only 4 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Scarsdale are currently listed at around $861,000 on average. Based on 10 houses listed in the past six months.
$861K
10 houses listed in the last 6 months.
10 of the suburb's 274 dwellings (3.6%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Rental affordability
June quarter 2025110 Moderately unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 27% of its income on the median rent in postcode 3351.
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 Scarsdale safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Scarsdale sits in the low band, with 18 incidents recorded in 2026 — down roughly 36% on the prior year.
18 offences
35.7% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202512 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital
Where they happened
Crashes are counted where they happened, so a main road through the locality carries people passing through; this is not a measure of risk to residents. Roads are listed with 3 or more serious crashes.
Schools
Walkability
Scarsdale is very car-dependent on foot — at 13/100, nearly all errands require a car.
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.
NBN connectivity
The internet access technology available across NBN premises in Scarsdale.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 0%
- Premises covered
- 304
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
Golden Plains: council population
The three add up to the change above. These are council-wide figures from the ABS, not figures for this locality alone — this locality's own population is in the census section above.
Socio-economic profile
Scarsdale is home to 855 residents, with a median age of 39, broadly in line with the national figure. Median household income runs at $80,000 a year, with unemployment at 3.4%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
855
Median Age
39
Median Household Income
$80,496/yr
Census Median Rent
$240/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,473/mo
Avg Household Size
2.8
Median Personal Income
$31,616/yr
Unemployment Rate
3.4%
Unoccupied Dwellings
16.4%
Total Dwellings
274
Owner-Occupier Rate
94.8%
Houses
100.4%
Rental Stress
15.5%
Mortgage Stress
22.0%
Work From Home
15.8%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 77.2%
- English Spoken at Home
- 86.0%
- Employment Rate
- 54.1%
- Completed Year 12
- 29.8%
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.
0 residents (0.0%) 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.
8.9% of residents (72) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne (60).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 807 residents aged five and over. Areas are ABS statistical regions. Small counts are approximate: the ABS adjusts every figure slightly to protect privacy.
Age Distribution
Family & Household Composition
Commute to Work
2% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (9 of 367).
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 $2,052 a year through Golden Plains based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 46%
- Parks and recreation 46%
- Residential 8%
- Zones under 1% 1%
Zoning sets what may be built, not what is there today. A single address can sit in a different zone to the locality around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Golden Plains
In the year to August 2026, 186 new dwellings were approved across Golden Plains. Almost all of the pipeline is detached houses. Approvals are up 10.0% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
The Registered Aboriginal Party for this area is Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (appointed 2009).
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 Ballarat Aerodrome, 21.5 kmModerate rainfall — warm summers, cold winters with occasional frost.
- Elevation
- 385 m
- above sea level, at the locality centre
- Annual rainfall
- 605 mm
- 97 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 25.7°C
- 6 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 3.5°C
- 17 frost days ≤ 0°C
Elevation is the ground at the locality 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 3351, 41 of 9,674 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.2% (113 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 1.6%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 3351, 1,849 rooftop-solar systems totalling 11.9 MW have been installed since 2001, against 3,535 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 97 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.
10 first-home grants were paid in postcode 3351 in 2025-26, rank 91 of 298 Victorian postcodes. The most was 70, in 2021-22.
Grants on new and established homes; established homes stopped qualifying in mid-2013.
Mortgage repayments
2 mortgage brokers are registered in postcode 3351.
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 $625,000 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 Catherine King Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Catherine King | 60.7% | 39.3% | -2.3 |
| 2022 | Catherine King | 63.0% | 37.0% | -2.7 |
| 2019 | Catherine King | 61.0% | 39.0% | -3.6 |
Results are per division — federal electoral boundaries are redrawn periodically, so the history reflects this division's past, not necessarily the exact locality's voters across time.
State Electorate
Currently held by Martha Haylett Australian Labor Party - Victorian Branch
Next state election: 28 November 2026.
| Year | Winner | Won with | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Martha Haylett ALP | 53.0% | 53.0% | 47.0% |
| 2018 | Louise Staley LP | 50.0% | 50.0% | 50.0% |
| 2014 | Louise Staley LP | 50.8% | 49.2% | 50.8% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2021, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this locality's voters. Results: Victorian Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0.
Looking at a specific address in Scarsdale?
Every figure above is a locality 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 855 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
Ross Creek VIC 3351
Smythesdale VIC 3351
Snake Valley VIC 3351
Linton VIC 3360
Enfield VIC 3352
Napoleons VIC 3352
Compare Scarsdale 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 Scarsdale
Is Scarsdale a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Scarsdale is low (35/100, ranked against other VIC suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Scarsdale?
Scarsdale has a high recorded bushfire history (73/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). Flood overlays cover a low share of it (33/100). These are locality-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Scarsdale a good place to live?
Scarsdale has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of C (31/100), 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 Scarsdale?
Scarsdale, VIC had a population of 855 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Scarsdale, VIC?
The postcode for Scarsdale, VIC is 3351.
How far is Scarsdale from Melbourne?
Scarsdale is 139 km from Melbourne CBD by road, about 111 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Scarsdale?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Scarsdale was $80,496 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 Scarsdale?
There are too few current rental listings in Scarsdale for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $240, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in Scarsdale?
The median age of residents in Scarsdale was 39 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Scarsdale at risk of bushfire?
Scarsdale has a high recorded bushfire history (73/100). The score comes from Geoscience Australia's historical bushfire boundaries, with planned burns excluded: the area of recorded fires touching the locality 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 Scarsdale walkable?
Scarsdale scores 13/100 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 Scarsdale?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Scarsdale, Ballarat Aerodrome (21.5 km away), summer days average 25.7°C, winter nights 3.5°C, 605 mm of rain a year over 97 rainy days, and 6 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Scarsdale?
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 Scarsdale belong to?
Scarsdale sits within the Golden Plains local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Scarsdale?
The average residential rates bill through Golden Plains is $2,052 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Scarsdale?
Across Golden Plains, 186 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 10.0% 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 Scarsdale in?
Scarsdale sits within the federal Division of Ballarat, currently held by Catherine King (Australian Labor Party).
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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
- 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.