Wakefield NSW 2278
Wakefield is a suburb in New South Wales, 137 km from Sydney CBD, around 1 hour 45 minutes by car. Population is 144; the median age is 40 and the median household income is $118,612 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the top 40% nationally. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $353 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $2,600. Wakefield is characterised by high crime risk and high bushfire risk. 1 school sits within the suburb boundary, and walkability is low.
This suburb is too small to rate.
The Liveability Rating is calculated for suburbs of 500 residents or more, and this one has 144. Below that the school, census and safety figures behind the score cover too few people to rank fairly against the rest of the state. The individual measures further down this page are still shown.
How do you rate the liveability in Wakefield?
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Our score
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Median House Price
Q4 2025Wakefield's house market is moving lower: the median sale price reached $1.73 million in the December 2025 quarter, roughly 10% below where it sat a year earlier. That said, only four sales settled in the quarter, so the median is a noisy signal — treat it as a direction rather than a level. Zoom out: prices have climbed roughly 152% over the past decade — 9.7% per year on average.
Houses
$1,725,700
Based on only 4 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Land
$2,788,500
Based on only 2 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Is Wakefield safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Wakefield sits in the high band, with 34 incidents recorded in 2025 — up about 10% on the prior year.
34 offences
9.7% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20256 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.
Council Flood Studies
Lake Macquarie City Council has published 14 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
- North Creek (Warners Bay) Flood Risk Management Study and Plan, January 2026 2026
- Morans, Stockton, Mullards, Clacks, Melaleuca and Dora Creeks Flood Study - November 2025 2025
- Lake Macquarie City Flood Studies & Floodplain Risk Management Studies/Plans 2025
- North Creek Warners Bay Flood Study (Final Report) January 2025 2025
- Flood Studies for Eight Residual Lake Macquarie Waterway Tributary Catchments 2021
Schools
One school serves Wakefield, but none have published comparable ratings yet.
- • 31 students in one school (avg 31)
Secondary
Walkability
Wakefield is very car-dependent on foot — at 13/100, nearly all errands require a car.
NBN connectivity
The internet access technology available across NBN premises in Wakefield.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 0%
- Premises covered
- 26
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
Lake Macquarie: 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
Wakefield is home to 144 residents, with a median age of 40, broadly in line with the national figure. Median household income runs at $119,000 a year, with unemployment at 0.0%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
144
Median Age
40
Median Household Income
$118,612/yr
Census Median Rent
$353/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$2,600/mo
Avg Household Size
3.2
Median Personal Income
$48,256/yr
Unemployment Rate
0.0%
Unoccupied Dwellings
7.1%
Total Dwellings
42
Owner-Occupier Rate
86.8%
Houses
100.0%
Rental Stress
15.5%
Mortgage Stress
26.3%
Work From Home
35.6%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 93.1%
- English Spoken at Home
- 97.9%
- Employment Rate
- 69.6%
- Completed Year 12
- 36.8%
Occupations
Religion
Age Distribution
Family & Household Composition
Commute to Work
Education
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,708 a year through Lake Macquarie based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Environmental 70%
- Infrastructure and transport 15%
- Rural and farming 14%
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: Lake Macquarie
In the year to August 2026, 1,212 new dwellings were approved across Lake Macquarie. That mix is 846 houses and 366 units. Approvals are up 1.6% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Biraban 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.
Air Quality
MODERATEPM2.5 averaged 6.1 µg/m³ in 2025 — below Australia's NEPM annual standard (8 µg/m³), slightly above the stricter WHO guideline (5 µg/m³). 4 days exceeded the daily threshold of 25 µg/m³.
PM10 averaged 16.5 µg/m³ · NO₂ averaged 0.53 pphm. Days over the limit in 2025: PM10 2 · NO₂ 0 · ozone 1.
From the Wallsend monitoring station, 13.4 km away.
Climate & Setting
from Newcastle Nobbys Signal Station AWS, 23.3 kmHigh rainfall — warm summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 49 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 13.9 km
- Near high-voltage lines
- 7.1% of addresses
- 6 within 100 m of an overhead line of 110 kV or more
- Annual rainfall
- 1,025 mm
- 91 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 25.4°C
- 4 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 10.2°C
- 0 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.
Industrial Emissions Nearby
3 facilities within 5 km- 1.7 kmCoal MiningTop reported: Particulate Matter ≤10.0 µm (PM10) · Oxides of Nitrogen · Carbon monoxide
- 3.4 kmOther Petroleum and Coal Product ManufacturingTop reported: Sulfur dioxide · Oxides of Nitrogen · Carbon monoxide
- 4.2 kmSewerage and Drainage ServicesTop reported: Hydrogen sulfide · Ammonia (total)
EV adoption
In postcode 2278, 4 of 2,228 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.3% (30 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 1.5%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2278, 561 rooftop-solar systems totalling 3.5 MW have been installed since 2001, against 912 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 25 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
Q4-2025 medianTransfer 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 $1,725,700 this is $1,125,700 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 Dan Repacholi Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Dan Repacholi | 59.5% | 40.5% | +4.7 |
| 2022 | Dan Repacholi | 54.0% | 46.0% | -1.1 |
| 2019 | Joel Fitzgibbon | 53.0% | 47.0% | +9.5 |
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 Greg Piper Independent
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Greg Piper IND | 74.1% |
| 2019 | Greg Piper IND | 72.1% |
| 2015 | Greg Piper IND | 60.7% |
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 Wakefield?
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 144 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 Wakefield 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 Wakefield
Is Wakefield a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Wakefield is high (97/100, ranked against other NSW 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 Wakefield?
Wakefield has a high recorded bushfire history (70/100, 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.
What is the population of Wakefield?
Wakefield, NSW had a population of 144 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Wakefield, NSW?
The postcode for Wakefield, NSW is 2278.
How far is Wakefield from Sydney?
Wakefield is 137 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 107 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Wakefield?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Wakefield was $118,612 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 Wakefield?
There are too few current rental listings in Wakefield for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $353, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in Wakefield?
The median age of residents in Wakefield was 40 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Wakefield at risk of bushfire?
Wakefield has a high recorded bushfire history (70/100). 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 Wakefield?
There is 1 school inside the Wakefield boundary, none of which has enough NAPLAN and ICSEA data for a quality band.
Is Wakefield walkable?
Wakefield 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 air quality in Wakefield?
The nearest government air-quality monitoring station to Wakefield (Wallsend) recorded a 2025 annual mean PM2.5 of 6.1 µg/m³ and PM10 of 16.5 µg/m³. That puts Wakefield below the Australian NEPM annual standard of 8 µg/m³ but above the stricter WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³.
What is the weather like in Wakefield?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Wakefield, Newcastle Nobbys Signal Station AWS (23.3 km away), summer days average 25.4°C, winter nights 10.2°C, 1,025 mm of rain a year over 91 rainy days, and 4 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
What is the median house price in Wakefield?
The median sale price for houses in Wakefield was $1,725,700 in the Q4 2025 quarter, based on a small sample of 4 sales — take as indicative.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Wakefield?
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 Wakefield belong to?
Wakefield sits within the Lake Macquarie local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Wakefield?
The average residential rates bill through Lake Macquarie is $1,708 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Wakefield?
Across Lake Macquarie, 1,212 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 1.6% 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 Wakefield in?
Wakefield sits within the federal Division of Hunter, currently held by Dan Repacholi (Australian Labor Party).
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Data freshness
- Census · 2021
- Median sale prices · Q4 2025
- For-sale & rental market · Oct 2026
- Council rates · FY 2024–25
- Building approvals · Aug 2026
- Schools · 2025
- NBN connectivity · Dec 2025
- Crime · 2025
- Road crashes · 2021–2025
- Air quality · 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.
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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.