Warrnambool VIC 3280
Warrnambool sits 258 km from Melbourne CBD in Victoria, around 3 hours 10 minutes by car. Census data records 31,308 residents with a median age of 42 and a median household income of $72,020 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the lower-middle tier nationally. The suburb grew 5.6% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $290 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,408. Warrnambool is characterised by high crime risk and high coastal erosion risk. Of 14 schools within the suburb boundary, 1 ranks above the state average, and walkability is moderate.
Is Warrnambool a good suburb?
Warrnambool scores a C (42/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on transit, weaker on safety.
Mixed results
14 schools · 1 above peer schools
Very walkable
Walkability 69/100 · 257.5 km · 191 min drive to Melbourne
Around the state median
Median $644K
High crime risk
Fire 0/100 · Crime 74/100 · Flood 43/100
Below-average income
SEIFA decile 4/10 · median age 42 · 31,308 residents
Liveability Rating
42 / 100 · Ranked #545 in VICEach bar is Warrnambool's rank among VIC suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better).
How do you rate the liveability in Warrnambool?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
42 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataWarrnambool's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $644,000, roughly 12% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$644,500
Based on 224 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 24 days — median across 143 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 19 sales $490K
- 3 bed 120 sales $607K
- 4 bed 73 sales $767K
- 5 bed 9 sales $850K
Units
$440,000
Based on 31 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 26 days — median across 20 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 27 sales $440K
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Warrnambool are currently listed at around $695,000 on average. Based on 255 houses listed in the past six months.
Houses
$695K
255 houses listed in the last 6 months.
Units
$476K
18 units listed in the last 6 months.
273 of the suburb's 12,565 dwellings (2.2%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Warrnambool rent for around $600 a week on average, based on 197 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$600/wk
197 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$425/wk
18 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
215 rentals advertised against an estimated 3,857 rented homes (5.6%) in the last 6 months.
Rental affordability
June quarter 202595 Unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 32% of its income on the median rent in postcode 3280.
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$600/week ($31,000 a year) on a $695,000 median
$425/week ($22,000 a year) on a $476,000 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
277 active Airbnb listings: 257 whole homes and 20 rooms. Whole homes are about 1.9% 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 Warrnambool safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Warrnambool sits in the high band, with 2,077 incidents recorded in 2026 — down roughly 12% on the prior year.
2,077 offences
11.6% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202589 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 5 of them fatal
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
- 3.6 km
- Rate
- -0.27 m/yr
- Net Movement
- -2.9 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
14 schools serve Warrnambool, and results are mixed — some outperforming peer-suburb schools, some below. Our Lady Help of Christians School leads the pack.
- • 6,267 students across 12 schools (avg 522)
- • Sectors: 8 Government, 5 Catholic, 1 Independent
- • ICSEA 902-1084, median 1002 (around the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Emmanuel College Warrnambool - McAuley Campus (1,340 students)
Primary
Secondary
Combined
Walkability
Warrnambool is somewhat walkable on foot — at 69/100, a short cluster of errands work on foot but most trips still benefit from a car. Within the suburb there are 9 supermarkets, 34 parks and 40 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Warrnambool.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 359.0 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 145.9 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 145.0 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 0 min
- Span of service
- 16.7 hours
- Direct to CBD (peak)
- 5 min wait
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 Warrnambool.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 37%
- Premises covered
- 17,652
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
Warrnambool: 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 78 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 8 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this suburb rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Warrnambool is home to about 31,300 residents, with a median age of 42, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $72,000 a year, with unemployment at 3.2%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
31,308
Median Age
42
Median Household Income
$72,020/yr
Census Median Rent
$290/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,408/mo
Avg Household Size
2.3
Median Personal Income
$38,948/yr
Unemployment Rate
3.2%
Unoccupied Dwellings
9.0%
Total Dwellings
12,565
Owner-Occupier Rate
69.3%
Houses
82.1%
Rental Stress
20.9%
Mortgage Stress
23.5%
Work From Home
10.8%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
568 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 118 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 3,731 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 84.2%
- English Spoken at Home
- 88.5%
- Employment Rate
- 58.2%
- Completed Year 12
- 38.4%
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.
883 residents (2.8%) 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.
5.6% of residents (1,658) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne (1,336).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 29,715 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
1% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (114 of 15,118).
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.
Local Jobs
People who work in this suburb against employed people who live here, 2021 Census.
About 16,447 people work here; 15,118 employed residents live here.
Roughly as many jobs as working residents (1.1 per resident). At least 6% 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 $2,162 a year through Warrnambool based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 43%
- Residential 27%
- Parks and recreation 13%
- Infrastructure and transport 11%
- Industrial 3%
- Commercial 2%
- Other and special use 1%
Rezoned since Oct 2025
- Farming Zone → Urban Growth Zone · C217warr, Oct 2026 363.3 ha
- Farming Zone → Public Conservation and Resource Zone · C217warr, Oct 2026 19.9 ha
- Transport Zone 3 → Urban Growth Zone · C217warr, Oct 2026 3.6 ha
- Transport Zone 2 → Farming Zone · C216warr, Dec 2025 0.8 ha
and 3 smaller changes
Land in this suburb 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 suburb around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Warrnambool
In the year to August 2026, 388 new dwellings were approved across Warrnambool. That mix is 330 houses and 58 units. Approvals are down 22.2% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
The Registered Aboriginal Party for this area is Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation (appointed 2013).
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 Port Fairy AWS, 23.1 kmModerate rainfall — warm summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 11 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 2.9 km
- 4.8 km to a named beach
- Annual rainfall
- 699 mm
- 111 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 22.5°C
- 5 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 7.2°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
9 facilities within 5 km- 2.5 kmHospitals (Except Psychiatric Hospitals)Top reported: Carbon monoxide · Oxides of Nitrogen · Particulate Matter ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5)
- 3.3 kmOther Petroleum and Coal Product ManufacturingTop reported: Manganese & compounds
- 3.3 kmMeat ProcessingTop reported: Oxides of Nitrogen · Carbon monoxide · Particulate Matter ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5)
- 3.3 kmMeat ProcessingTop reported: Oxides of Nitrogen · Carbon monoxide · Particulate Matter ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5)
- 3.6 km
EV adoption
In postcode 3280, 167 of 29,452 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 2.7% (795 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 3.3%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 3280, 3,594 rooftop-solar systems totalling 23.9 MW have been installed since 2001, against 14,450 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 261 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.
60 first-home grants were paid in postcode 3280 in 2025-26, rank 23 of 298 Victorian postcodes. The most was 294, in 2001-02.
Grants on new and established homes; established homes stopped qualifying in mid-2013.
Mortgage repayments
13 mortgage brokers are registered in this suburb.
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 $644,500 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 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 Warrnambool?
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 31,308 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 Warrnambool 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 Warrnambool
Is Warrnambool a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Warrnambool is high (74/100, 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 Warrnambool?
Warrnambool has no recorded bushfire history. Flood overlays cover a moderate share of it (43/100). These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Warrnambool a good place to live?
Warrnambool has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of C (42/100), 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 Warrnambool?
Warrnambool, VIC had a population of 31,308 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Warrnambool, VIC?
The postcode for Warrnambool, VIC is 3280.
How far is Warrnambool from Melbourne?
Warrnambool is 258 km from Melbourne CBD by road, about 191 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Warrnambool?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Warrnambool was $72,020 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 Warrnambool?
The median advertised rent in Warrnambool is $600 a week for houses (197 listings) and $425 a week for units (18 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Warrnambool?
The median age of residents in Warrnambool was 42 at the 2021 ABS Census.
How are the schools in Warrnambool?
There are 14 schools inside the Warrnambool boundary: 1 above, 9 at, and 1 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Warrnambool walkable?
Warrnambool scores 69/100 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 Warrnambool?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Warrnambool, Port Fairy AWS (23.1 km away), summer days average 22.5°C, winter nights 7.2°C, 699 mm of rain a year over 111 rainy days, and 5 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Warrnambool?
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 Warrnambool belong to?
Warrnambool sits within the Warrnambool local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Warrnambool?
The average residential rates bill through Warrnambool is $2,162 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Warrnambool?
Across Warrnambool, 388 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's down 22.2% 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 Warrnambool in?
Warrnambool 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.