Waterfall sits 44 km from Sydney CBD in New South Wales, around 51 minutes by car. Census data records 522 residents with a median age of 41 and a median household income of $116,064 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the top 40% nationally. Population grew 5.7% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $515 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $2,383. The area shows high bushfire risk and high crime risk. 1 school sits within the suburb boundary, and walkability is low.
Is Waterfall a good suburb?
Waterfall scores a C (37/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on community, weaker on safety.
Mixed results
1 school
Some car dependence
Walkability 36/100 · 43.8 km · 51 min drive to Sydney
Around the state median
Median $1.33M
High bushfire risk
Fire 91/100 · Crime 89/100
Advantaged
SEIFA decile 8/10 · median age 41 · 522 residents
Liveability Rating
37 / 100 · Ranked #1108 in NSWEach bar is Waterfall's rank among NSW suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better). Scored on 4 of 5 factors: no school data, so the other factors carry its weight.
No flood data is published for New South Wales — a blank here means we hold no data, not that there is no risk.
How do you rate the liveability in Waterfall?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
37 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataWaterfall's house market is moving lower: the median sale price reached $1.33 million, about 9% below where it sat a year earlier.
$1,330,000
Based on 13 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 18 days — median across 7 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 5 sales $1.32M
Rental Market
Rent agreed on new leases
Jul–Sep 2026- 3-bed houses
- $910/wk
- 14 bonds
- +30% since 2021
- 2-bed units
- $675/wk
- 16 bonds
- +53% since 2021
Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2233 (NSW publishes bonds by postcode, which can cover several suburbs). Change since 2021 compares the median of the first four quarters with the last four. Asking rents above come from advertised listings.
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 2233.
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.
Short-Stay Rentals
No active Airbnb listings.
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 Waterfall safe? Crime statistics
2025Crime in Waterfall sits in the high band, with 55 incidents recorded in 2025 — down about 10% on the prior year.
55 offences
9.8% since 2024Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20259 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 2 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.
Council Flood Studies
Sutherland Shire Council has published 6 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.
Schools
One school serves Waterfall, but none have published comparable ratings yet.
- • 17 students in one school (avg 17)
Primary
Walkability
Waterfall is car-dependent on foot — at 36/100, most errands require a car.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Waterfall.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 8.2 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 6.3 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 6.1 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 7 min
- Span of service
- 21.8 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 Waterfall.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 0%
- Premises covered
- 179
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
Sutherland: 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
Waterfall is home to 522 residents, with a median age of 41, broadly in line with the national figure. Median household income runs at $116,000 a year, with unemployment at 2.6%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
522
Median Age
41
Median Household Income
$116,064/yr
Census Median Rent
$515/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$2,383/mo
Avg Household Size
3.0
Median Personal Income
$43,056/yr
Unemployment Rate
2.6%
Unoccupied Dwellings
2.9%
Total Dwellings
172
Owner-Occupier Rate
85.5%
Houses
94.2%
Rental Stress
23.1%
Mortgage Stress
24.6%
Work From Home
32.1%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 84.1%
- English Spoken at Home
- 92.1%
- Employment Rate
- 63.5%
- Completed Year 12
- 37.4%
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.
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.
Age Distribution
Family & Household Composition
Commute to Work
12% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (32 of 265).
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 284 people work here; 265 employed residents live here.
Roughly as many jobs as working residents (1.1 per resident). At least 7% 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 $1,552 a year through Sutherland based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Environmental 94%
- Infrastructure and transport 4%
- Parks and recreation 2%
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: Sutherland
In the year to August 2026, 1,449 new dwellings were approved across Sutherland. That mix is 213 houses and 1,236 units. Approvals are up 117.3% on the same period a year earlier.
Aboriginal Land Council
Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Tharawal 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 5.8 µg/m³ in 2025 — below Australia's NEPM annual standard (8 µg/m³), slightly above the stricter WHO guideline (5 µg/m³).
PM10 averaged 14.8 µg/m³ · NO₂ averaged 0.97 pphm. Days over the limit in 2025: PM10 0 · NO₂ 0 · ozone 1.
From the Campbelltown West monitoring station, 19.3 km away.
Climate & Setting
from Lucas Heights (Ansto), 8.5 kmHigh rainfall.
- Elevation
- 231 m
- above sea level, at the suburb centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 8.2 km
- Near high-voltage lines
- 33.9% of addresses
- 78 within 100 m of an overhead line of 110 kV or more
- Annual rainfall
- 1,038 mm
- 89 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.
EV adoption
In postcode 2233, 206 of 21,133 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 3.0% (635 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 4.0%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 2233, 3,915 rooftop-solar systems totalling 26.9 MW have been installed since 2001, against 10,490 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 279 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
15 mortgage brokers are registered in postcode 2233.
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 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 $1,330,000 this is $730,000 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 David Moncrieff Australian Labor Party
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | David Moncrieff | 53.1% | 46.9% | +6.5 |
| 2022 | Jenny Ware | 43.0% | 57.0% | -2.8 |
| 2019 | Craig Kelly | 40.1% | 59.9% | +0.5 |
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 Maryanne Stuart Labor
Next state election: 13 March 2027.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Maryanne Stuart ALP | 60.0% |
| 2019 | Lee Evans LP | 55.0% |
| 2015 | Lee Evans LP | 57.6% |
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 Waterfall?
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 522 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.
Checking the whole city?
Suburbs to avoid in Sydney There is no list of bad suburbs, but there are hazards the state measures and publishes — recorded crime, bushfire exposure, flood overlays and aircraft noise. Sydney suburbs ranked on them, with what the numbers do and don't mean.Nearby suburbs
Compare Waterfall to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other NSW suburb — type a name and pick one.
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Common questions about Waterfall
Is Waterfall a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Waterfall is high (89/100, 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 Waterfall?
Waterfall has a high recorded bushfire history (91/100, 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.
Is Waterfall a good place to live?
Waterfall has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of C (37/100), ranked against other NSW 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 Waterfall?
Waterfall, NSW had a population of 522 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Waterfall, NSW?
The postcode for Waterfall, NSW is 2233.
How far is Waterfall from Sydney?
Waterfall is 44 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 51 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Waterfall?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Waterfall was $116,064 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 Waterfall?
There are too few current rental listings in Waterfall for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $515, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in Waterfall?
The median age of residents in Waterfall was 41 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Waterfall at risk of bushfire?
Waterfall has a high recorded bushfire history (91/100). 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 Waterfall?
There is 1 school inside the Waterfall boundary, none of which has enough NAPLAN and ICSEA data for a quality band.
Is Waterfall walkable?
Waterfall scores 36/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it 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 Waterfall?
The nearest government air-quality monitoring station to Waterfall (Campbelltown West) recorded a 2025 annual mean PM2.5 of 5.8 µg/m³ and PM10 of 14.8 µg/m³. That puts Waterfall 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 Waterfall?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Waterfall, Lucas Heights (Ansto) (8.5 km away), 1,038 mm of rain a year over 89 rainy days over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Waterfall?
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 Waterfall belong to?
Waterfall sits within the Sutherland local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Waterfall?
The average residential rates bill through Sutherland is $1,552 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Waterfall?
Across Sutherland, 1,449 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 117.3% 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 Waterfall in?
Waterfall sits within the federal Division of Hughes, currently held by David Moncrieff (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
- Public transport · Oct 2026
- 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
- Short-stay rentals · Jun 2026
- 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.