Wonthaggi VIC 3995
Located in Victoria, Wonthaggi sits 137 km from Melbourne CBD, around 1 hour 50 minutes by car. The town has 5,215 residents, a median age of 55, and a median household income of $44,304 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the bottom 20% nationally. Population grew 5.0% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $270 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,198. The area shows high crime risk. Of 8 schools within the town boundary, 2 rank above the state average, and walkability is moderate.
Is Wonthaggi a good town?
Wonthaggi scores a C (38/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on transit, weaker on prices, safety, and community.
Mixed results
8 schools · 2 above peer schools
Very walkable
Walkability 64/100 · 137.2 km · 111 min drive to Melbourne
Above the state median
Median $515K · Less affordable than 79% of VIC
High crime risk
Fire 24/100 · Crime 91/100 · Flood 26/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 1/10 · median age 55 · 5,215 residents
Liveability Rating
38 / 100 · Ranked #597 in VICEach bar is Wonthaggi's rank among VIC suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better).
How do you rate the liveability in Wonthaggi?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
38 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataWonthaggi's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $515,000, roughly 39% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$515,000
32% below its 5 neighbours (median $752,500)
Based on 187 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 56 days — median across 87 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 2 bed 26 sales $462K
- 3 bed 86 sales $520K
- 4 bed 57 sales $615K
- 5 bed 9 sales $740K
Land
$265,000
Based on 57 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 71 days — median across 11 sales that recorded a listing period
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Wonthaggi are currently listed at around $619,000 on average. Based on 113 houses listed in the past six months.
Houses
$619K
113 houses listed in the last 6 months.
Units
$449K
17 units listed in the last 6 months.
130 of the suburb's 2,361 dwellings (5.5%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Wonthaggi rent for around $578 a week on average, based on 38 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
Houses
$578/wk
38 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
Units
$425/wk
9 units advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
47 rentals advertised against an estimated 713 rented homes (6.6%) in the last 6 months.
Rental affordability
June quarter 2025104 Moderately unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 29% of its income on the median rent in postcode 3995.
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$578/week ($30,000 a year) on a $619,000 median
$425/week ($22,000 a year) on a $449,000 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 Wonthaggi safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Wonthaggi sits in the high band, with 907 incidents recorded in 2026 — up roughly 18% on the prior year.
907 offences
17.8% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–202517 crashes
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 1 of them fatal
Where they happened
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.
Coastal Erosion
Shoreline Change Summary
1988–2025Nearest Eroding Coastline
- Distance
- 4.0 km
- Rate
- -0.11 m/yr
- Net Movement
- -1.1 m
- Certainty
- good
Data Quality
Schools
Eight schools serve Wonthaggi, and the cohort skews above peer-suburb performance. St Joseph's School and Wonthaggi Primary School lead the pack.
- • 2,598 students across 5 schools (avg 520)
- • Sectors: 6 Government, 1 Catholic, 1 Independent
- • ICSEA 922-1031, median 988 (around the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Bass Coast College (1,687 students)
Primary
Secondary
Combined
Walkability
Wonthaggi is somewhat walkable on foot — at 64/100, a short cluster of errands work on foot but most trips still benefit from a car. Within the town there are 4 supermarkets, 27 parks and 10 cafes to anchor that walking radius.
Public transport
Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Wonthaggi.
- Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
- 20.5 arrivals/hr
- Off-peak weekday
- 14.4 arrivals/hr
- Saturday
- 2.1 arrivals/hr
- Median peak wait
- 2 min
- Span of service
- 17.7 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 Wonthaggi.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 47%
- Premises covered
- 3,750
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
Bass Coast: 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 12 small areas inside this town and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 6 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this town rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Wonthaggi is home to about 5,200 residents, with a median age of 55 — noticeably older than the national figure of 38. Median household income runs at $44,000 a year, with unemployment at 5.2%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
5,215
Median Age
55
Median Household Income
$44,304/yr
Census Median Rent
$270/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,198/mo
Avg Household Size
2.0
Median Personal Income
$26,780/yr
Unemployment Rate
5.2%
Unoccupied Dwellings
12.7%
Total Dwellings
2,361
Owner-Occupier Rate
69.8%
Houses
85.8%
Rental Stress
31.7%
Mortgage Stress
32.4%
Work From Home
11.8%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
122 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 36 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 682 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 77.4%
- English Spoken at Home
- 88.1%
- Employment Rate
- 39.4%
- Completed Year 12
- 29.5%
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.
48 residents (0.9%) 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.
11.3% of residents (568) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Melbourne (551).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 5,029 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 (24 of 1,792).
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 town against employed people who live here, 2021 Census.
About 4,025 people work here; 1,792 employed residents live here.
A jobs hub: 2.2 jobs for every working resident. At least 49% 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 $1,727 a year through Bass Coast based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 58%
- Parks and recreation 25%
- Residential 11%
- Infrastructure and transport 3%
- Industrial 2%
- 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 town around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Bass Coast
In the year to August 2026, 393 new dwellings were approved across Bass Coast. That mix is 369 houses and 24 units.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
The Registered Aboriginal Party for this area is Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (appointed 2017).
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 Wonthaggi, 1.1 kmHigh rainfall — warm summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 50 m
- above sea level, at the town centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 4.0 km
- 3.9 km to a named beach
- Annual rainfall
- 906 mm
- 119 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 24.6°C
- 6 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 6.9°C
- 0 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
1 facility within 5 km- 3.6 kmSewerage and Drainage ServicesTop reported: Total Nitrogen · Total Phosphorus · Ammonia (total)
EV adoption
In postcode 3995, 98 of 10,900 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 2.4% (266 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 3.3%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 3995, 2,897 rooftop-solar systems totalling 17.9 MW have been installed since 2001, against 6,214 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 226 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.
16 first-home grants were paid in postcode 3995 in 2025-26, rank 59 of 298 Victorian postcodes. The most was 102, in 2001-02.
Grants on new and established homes; established homes stopped qualifying in mid-2013.
Mortgage repayments
5 mortgage brokers are registered in this town.
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 $515,000 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 Mary Aldred Liberal
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Mary Aldred | 45.9% | 54.1% | -1.2 |
| 2022 | Russell Broadbent | 47.1% | 52.9% | -4.0 |
| 2019 | Russell Broadbent | 42.6% | 57.4% | -0.1 |
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 Jordan Crugnale Australian Labor Party - Victorian Branch
Next state election: 28 November 2026.
| Year | Winner | Won with | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Jordan Crugnale ALP | 50.2% | 50.2% | 49.8% |
| 2018 | Jordan Crugnale ALP | 52.4% | 52.4% | 47.6% |
| 2014 | Brian Paynter LP | 54.5% | 45.5% | 54.5% |
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 Wonthaggi?
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 5,215 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
Inverloch VIC 3996
North Wonthaggi VIC 3995
Cape Paterson VIC 3995
Dalyston VIC 3992
South Dudley VIC 3995
Harmers Haven VIC 3995
Compare Wonthaggi 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 Wonthaggi
Is Wonthaggi a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Wonthaggi is high (91/100, 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 Wonthaggi?
Wonthaggi has a low recorded bushfire history (24/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). Flood overlays cover a low share of it (26/100). These are town-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Wonthaggi a good place to live?
Wonthaggi has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of C (38/100), 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 Wonthaggi?
Wonthaggi, VIC had a population of 5,215 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Wonthaggi, VIC?
The postcode for Wonthaggi, VIC is 3995.
How far is Wonthaggi from Melbourne?
Wonthaggi is 137 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 Wonthaggi?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Wonthaggi was $44,304 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 Wonthaggi?
The median advertised rent in Wonthaggi is $578 a week for houses (38 listings) and $425 a week for units (9 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Wonthaggi?
The median age of residents in Wonthaggi was 55 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Wonthaggi at risk of bushfire?
Wonthaggi has a low recorded bushfire history (24/100). 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 Wonthaggi?
There are 8 schools inside the Wonthaggi boundary: 2 above and 2 at similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Wonthaggi walkable?
Wonthaggi scores 64/100 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 Wonthaggi?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Wonthaggi, Wonthaggi (1.1 km away), summer days average 24.6°C, winter nights 6.9°C, 906 mm of rain a year over 119 rainy days, and 6 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Wonthaggi?
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 Wonthaggi belong to?
Wonthaggi sits within the Bass Coast local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Wonthaggi?
The average residential rates bill through Bass Coast is $1,727 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Wonthaggi?
Across Bass Coast, 393 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). These are LGA-level totals — every suburb in the council shares the same figure.
Which federal electorate is Wonthaggi in?
Wonthaggi sits within the federal Division of Monash, currently held by Mary Aldred (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
- 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.