Burleigh Heads Liveability Snapshot
Burleigh Heads Suburb Map
Burleigh Heads is often grouped with Burleigh Waters in official mapping and data sources. As a result, some suburb maps and datasets display Burleigh as a combined area rather than separating Burleigh Heads as a standalone suburb.
Burleigh Heads, at a glance
Position: central to southern Gold Coast, beachfront headland suburb between Miami and Tallebudgera
Distance to Brisbane: approximately a 1-hour 20-minute drive, traffic dependent
Commute to Gold Coast Airport: approximately 20 minutes, traffic dependent
Vibe: premium coastal, village energy around James Street, active and outdoors-led
Best for: buyers who want a true beach suburb with walkability, lifestyle infrastructure and long-term scarcity
Day to day: beach walks, cafés, school runs, markets and local errands on foot in the core pockets
Walkability: good to very good in central pockets, more car-based in outer residential streets
Transport: car first, buses along Gold Coast Highway, practical access north and south
Schools: catchment dependent; address must be checked via EdMap
Hazards: property specific; always check overlays and insurance early
Population size: 9,176 people
Median age: 44 years
Tenure in occupied private dwellings:
Owned outright, 35.2%
Owned with a mortgage, 26.5%
Rented, 34.7%
Other, 3.2%
If you want the investor view as well, including how the house, unit, and duplex market behaves and what drives price movement in different Burleigh Heads pockets, email me and I can give you a quick, plain-English summary tailored to your budget and property type.
If you are moving over from NZ, start here, at my Moving from NZ hub, with checklists, early admin steps, and Gold Coast suburb guidance.
Overview
Burleigh Heads is a well-established coastal suburb centred around a headland and beachfront, with a walkable village core and a mix of detached housing and apartments. It sits on the southern side of the central Gold Coast strip and generally feels more lifestyle- and community-led than high-rise tourist precincts, while still being busier than low-density hinterland-style suburbs.
Who Burleigh Heads suits best
Burleigh Heads suits buyers who want a premium beach location with genuine day-to-day convenience, walkable streets in key pockets, and a strong outdoor lifestyle. It is commonly chosen by professionals, downsizers, and families who value the beach, café culture, and a suburb that functions as a local centre rather than purely a residential catchment.
Why choose Burleigh Heads
Buyers often choose Burleigh Heads for its combination of beachfront access and a highly usable local core, plus the long-term scarcity that comes with a tightly held coastal suburb. It also offers a practical location for commuting along the Gold Coast while still feeling distinct and self-contained.
Housing and streetscape feel
Housing is mixed. You will see premium detached homes, renovated beach houses, duplexes, and townhomes, plus a meaningful apartment component, particularly closer to the beach and village areas. Building age and quality vary, and the street feel can shift quickly between quiet residential pockets and higher-activity zones nearer the commercial and beachfront areas.
Pocket differences that matter
Burleigh Heads has clear pocket-to-pocket variation. Suburb-wide data can be misleading because the lifestyle, noise profile, parking pressure and building density differ materially between the village and beachfront-adjacent areas versus the quieter residential streets away from the core.
Getting around and commute reality
Burleigh Heads is workable without a car in the central pockets, where daily errands, cafés, and the beach are walkable. Outside those pockets, most households rely on driving for schools, larger shopping trips, and cross-coast commuting. Buses run along the Gold Coast Highway corridor, supporting north-south movement, but most residents still default to cars for speed and flexibility.
Schools and education
School zoning in Queensland is address-based, not suburb-based. Eligibility depends on the exact property address and enrolment year, and EdMap should always be checked.
Primary schools your Burleigh Heads address may be zoned for:
Burleigh Heads State School
Caningeraba State School
Miami State School
Burleigh Waters State School
Tallebudgera State School
Secondary schools your Burleigh Heads address may be zoned for:
Miami State High School
Merrimac State High School
Palm Beach Currumbin State High School
When researching Burleigh Heads and nearby schools online, you will often see mixed reviews. That is common in larger or centrally located catchments with diverse student populations. Online commentary usually reflects individual experiences rather than the overall day-to-day environment. Visiting the school, understanding catchment rules, and considering your child’s specific needs will give you far more useful insight than review sites alone.
If you are relocating with kids and want help shortlisting schools and aligning catchments with your housing search, I offer a Family Relocation Concierge option; details are on my services page.
Parks, sports and lifestyle amenities
Burleigh Heads has strong lifestyle infrastructure, including beach and headland paths, parks, playgrounds, and outdoor recreation areas. The suburb also supports an active routine, with fitness, walking, and cycling being common, especially near the beachfront and headland zones.
Convenience and day-to-day essentials
Day-to-day living is straightforward, especially around the village core, where many errands can be done locally. For larger retail and broader services, residents typically access nearby centres along the coastal corridor.
Dining and cafés
Dining and cafés are a meaningful part of the suburb’s day-to-day function, concentrated around the village core. The style is local and lifestyle-led rather than nightlife-driven, though the area can be busy at peak times.
Shopping and everyday services
Shopping is a mix of local convenience in the suburb and larger trips to nearby major centres. Most residents use the local core for everyday needs and travel short distances for broader retail and services.
Community profile
Burleigh Heads generally has a stable resident base with a mix of owner-occupiers and renters. Activity levels rise around the village and beach areas, while residential streets away from the core tend to feel quieter and more settled.
Crime and safety, relative to the Gold Coast
Burleigh Heads has a moderate crime profile in a Gold Coast context, shaped by its role as a high-activity lifestyle suburb with busy public areas, hospitality venues, and strong visitor movement. Many offences are still opportunistic and location-driven, but volumes can be higher around high-traffic precincts than in purely residential suburbs.
Headline figures (2024):
Crime rank – 20/100
Higher score indicates higher overall crime relative to populationTotal offences – 1,377
Crimes per 1,000 residents – 130.25
Queensland – higher
Australia – higherViolent crimes – 91 total
Violent crime rate – 8.61 per 1,000 residents
Queensland – ~8 per 1,000
Australia – ~11 per 1,000Property crimes – 636 total
Property crime rate – 60.16 per 1,000 residents Queensland – approximately 44.75 per 1,000 residents Australia – approximately 38.29 per 1,000 residents
Most reported offence groups: The pattern in Burleigh Heads is consistent with a lifestyle suburb that has busy public spaces. Offences skew towards opportunistic theft and public-order-related incidents in high-activity areas rather than being evenly spread across quiet residential streets.
Top reported offence categories in 2024:
Theft – 410 offences
Drug dealing and trafficking – 224 offences
Disorderly and offensive conduct – 167 offences
Likelihood of being affected:
Chance of being a victim of violent crime – 1 in 116
Queensland – 1 in 123
Australia – 1 in 89Chance of being a victim of property crime – 1 in 17
Queensland – 1 in 22
Australia – 1 in 26
Trend direction:
Crime in Burleigh Heads increased by 10.96% from 2023 to 2024
Long-term trends show fluctuations aligned with activity levels in public-facing precincts, rather than sharp spikes.
Bottom line: Burleigh Heads offers a high-amenity beach lifestyle, but practical safety outcomes depend heavily on pocket selection, parking security, and the immediate streetscape around any shortlisted property.
Socioeconomic context, SEIFA
SEIFA provides area-level context rather than insight into individual households. A lower score indicates greater relative disadvantage, and a higher score indicates less disadvantage.
For Burleigh Heads (SA2 Burleigh Heads), the Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD) score is 1040, placing it around decile 7 out of 10 nationally (higher decile indicates less disadvantage).
This score is influenced by Burleigh Heads’ overall income and employment profile, alongside its mix of owner-occupier housing and higher-value coastal stock.
Plain English takeaway: Burleigh Heads trends as relatively advantaged overall, but day-to-day feel can still vary by pocket, housing type, and proximity to high-activity areas.
Price and rental context
Burleigh Heads is mixed but meaningfully unit and apartment-present in the beach-adjacent and village pockets, with premium detached housing also strongly represented. That mix matters because suburb-level medians can be pulled by the proportion of apartments, the quality of stock, and the turnover in each segment.
Median house price – $1,815,000
Median unit price – $1,187,000
Median 4 bedroom house rent – $1,300 per week
Median unit rent – $850 per week
Medians sourced from realestate.com.au, for 12 months to December 2025.
If you are comparing pockets or property types, treat these as a broad suburb-level anchor only. In Burleigh Heads, two properties with the same suburb label can sit in very different lifestyle and price brackets depending on street, walkability, outlook, and building quality.
Plain English takeaway: Suburb medians are useful for broad comparisons, but Burleigh Heads is a pocket-driven market where address and property type do a lot of the heavy lifting.
Flood, bushfire and natural hazard considerations
Risk is property specific. Coastal exposure can affect insurance and maintenance considerations for homes and apartments closer to the beachfront. Flood overlays can apply in some low-lying pockets, and bushfire overlays can apply near mapped vegetation. Always check the exact address and get an insurance quote early.
Quick take: pros and trade-offs
Pros: Beach and headland access, walkable village core, strong lifestyle infrastructure, premium long-term scarcity, and good day-to-day convenience in key pockets.
Trade-offs: Pocket-to-pocket variability, parking and traffic pressure in peak periods, and apartment due diligence is essential; busier activity zones can feel noisier and more transient.
Helpful links
These tools are address-specific, so always check the exact property before relying on suburb-wide assumptions.
School catchments, EdMap
Queensland Police crime map RedSuburb crime statistics Median sale and rental pricing realestate.com.au ABS SEIFA index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage at SA2 level City of Gold Coast flood planning map
FloodCheck Queensland
City of Gold Coast bushfire overlay mapping
Helpful note
Burleigh Heads is a suburb where the shortlist should tighten quickly to the pockets and building types that match how you want to live day to day, because that is where the real liveability differences show up.
If you want, I am happy to sanity-check a specific street, school catchment, or property against how you want to live day to day - Lets Talk
