Doncaster, VIC
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Doncaster rises over the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, about 15 kilometres from the city on the high ground of Doncaster Hill within the City of Manningham. The formally recognised traditional owners of the area are the Wurundjeri people. European settlement followed an 1841 land purchase by Sydney solicitor Frederic Unwin, and from the 1860s German orchardists established a farming community they called Waldau, a name gradually replaced by Doncaster. A Lutheran church and school opened around 1860, and Schramm's Cottage survives as a reminder of that era. In 1889 Doncaster was the starting point for Melbourne's first electric tram, which ran to Box Hill along what became Tram Road. Orchards covered the district until the 1970s, when the landmark Westfield Doncaster centre anchored rapid suburban growth.
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
Doncaster is more socio-economically advantaged than about 86% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1057, where about 1000 is the national average).
A socio-economic measure from ABS Census data — not a measure of how good a suburb is to live in or visit. How we calculate this.
Is Doncaster a good place to live?
There’s no single answer — it depends on what matters to you. So instead of one mystery number, we break it down: a transparent score on each part of life we can back with public data, and an honest “not yet” on the parts we can’t.
Strong on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 3 components we can score for Doncaster from public data. It sits alongside — and reconciles with — the socio-economic Suburb Score above; it is a transparent read, not a complete verdict.
Socio-economic advantage
86/100Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (86/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
11/100Among the more expensive suburbs
Median weekly rent was $450 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 11% of suburbs we can compare. Housing data only, no valuations. · ABS Census 2021
Amenities & access
80/100Plenty mapped nearby
About 138 everyday places (cafés, shops, services and more) mapped within ~1.2 km of the centre. · OpenStreetMap
Not yet scored
We’d rather leave these open than publish a number we can’t stand behind. Here’s where each one stands.
- Green spaceNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap green-space mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- TransportNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap public-transport mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- SchoolsNot scored yet — school performance (ACARA / ICSEA) needs a data-reuse licence cleared before we can publish it.
- SafetyNot scored yet — Australia has no single open crime dataset and safety data carries defamation and legal care, so it is gated pending a go/no-go and will be data-only when added.
- CommunityNot scored yet — we won't reduce community to a number from a proxy. We'd rather leave it open than publish an invented value judgement.
A transparent read on public data, not a verdict — and not a measure of any person or community. See our methodology for how each component is worked out and why some aren’t scored yet.
Doncaster at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 25,020
- Median age
- 40
- Median weekly household income
- $1,592
- SEIFA score
- 1057
- Local government area
- Manningham
- Coordinates
- -37.7828, 145.1221
Map of Doncaster
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Doncaster
What it costs to live in Doncaster and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $450
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $2,167
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 64%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 30%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Doncaster demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Doncaster demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Doncaster using the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census; every percentage is a share of a clearly stated Census count, so each one traces back to the source. At a glance, the largest age group is young adults (25–44) at 29% and 56% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 3,491 | 14% |
| Youth (15–24) | 2,853 | 11% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 7,371 | 29% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 5,794 | 23% |
| Seniors (65+) | 5,509 | 22% |
Share of the 25,018 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 3,724 | 37% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 2,685 | 27% |
| Rented | 3,027 | 30% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 5,272 | 53% |
| Townhouses & semis | 1,946 | 20% |
| Flats & apartments | 2,712 | 27% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 9,944 occupied private dwellings in Doncaster.
- Average household size
- 2.4 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,958
- Median weekly personal income
- $719
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 13,655 (56%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 14,555 (60%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 60 (0%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 15,141 (73%)
- Labour-force participation
- 57.1%
- Unemployment rate
- 6.1%
- Employed full-time
- 6,669
- Employed part-time
- 4,127
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021 (General Community Profile, by Suburb and Locality). © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. How we group bands and derive each share is set out on our methodology page.
Weather and climate in Doncaster
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Doncaster is January (average daytime high around 27°C) and the coolest is July (around 12.9°C). The area receives roughly 724 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 27°C | 14.9°C | 62 mm |
| Feb | 25.8°C | 14.1°C | 32 mm |
| Mar | 24°C | 13.3°C | 47 mm |
| Apr | 20°C | 10.5°C | 62 mm |
| May | 16°C | 8.4°C | 63 mm |
| Jun | 13.4°C | 6.5°C | 63 mm |
| Jul | 12.9°C | 6.1°C | 50 mm |
| Aug | 13.7°C | 6.2°C | 59 mm |
| Sep | 16.3°C | 7.3°C | 65 mm |
| Oct | 19.6°C | 8.8°C | 76 mm |
| Nov | 21.6°C | 10.8°C | 79 mm |
| Dec | 24.5°C | 12.6°C | 66 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
Places in and around Doncaster
Amenities mapped within about 1.2km of the suburb centre, from OpenStreetMap. A guide to what's nearby — not a complete directory.
Eat & drink
38 nearbyShoppingtown Hotel · TGI Fridays · McDonald's · Mad Mex Fresh Mexican Grill · Subway · Straits Cafe
Parks & recreation
80 nearbyGenesis · Anytime Fitness · Ruffey Lake Park · Lawford Street Reserve · Aquarena Aquatic and Leisure Centre · Crawford Road Reserve
Shops & groceries
6 nearbyColes · Woolworths · Milk Bar · Bakers Delight · Reddy Express · No 1 Asian Supermarket
Healthcare
5 nearbyChemist Warehouse · Priceline Pharmacy · Shoppingtown Dental · Doncaster Private Hospital · St George Clinic for Women
Schools & education
5 nearbyDoncaster Kindergarten · Playhouse Early Education · Doncaster Primary School · St Gregory the Great Primary School · Doncaster Park Kindergarten
Things to do
4 nearbyVillage Cinemas · Column · Doncaster Library
Eat & drink in and around Doncaster
Cafés, restaurants, pubs and takeaway mapped within about 1.2km of the suburb centre. Listings are drawn from OpenStreetMap and shown as plain data — we don't rank or rate them.
Own a café, restaurant or pub around here?
Claim your listing to feature it at the top of this section. Placement is paid advertising, clearly labelled — never editorial opinion.
Claim this listing- Ampang TofuRestaurant
- AU79Café
- Baba ChefRestaurant749 Doncaster Road, Doncasterbabachef.com.au
- Bombay BarTakeaway
- BrunelliRestaurant
- China BarRestaurantlaporchetta.com.au
- Dolce EspressoCafé
- Don't Tell Mama!Restaurant751-753 Doncaster Road, Doncastermryum.com.au
- Doncaster Fish & ChipsTakeaway
- Dragon Hot PotTakeaway
- Golden Dragon PalaceRestaurant
- Gyoza GyozaRestaurant
- Il AmaliRestaurant
- King's DumplingsTakeaway
- La Majesta PizzaTakeaway
- LaurentCafé
- Mad Mex Fresh Mexican GrillRestaurantoporto.com.au
- Mayura Thai RestaurantRestaurant
- McDonald'sTakeawaymcdonalds.com.au
- Mozzarella BarPub
- Natural & Healthy VegetarianRestaurant
- Nene ChickenTakeaway
- Old Man PhoTakeaway
- OmiTakeaway
- Pacino's RestaurantRestaurant
- Red RoosterTakeaway
- SchnitzTakeaway
- ShareteaCafé
- Shining AsiaTakeaway
- Shoppingtown HotelPubhotelshoppingtown.com.au
- StarbucksCafé
- Straits CafeRestaurant
- SubwayTakeawaysubway.com.au
- Sushi SushiRestaurant
- TGI FridaysRestaurant619 Doncaster Roadtgifridays.com.au
- The Coffee ClubCafé
- The Pancake ParlourRestaurantpancakeparlour.com
- YeosinRestaurant619 Doncaster Roadyeosin.com.au
Listings © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Own a venue here? Suggest a correction.
Share your local knowledge of Doncaster
Lived here or spent time in Doncaster? Add a review or a quick tip. Reviews and tips are moderated before they appear.
Common questions about Doncaster
Is Doncaster a good place to live?
There's no single answer, so we score what the public data can back. On socio-economic advantage, housing affordability and amenities, Doncaster rates 66/100 overall (Strong on the data we score). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Doncaster?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Doncaster was $450, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,167. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Doncaster?
Doncaster is a suburb of Victoria, Australia, in the Manningham local government area.
What is the population of Doncaster?
At the 2021 Census, Doncaster had a population of about 25,020.
Is Doncaster an advantaged area?
Doncaster has an ABS SEIFA score of 1057, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 86 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 86% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Doncaster?
Doncaster has average daytime highs of about 19.6°C and overnight lows of about 10°C, with roughly 724 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
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