Preston (Vic.), VIC

By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan · Updated 1 June 2026

Preston is an established suburb about 9 km north-east of central Melbourne, within the City of Darebin. The area was first surveyed by Robert Hoddle in 1837, and its earliest settlement — named Irishtown after its first permanent resident arrived in 1841 — grew along High Street. When Edward Wood opened a store in 1850, members of a Baptist congregation meeting there chose to rename the district after Preston, a village in Sussex they remembered fondly. A post office followed in 1856. Preston developed a strong industrial character through the later nineteenth century, with tanneries, potteries, brickworks and bacon-curing factories drawing on local clay and farmland. The railway reached the suburb in 1889 and a tram line to the city opened in 1920, and Preston was proclaimed a city in 1926. The Northland Shopping Centre opened in 1966. Today Preston is known for its diverse, creative community — it inspired Courtney Barnett's song 'Depreston' and is home to 3KND, an Aboriginal-managed community radio station.

79/100

Suburb Score

More advantaged than the national average

Preston (Vic.) is more socio-economically advantaged than about 79% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1040, 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 Preston (Vic.) 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.

69/100

Livability

Strong on the data we score

A weighted blend of the 5 components we can score for Preston (Vic.) 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

79/100

More advantaged than the national average

More advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (79/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021

Housing affordability

20/100

Less affordable than the national median

Median weekly rent was $392 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 20% of suburbs we can compare. Housing data only, no valuations. · ABS Census 2021

Amenities & access

92/100

Plenty mapped nearby

About 295 everyday places (cafés, shops, services and more) mapped within ~1.2 km of the centre. · OpenStreetMap

Green space

55/100

Some green space nearby

About 4.8% of the area within ~1.2 km of the centre is mapped as green space — parks, reserves, sportsgrounds and the like. An area estimate from a radius around the centre, not the suburb boundary. · OpenStreetMap

Transport

90/100

Well served by public-transport stops

About 90 public-transport stops (bus, train, tram or ferry) mapped within ~1.2 km of the centre. Stop coverage, not timetable frequency. · 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.

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.

Preston (Vic.) at a glance

Population (2021): 33,790
Median age: 37
Median weekly household income: $1,844
SEIFA score: 1040
Local government area: Darebin
Coordinates: -37.7418, 145.0071

Map of Preston (Vic.)

Housing & property in Preston (Vic.)

What it costs to live in Preston (Vic.) and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.

Median rent: $392; per week
Median mortgage: $2,000; per month
Owner-occupied: 57%; of dwellings
Rented: 40%; of dwellings

The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Preston (Vic.) demographics section below.

How we treat property data. StreetScout shows official ABS housing figures and nothing more — no sale-price estimates, no real-estate agent referrals or lead capture, and we never pass your details to anyone. Just the public data, so you can read Preston (Vic.) for yourself.

Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.

Preston (Vic.) demographics (2021 Census)

The figures below profile Preston (Vic.) 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 37% and 34% of residents were born overseas.

Age profile

Age group	People	Share
Children (0–14)	5,065	15%
Youth (15–24)	3,441	10%
Young adults (25–44)	12,613	37%
Mid-life (45–64)	8,152	24%
Seniors (65+)	4,518	13%

Share of the 33,789 people counted by age.

Housing and households

Tenure	Dwellings	Share
Owned outright	3,711	27%
Owned with a mortgage	4,110	30%
Rented	5,472	40%

Dwelling type	Dwellings	Share
Houses	7,600	56%
Townhouses & semis	3,397	25%
Flats & apartments	2,498	18%

Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 13,645 occupied private dwellings in Preston (Vic.).

Average household size: 2.4 people
Median weekly family income: $2,345
Median weekly personal income: $872

Community and culture

Born overseas: 10,947 (34%)
Speaks a language other than English at home: 11,418 (35%)
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander: 325 (1%)

Work and education

Completed Year 12: 19,837 (71%)
Labour-force participation: 67.4%
Unemployment rate: 5.5%
Employed full-time: 10,756
Employed part-time: 6,304

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 Preston (Vic.)

Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Preston (Vic.) 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 Preston (Vic.)

Amenities mapped within about 1.2km of the suburb centre, from OpenStreetMap. A guide to what's nearby — not a complete directory.

Eat & drink

125+ nearby

Junction Hotel · Raqwa Cafe and Beer Garden · Stolberg Beer Cafe · Preston Cafeteria · Preston Pho · Boundary Espresso

Parks & recreation

66+ nearby

Snap Fitness · Pilates Republic · Anytime Fitness · Core + · Galaxy Pool Lounge · Preston Health & Fitness

Shops & groceries

60+ nearby

Discount Nuts Sweets Beans & Spices · The D'Souzas Indian Groceries · New Lin Harvest · Select 7 · Tony Tran Bakery · ARC Asian Grocers

Healthcare

13+ nearby

Pulse Pharmacy · Chemist Warehouse · Panch Health Centre · Supreme Dental Preston · Preston Discount Pharmacy · Medipharmacy Discount Chemist

Schools & education

18+ nearby

Gower Street Kindergarten · Victoria Street Kindergarten · NCDC · The Bridge Preston · James An College · Australia Asia Education

Things to do

13+ nearby

Empty Coolamon · Gertrude Contemporary · Three Follies · C · Darebin Arts and Entertainment Centre · Preston Library

Eat & drink in and around Preston (Vic.)

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.

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Ben Ben Dumpling KitchenRestaurant
50 Plenty Road, Preston
Boundary EspressoCafé
107 Plenty Roadboundaryespresso.tumblr.com
C-Culture Chinese RestaurantRestaurant
437 High Street, Preston
Café BaréaCafé
675 High Street
Caffe RusticoCafé
267 Gower Street
Calavera CafeCafé
The Centreway, Preston
Chew BurgerTakeaway
147 Plenty Road, Prestonchewburger.com.au
CJ CafeCafé
CornutopiaTakeaway
Cook Street, Preston
Croque'n'RollTakeaway
The Centreway, Preston
DrumsTakeaway
El JannahTakeaway
600 High Street, Prestoneljannah.com.au
Fresh Daily GozlemeTakeaway
Mary Street, Preston
Fried HustleTakeaway
346 High Streetfriedhustle.com.au
Gong De LinRestaurant
469 High Street, Prestongongdelin.com.au
Hi Hot PotRestaurant
449 High Street, Preston
Hung Sanh Seafood Barbeque RestaurantRestaurant
443 High Street, Preston
Ishtar Borek and FalafelTakeaway
Julie Take AwayTakeaway
Junction HotelPub
1 Plenty Roadjunctionhotel.net.au
Kebab HouseTakeaway
Labbaik's Indian RestaurantRestaurant
Les Crepes GourmandesCafé
Pam Lane, Preston
lui.bossRestaurant
1 Cook Street
Luigi BoyzRestaurant
Luke's Banh MiRestaurant
417-419 High Street, Prestonlukesbanhmi.au
M's CafeCafé
The Centreway, Preston
Ms DangzRestaurant
378 High Street
Nan Yang Food StallRestaurant
451 High Street, Preston
Paradise Indian RestaurantRestaurant
50 High Street, Prestonparadiserestaurant.com.au
Pasquales CafeCafé
The Centreway, Preston
Pegani'sCafé
Prestonfacebook.com
Peter's Pizza and TakeawayTakeaway
The Centreway, Preston
Pho HungRestaurant
447 High Street, Preston
Phuong Nam RestaurantRestaurant
411 High Street, Preston
Pizza and Kebabs on BellRestaurant
Plenty & More CafeCafé
207 Plenty Road
Plenty Yummy NoodlesRestaurant
50 Plenty Road, Preston
Pomona CafeCafé
Preston CafeteriaTakeaway
Preston Chicken ShackTakeaway
50 Plenty Road, Preston
Preston Market Hot Jam DoughnutsTakeaway
Preston PhoRestaurant
471 High Street, Preston
Preston Sushi BarTakeaway
Raqwa Cafe and Beer GardenCafé
224 Plenty Road
Red RoosterTakeaway
Rustic BeanCafé
The Centreway, Preston
SartoriaCafé
115 Plenty Road, Prestonsartoria.com.au
Seafood JunctionTakeaway
50 Plenty Road, Preston
South Melbourne Market Dim SimTakeaway
The Centreway, Preston
Stolberg Beer CafePub
Super RawTakeaway
The Centreway, Prestonsuperrawmelbourne.com.au
Sylvester’s PizzaTakeaway
Ta Dah Juice BarTakeaway
Tallboy and MoosePub
270 Raglan Streettallboyandmoose.com
Tammy's BorekCafé
27 Mary Street, Preston
TeaserCafé
423 High Street, Preston
The Racoon ClubBar
145 Plenty Road, Preston
U DumplingRestaurant
Vinnies Half Price PizzaTakeaway
Earle Street, Preston

Showing 60 mapped places; more may exist that aren't yet on OpenStreetMap.

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Common questions about Preston (Vic.)

Is Preston (Vic.) 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, amenities, green space and transport, Preston (Vic.) rates 69/100 overall (Strong on the data we score). Schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.

What is the median rent in Preston (Vic.)?

At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Preston (Vic.) was $392, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,000. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.

Where is Preston (Vic.)?

Preston (Vic.) is a suburb of Victoria, Australia, in the Darebin local government area.

What is the population of Preston (Vic.)?

At the 2021 Census, Preston (Vic.) had a population of about 33,790.

Is Preston (Vic.) an advantaged area?

Preston (Vic.) has an ABS SEIFA score of 1040, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 79 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 79% of Australian suburbs.

What is the weather like in Preston (Vic.)?

Preston (Vic.) 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).

How big is Preston (Vic.)?

Preston (Vic.) is one of the most populous suburbs in Victoria — the 17th-largest by usual resident population at the 2021 Census (about 33,790 usual residents).

Where Preston (Vic.) ranks

Preston (Vic.) appears in these data-driven guides — each a transparent sort on a single ABS figure shown on this page.

Largest suburbs in Victoria#17 of 25

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