South Yarra, VIC
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
South Yarra is an affluent inner suburb just south-east of the Melbourne CBD, on the south bank of the Yarra River from which it takes its name. The area is the traditional country of the Yalukit-willam, a clan of the Boonwurrung people, who knew it as Terneet. Punt Road divides the suburb between the City of Melbourne and the City of Stonnington. It is best known for shopping and dining: the southern end of Chapel Street and Toorak Road are among Melbourne's most fashionable strips. Green space is close at hand too, with the Royal Botanic Gardens and Fawkner Park along its northern and western edges.
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
South Yarra is more socio-economically advantaged than about 97% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1124, 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 South Yarra 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 South Yarra 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
97/100Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (97/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
15/100Among the more expensive suburbs
Median weekly rent was $415 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 15% of suburbs we can compare. Housing data only, no valuations. · ABS Census 2021
Amenities & access
92/100Plenty mapped nearby
About 291 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.
South Yarra at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 25,028
- Median age
- 33
- Median weekly household income
- $2,063
- SEIFA score
- 1124
- Local government area
- Stonnington
- Coordinates
- -37.8382, 144.9915
Map of South Yarra
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in South Yarra
What it costs to live in South Yarra and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $415
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $2,100
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 36%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 62%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the South Yarra demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
South Yarra demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile South Yarra 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 51% and 40% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 1,760 | 7% |
| Youth (15–24) | 2,929 | 12% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 12,727 | 51% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 4,538 | 18% |
| Seniors (65+) | 3,076 | 12% |
Share of the 25,030 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 2,334 | 18% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 2,313 | 18% |
| Rented | 8,081 | 62% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 964 | 7% |
| Townhouses & semis | 1,678 | 13% |
| Flats & apartments | 10,404 | 80% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 13,084 occupied private dwellings in South Yarra.
- Average household size
- 1.7 people
- Median weekly family income
- $3,106
- Median weekly personal income
- $1,395
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 9,413 (40%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 6,148 (26%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 123 (0%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 18,962 (83%)
- Labour-force participation
- 72.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 4%
- Employed full-time
- 11,431
- Employed part-time
- 4,006
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 South Yarra
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in South Yarra 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 South Yarra
Amenities mapped within about 1.2km of the suburb centre, from OpenStreetMap. A guide to what's nearby — not a complete directory.
Eat & drink
143+ nearbyArcadia Hotel · KFC · Soda Rock · La Porchetta · Entrecôte · The Botanical
Parks & recreation
66+ nearbyBurnley Bouldering Walls · Snap Fitness · Chapel Street Physique · Kāya Health Clubs · Vision Personal Training · Core Plus
Shops & groceries
43+ nearbyBurns' Grocery LPO · Domain Butchers · South Yarra Finer Fruit · 7-Eleven · Baker Bleu · Brumby's Bakeries
Healthcare
16+ nearbySouth Yarra Pharmacy · Domain Road Pharmacy · Como Compounding Pharmacy · Chemist Warehouse · 4Cyte Pathology · Prahran Family Dental
Schools & education
6+ nearbySouth Yarra Primary School · Christ Church Grammar School · Melbourne High School · Melbourne Girls Grammar School · Richmond Primary School · Melbourne Girls Grammar School Morris Hall Campus
Things to do
17+ nearbyVillage Cinemas · Toorak/South Yarra Library · Palace Cinemas · Cromwell Street Theatre · Chapel off Chapel · Como House
Eat & drink in and around South Yarra
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- 181 DomainCafé181 Domain Road
- A La Bouffe Bar and BistroRestaurant268 Toorak Road, South Yarraalabouffe.com.au
- AiniRestaurant
- Arcadia HotelPub
- Aroma CafeCafé
- BacashRestaurant175 Domain Roadbacash.com.au
- Blossom ThaiRestaurant278 Toorak Road
- Cafe AlfrettiCafé
- Cafe GaiaCafé
- Café LucaCafé
- Chapelli'sCafé
- Coffee Geek BrewersCafé81 Davis Avenue, South Yarra
- Dainty SichuanRestaurant
- Dumpling TableRestaurantToorak Road
- Ecco da NicoliniRestaurant
- EntrecôteRestaurant
- Falafel HouseRestaurant
- Fat BeansCafé
- France-SoirRestaurant11-13 Toorak Road, South Yarra
- GilsonRestaurant171-173 Domain Roadgilsonrestaurant.com.au
- GramercyRestaurantartserieshotels.com.au
- Healthy Vibe Gourmet DumplingsCafé
- HuTong Dumpling BarRestaurant162 Commercial Road, Prahranartserieshotels.com.au
- Insieme Restaurant BarRestaurant
- Kagu Ra ZakaRestaurant264-266 Toorak Road
- KanpaiRestaurant
- KFCTakeawaykfc.com.au
- Koni PizzaTakeaway
- Kozue SushiRestaurant
- L'Hotel GitanPub32 Commercial Road, Prahranlhotelgitan.com.au
- La PorchettaRestaurant
- Lawson Grove ShopCafé
- Le Yeahllow PatisserieRestaurant14 Claremont Streetleyeahllow.com.au
- Leonards House of LovePub
- Master Roll VietnamRestaurant
- Mister ZenCafé
- MosaicRestaurant304 Toorak Road
- Nando'sRestaurantnandos.com.au
- OutpostCafé
- Pacific SeafoodRestaurant
- Pinocchio's PizzaRestaurant152 Toorak Roadpinocchiopizza.com.au
- RepublicCafé158-160 Toorak Road
- Roll'dTakeaway
- Romano'sCafé
- Shuji SushiTakeaway
- Smile ThaiRestaurant
- Soda RockRestaurant257 Toorak Roadsodarock.com.au
- Speakeasy Kitchen BarRestaurant359 Chapel Streetspeakeasybar.com.au
- SpudbarRestaurant590 Chapel Street, South Yarra
- SubwayTakeaway
- TGI FridaysRestauranttgifridays.com.au
- The BotanicalRestaurant169 Domain Roadthebotanical.com.au
- The Cherry Tree HotelPub53 Balmain Street, Cremornethecherrytree.com.au
- The Golden TriangleRestaurant123 Park Street
- The Prince AlfredPub619 Church Street, Richmondprincealfredhotel.com.au
- Tokyo TeppanyakiRestaurant536 Chapel Streettokyoteppanyaki.com.au
- Two Birds One StoneCafé12 Claremont Streettwobirdsonestonecafe.com.au
- Two Forty EightRestaurant248 Toorak Roadfoursquare.com
- Urban ProvedoreRestaurant231 Toorak Road
- Wagyu YaRestaurant
Showing 60 mapped places; more may exist that aren't yet on OpenStreetMap.
Listings © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Own a venue here? Suggest a correction.
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Common questions about South Yarra
Is South Yarra 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, South Yarra rates 75/100 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 South Yarra?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in South Yarra was $415, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,100. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is South Yarra?
South Yarra is a suburb of Victoria, Australia, in the Stonnington local government area.
What is the population of South Yarra?
At the 2021 Census, South Yarra had a population of about 25,028.
Is South Yarra an advantaged area?
South Yarra has an ABS SEIFA score of 1124, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 97 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 97% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in South Yarra?
South Yarra 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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