Sunnybank, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Sunnybank is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, celebrated today for its vibrant Asian shopping strips and restaurants. The Jagera people are recognised as the area's first inhabitants, having lived across the district for tens of thousands of years before European arrival. The suburb owes its name to the Sunny Brae Estate, a property held by the Gillespie family; when the railway from Yeerongpilly was extended in 1885 and a station was needed, the name was adapted, 'brae' being a Scottish word for a bank or slope. Surveyed as a town in the 1880s, Sunnybank was folded into the City of Brisbane in 1925. For decades one of its best-loved attractions was The Oasis, a tropical garden and swimming complex that opened in 1938 and grew especially popular with American service personnel during the Second World War. Successive waves of migration have since made Sunnybank a thriving multicultural community with strong Chinese and wider Asian influences.
Around the national middle
Sunnybank is more socio-economically advantaged than about 47% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 982, 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 Sunnybank 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.
Below the national middle on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Sunnybank 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
47/100Around the national middle
Around the national middle — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (47/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
20/100Less affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $400 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 20% of suburbs we can compare. Housing data only, no valuations. · ABS Census 2021
Not yet scored
We’d rather leave these open than publish a number we can’t stand behind. Here’s where each one stands.
- Amenities & accessNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap amenity mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- 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.
Sunnybank at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 8,892
- Median age
- 35
- Median weekly household income
- $1,586
- SEIFA score
- 982
- Local government area
- Brisbane
- Coordinates
- -27.5800, 153.0606
Map of Sunnybank
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Sunnybank
What it costs to live in Sunnybank and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $400
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $2,000
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 56%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 39%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Sunnybank demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Sunnybank demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Sunnybank 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 34% and 59% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 1,338 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 1,226 | 14% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 3,064 | 34% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,820 | 20% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,450 | 16% |
Share of the 8,898 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 1,008 | 35% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 604 | 21% |
| Rented | 1,128 | 39% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 2,457 | 86% |
| Townhouses & semis | 375 | 13% |
| Flats & apartments | 20 | 1% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 2,859 occupied private dwellings in Sunnybank.
- Average household size
- 3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,590
- Median weekly personal income
- $627
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 5,006 (59%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 5,078 (60%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 153 (2%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 5,169 (71%)
- Labour-force participation
- 57.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 7.6%
- Employed full-time
- 2,009
- Employed part-time
- 1,585
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 Sunnybank
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Sunnybank is January (average daytime high around 29.4°C) and the coolest is July (around 20.7°C). The area receives roughly 945 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 29.4°C | 20.7°C | 111 mm |
| Feb | 29.2°C | 20.6°C | 154 mm |
| Mar | 28.2°C | 19.9°C | 133 mm |
| Apr | 25.7°C | 16.6°C | 45 mm |
| May | 23.1°C | 13.7°C | 71 mm |
| Jun | 20.8°C | 11.3°C | 40 mm |
| Jul | 20.7°C | 10.1°C | 35 mm |
| Aug | 22.2°C | 10.8°C | 37 mm |
| Sep | 24.5°C | 13°C | 44 mm |
| Oct | 26.3°C | 15.7°C | 97 mm |
| Nov | 28.2°C | 17.8°C | 75 mm |
| Dec | 29.2°C | 19.7°C | 103 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
Share your local knowledge of Sunnybank
Lived here or spent time in Sunnybank? Add a review or a quick tip. Reviews and tips are moderated before they appear.
Common questions about Sunnybank
Is Sunnybank a good place to live?
There's no single answer, so we score what the public data can back. On socio-economic advantage and housing affordability, Sunnybank rates 38/100 overall (Below the national middle 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 Sunnybank?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Sunnybank was $400, 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 Sunnybank?
Sunnybank is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the Brisbane local government area.
What is the population of Sunnybank?
At the 2021 Census, Sunnybank had a population of about 8,892.
Is Sunnybank an advantaged area?
Sunnybank has an ABS SEIFA score of 982, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 47 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 47% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Sunnybank?
Sunnybank has average daytime highs of about 25.6°C and overnight lows of about 15.8°C, with roughly 945 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
Nearby suburbs in Queensland
More suburb guides in Queensland
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.