Sunnybank Hills, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Sunnybank Hills is an outer southern suburb of Brisbane, about seventeen kilometres from the city centre. The area was originally part of a larger district known as Coopers Plains, and its name has an unusual origin: when the railway arrived in the eighteen-eighties, a station was named after a local farm called Sunny Brae, brae being the Scottish word for a bank or slope. The surrounding area became Sunnybank, and the neighbouring rises were officially defined as Sunnybank Hills in 1971. Today it is one of Brisbane's most multicultural suburbs, home to the largest Chinese-Australian community of any suburb in Queensland, and its streets are lined with restaurants serving Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese food. The suburb is anchored by the Sunnybank Hills Shoppingtown.
Around the national middle
Sunnybank Hills is more socio-economically advantaged than about 57% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 999, 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 Hills 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 Hills 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
57/100Around the national middle
Around the national middle — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (57/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
16/100Among the more expensive suburbs
Median weekly rent was $410 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 16% 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 Hills at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 18,085
- Median age
- 37
- Median weekly household income
- $1,725
- SEIFA score
- 999
- Local government area
- Brisbane
- Coordinates
- -27.5974, 153.0519
Map of Sunnybank Hills
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Sunnybank Hills
What it costs to live in Sunnybank Hills and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $410
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,853
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 67%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 30%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Sunnybank Hills 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 Hills demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Sunnybank Hills 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 31% and 55% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 3,290 | 18% |
| Youth (15–24) | 2,150 | 12% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 5,588 | 31% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 3,900 | 22% |
| Seniors (65+) | 3,156 | 17% |
Share of the 18,084 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 2,046 | 36% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 1,770 | 31% |
| Rented | 1,737 | 30% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 4,848 | 85% |
| Townhouses & semis | 780 | 14% |
| Flats & apartments | 15 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 5,724 occupied private dwellings in Sunnybank Hills.
- Average household size
- 3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,805
- Median weekly personal income
- $670
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 9,491 (55%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 9,925 (58%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 255 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 9,953 (70%)
- Labour-force participation
- 57.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 7%
- Employed full-time
- 4,509
- Employed part-time
- 2,786
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 Hills
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Sunnybank Hills 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).
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Common questions about Sunnybank Hills
Is Sunnybank Hills 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 Hills rates 43/100 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 Hills?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Sunnybank Hills was $410, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,853. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Sunnybank Hills?
Sunnybank Hills is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the Brisbane local government area.
What is the population of Sunnybank Hills?
At the 2021 Census, Sunnybank Hills had a population of about 18,085.
Is Sunnybank Hills an advantaged area?
Sunnybank Hills has an ABS SEIFA score of 999, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 57 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 57% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Sunnybank Hills?
Sunnybank Hills 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).
How big is Sunnybank Hills?
Sunnybank Hills is one of the most populous suburbs in Queensland — the 22nd-largest by usual resident population at the 2021 Census (about 18,085 usual residents).
Where Sunnybank Hills ranks
Sunnybank Hills appears in these data-driven guides — each a transparent sort on a single ABS figure shown on this page.
- Largest suburbs in Queensland#22 of 25
Nearby suburbs in Queensland
More suburb guides in Queensland
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.