Bowen Hills flood map & planning overlays
A planning-constraint profile of Bowen Hills
(Brisbane City, QLD) - 1.72 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 19 September 2026.
Suburb-wide figures; the free map shows which overlays touch your lot.
Constraint readout
1.72 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Bowen Hills's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Bowen Hills properties?
Overlay percentages say how much land is constrained; these figures say how many properties are actually touched in a suburb-wide analysis of 4,217 Bowen Hills properties. No individual property result is identified on this page.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 4,217 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Bowen Hills.
Bowen Hills flood history and overland flow
These are suburb-wide totals across 4,217 analysed properties. They show how common each mapped category is across Bowen Hills; they do not identify or describe any individual property.
Recorded historical flood mapping
472 analysed properties intersect at least one mapped historical event extent.
- Historic Flood 1974: 421
- February 2022: 357
- January 2011: 256
- Historic Flood 2011: 72
Mapped overland flow
1,286 analysed properties carry a mapped overland-flow category.
- Low: 773
- Medium: 473
- High: 7
- Affected: 33
Source: Brisbane City Council flood mapping, aggregated by LayeredGeo. Categories are only shown where at least five analysed properties share them. An address-level check is still required to determine whether a particular lot is mapped.
Bowen Hills at a glance
Schools in and near Bowen Hills
Public school-location data shows availability across the suburb. These figures do not rate schools and do not assign a particular address to a catchment.
Inside the suburb boundary
0 schools providing primary years and 0 providing secondary years. A combined school may be counted in both teaching levels.
Nearest school availability
Primary: 0.23 km from the suburb boundary
Secondary: 0.02 km from the suburb boundary
Source: Queensland Government school geographic information. Catchment boundaries can divide a suburb and change over time; use the official catchment finder for a specific address.
How Bowen Hills is zoned
Selling in Bowen Hills? The lot-level zone is the zoning Part 3 of Queensland's Form 2 seller disclosure statement asks for - see our Form 2 planning data guide.
Across its 1.72 km², Bowen Hills is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 60% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay. There are 29 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Priority Development Area - Part 10 of Brisbane City Plan 2014. The terrain is gently undulating, and the median lot measures about 1,148 m² across 3,927 parcels.
Recent development applications in Bowen Hills
Applications are counted across the whole gazetted suburb from the public Brisbane City Council register. No application address or individual property is published here.
Submitted in the past 12 months
Latest included submission: 10 April 2026.
Common application types
- Building work: 6
Counts depend on applications that the council publishes and that can be assigned to a suburb. Categories can overlap when one application covers several types. Totals below five and their latest dates are suppressed. Register last synchronised 19 September 2026. Check the official council register.
Who lives in Bowen Hills
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Bowen Hills suburb boundary itself, not a wider region.
Socio-economic standing
ABS SEIFA 2021 ranks every Australian suburb. Decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth of the country, decile 10 the least.
Score 1060, and decile 10 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Bowen Hills's 4,898 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Newstead - Bowen Hills, the wider ABS statistical area containing Bowen Hills. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Bowen Hills itself.
3,736 in 2001 to 21,474 in 2025, up 475%.
Source: ABS Census 2021 and SEIFA 2021 (Suburbs and Localities), Regional Population (SA2), CC BY 4.0. Small counts are randomly adjusted by the ABS.
Bowen Hills property market snapshot
Queensland Government publishes this as a SA2 market series for Newstead - Bowen Hills, the wider statistical area containing Bowen Hills. It is not a valuation and is not specific to this suburb or any individual property.
House sales
Median sale price from 28 sales over 12 months to March 2026.
Unit sales
Median sale price from 890 sales over 12 months to March 2026.
Source: Queensland Government Statistician's Office (QGSO). View the source profile. The same SA2 figure can appear on several suburb pages within that statistical area.
Bowen Hills data sources and coverage
“Not mapped” means we hold no source layer for this suburb - never an all-clear.
| Dataset | Coverage | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Flood mapping | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Bushfire-prone mapping | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Zoning | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Heritage and environment | Mapped where published | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Aircraft noise contours (ANEF) | Not held | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data, Defence |
| Demographics | Available | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census and SEIFA) |
| School availability | Available | Queensland Government |
| Market statistics | Available at SA2 level | Queensland Government Statistician's Office (QGSO) |
| Development applications | Available as suburb totals | Brisbane City Council |
Profile last materially updated 19 September 2026. See the methodology and full source list. Source data changes over time and critical decisions should be checked with the responsible authority.
Check a specific Bowen Hills address
See exactly which overlays touch a single property - the interactive map is free. Need it on paper? A full planning PDF is just $9.
Published flood models are held here: a Flood Model Report is available for about 4,200 Bowen Hills addresses (+$9 with the planning report).
The Terrain Report shows the fall of the block - contours, cross sections and a 3D model of the lot (+$9 with the planning report).
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and an indicative AS 2870 site class for a Bowen Hills lot.
See what's in the $9 report →Bowen Hills planning - frequently asked
Is Bowen Hills flood-prone?
About 60% of Bowen Hills falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 40%. Across the suburb, 30% of the 4,217 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 405 rated high risk or historically affected.
Is Bowen Hills bushfire-prone?
Bushfire mapping covers Bowen Hills and little to none of it is mapped as bushfire-prone (the Brisbane City average is 27%).
What is the zoning in Bowen Hills?
The dominant planning zone in Bowen Hills is Priority Development Area - Part 10 of Brisbane City Plan 2014, though the suburb also includes Emerging community and Special purpose (Transport infrastructure).
Does Bowen Hills have heritage-listed places?
Bowen Hills has 29 heritage-listed places on record.
Is Bowen Hills hilly or flat?
Bowen Hills is gently undulating: the median ground slope is about 8%, and 16% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 3 m to 37 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Bowen Hills?
Across 3,927 surveyed parcels in Bowen Hills, the median lot size is about 1,148 m². There are also 253 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Bowen Hills have a train station?
Yes - Bowen Hills has 1 train station: Bowen Hills station. It is also served by 16 bus stops.
What is the population of Bowen Hills?
At the 2021 Census Bowen Hills had 4,898 usual residents, with a median age of 30 and an average household size of 1.6 people. The wider Newstead - Bowen Hills statistical area, which contains Bowen Hills, went from 3,736 people in 2001 to 21,474 in 2025, up 475%.
Is Bowen Hills an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Bowen Hills scores 1060 and sits in decile 9 of 10 nationally and decile 10 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Bowen Hills?
Median household income in Bowen Hills was $1,551 a week at the 2021 Census, against $2,122 for the typical suburb in Brisbane City. Median rent was $390 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,614 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newstead | 1.0 km | 99% | 0% |
| Windsor | 1.2 km | 50% | 6% |
| Albion | 1.3 km | 67% | 0% |
| Herston | 1.5 km | 37% | 0% |
| Fortitude Valley | 1.5 km | 44% | 0% |
| Teneriffe | 1.7 km | 57% | 0% |
| Wilston | 2.1 km | 36% | 9% |
| Spring Hill | 2.3 km | 13% | 0% |
| Bulimba | 2.4 km | 75% | 0% |
| Kelvin Grove | 2.5 km | 24% | 0% |