Burleigh Heads flood map & planning overlays
A planning-constraint profile of Burleigh Heads
(Gold Coast City, QLD) - 10.17 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
10.17 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Burleigh Heads's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Burleigh Heads properties?
Overlay percentages say how much land is constrained; these figures say how many properties are actually touched in a suburb-wide analysis of 9,491 Burleigh Heads properties. No individual property result is identified on this page.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 9,491 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Burleigh Heads.
Burleigh Heads at a glance
Schools in and near Burleigh Heads
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
1 school providing primary years and 0 providing secondary years. A combined school may be counted in both teaching levels.
Nearest school availability
Primary: inside the suburb
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 Burleigh Heads is zoned
Selling in Burleigh Heads? 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 10.17 km², Burleigh Heads is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 17% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 47% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 14 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Conservation. The terrain is gently undulating, and the median lot measures about 540 m² across 9,429 parcels.
Recent development applications in Burleigh Heads
Applications are counted across the whole gazetted suburb from the public City of Gold Coast register. No application address or individual property is published here.
Submitted in the past 12 months
Latest included submission: 15 September 2026.
Previous 12 months: 109 (21% higher in the latest period).
Common application types
- Material change of use: 25
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 Burleigh Heads
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Burleigh Heads 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 1040, and decile 9 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Burleigh Heads's 10,572 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Burleigh Heads, the wider ABS statistical area containing Burleigh Heads. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Burleigh Heads itself.
7,346 in 2001 to 10,055 in 2025, up 37%.
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.
Burleigh Heads 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 |
| Development applications | Available as suburb totals | City of Gold Coast |
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 Burleigh Heads 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 over parts of Burleigh Heads. The free check tells you whether one reaches an address; where it does, a Flood Model Report is +$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 Burleigh Heads lot.
See what's in the $9 report →Burleigh Heads planning - frequently asked
Is Burleigh Heads flood-prone?
About 17% of Burleigh Heads falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 38%. Across the suburb, 56% of the 9,491 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 4425 rated high risk or historically affected.
Is Burleigh Heads bushfire-prone?
Around 47% of Burleigh Heads is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Gold Coast City average of 50%.
What is the zoning in Burleigh Heads?
The dominant planning zone in Burleigh Heads is Conservation, though the suburb also includes Low density residential and Low impact industry.
Does Burleigh Heads have heritage-listed places?
Burleigh Heads has 14 heritage-listed places on record.
Is Burleigh Heads hilly or flat?
Burleigh Heads is gently undulating: the median ground slope is about 4%, and 21% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 3 m to 66 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Burleigh Heads?
Across 9,429 surveyed parcels in Burleigh Heads, the median lot size is about 540 m². There are also 1,019 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Burleigh Heads have a train station?
There is no train station inside Burleigh Heads itself. The suburb is served by 21 bus stops.
What is the population of Burleigh Heads?
At the 2021 Census Burleigh Heads had 10,572 usual residents, with a median age of 42 and an average household size of 2.2 people. The wider Burleigh Heads statistical area, which contains Burleigh Heads, went from 7,346 people in 2001 to 10,055 in 2025, up 37%.
Is Burleigh Heads an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Burleigh Heads scores 1040 and sits in decile 8 of 10 nationally and decile 9 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Burleigh Heads?
Median household income in Burleigh Heads was $1,701 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,830 for the typical suburb in Gold Coast City. Median rent was $480 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,058 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palm Beach | 2.0 km | 80% | 13% |
| Burleigh Waters | 2.1 km | 70% | 11% |
| Miami | 3.7 km | 24% | 21% |
| Varsity Lakes | 3.7 km | 56% | 12% |
| Elanora | 4.3 km | 42% | 49% |
| Reedy Creek | 5.2 km | 3% | 90% |
| Currumbin | 5.3 km | 33% | 67% |
| Mermaid Waters | 5.9 km | 97% | 5% |
| Mermaid Beach | 5.9 km | 17% | 0% |
| Tallebudgera | 6.3 km | 29% | 90% |