Caloundra flood map & planning overlays
Caloundra: 5 schools and a median age of 58, 6th-highest on the Sunshine Coast.
Things you won't regret: spending $9 to know the lot before you commit.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Caloundra
(Sunshine Coast Regional, QLD) - 3.24 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
3.24 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Caloundra's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top. Magenta is where aircraft were observed in the sampled period, brightest below 3,000 ft.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Caloundra properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 3,683 analysed Caloundra properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 3,683 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Caloundra.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Caloundra
The ANEF contour is a published planning forecast and observed overflight is what a sampled tracking feed recorded - neither describes any individual property.
Observed overflight - sampled 4 Sep to 7 Nov 2026
typical observed square 0 a day
Night movements: not established - night is sampled as often as day, but too few night flights have been seen here to conclude either way.
How this is measured
Traffic is sampled rather than watched continuously, so every figure is a floor: aircraft not captured between samples are not represented. Rates are per 500 m square - the busiest square in the suburb, not a count of flights over the suburb - and a square is only rated where enough traffic was seen to measure it. Altitudes are above mean sea level. Flight paths change with runway use, weather, season and airspace design. This is a record of observed traffic; it is not a noise contour and not a planning control.
Caloundra at a glance
Schools in and near Caloundra
Public school-location data shows availability across the suburb; it does not rate schools or assign any individual address to a catchment.
Inside the suburb boundary
2 schools providing primary years and 4 providing secondary years. A combined school may be counted in both teaching levels.
Nearest school availability
Primary: inside the suburb
Secondary: inside the suburb
Source: Queensland Government school geographic information. Catchment boundaries can divide a suburb and change over time.
Which school zone is a Caloundra address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Caloundra is zoned
Selling in Caloundra? 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 3.24 km², Caloundra is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 13% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 11% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 5 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Sport and Recreation. The terrain is gently undulating, and the median lot measures about 554 m² across 3,805 parcels.
Recent development applications in Caloundra
Applications are counted across the whole gazetted suburb from the public Sunshine Coast Council register. No application address or individual property is published here.
Submitted in the past 12 months
Latest included submission: 4 November 2026.
Previous 12 months: 11 (118% higher in the latest period).
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 8 November 2026. Check the official council register.
Who lives in Caloundra
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Caloundra 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 919, and decile 3 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Caloundra's 3,932 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Caloundra - Kings Beach, the wider ABS statistical area containing Caloundra. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Caloundra itself.
5,220 in 2001 to 7,094 in 2025, up 36%.
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.
Caloundra 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 |
| Observed flight paths | Observed | adsb.lol, under the Open Database License |
| Demographics | Available | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census and SEIFA) |
| School availability | Available | Queensland Government |
| Development applications | Available as suburb totals | Sunshine Coast Council |
Profile last materially updated 7 November 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 Caloundra 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.
See what's in the $9 report →Aircraft have been seen below 3,000 ft over about 100% of Caloundra. The report's Aircraft Overflight page narrows that to the address itself: how many aircraft a day, how low, and at what heights.
Published flood models are held over parts of Caloundra. 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 to spin round in your browser (+$9 with the planning report).
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and the indicative soil reactivity range to expect for a Caloundra lot.
Caloundra planning - frequently asked
Is Caloundra flood-prone?
About 13% of Caloundra falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 30%. Across the suburb, 16% of the 3,683 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 246 rated high risk or historically affected. Published flood models are held over parts of Caloundra; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Caloundra bushfire-prone?
Around 11% of Caloundra is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Sunshine Coast Regional average of 38%.
Is Caloundra under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 100% of Caloundra, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 7 Nov 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 1,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 19 aircraft a day were recorded passing over one 500 m square. Traffic is sampled rather than watched continuously and flight paths change with runway use, weather and season; the ANEF contour is the planning instrument.
What is the zoning in Caloundra?
The dominant planning zone in Caloundra is Sport and Recreation, though the suburb also includes Major Centre and Community Facilities.
Does Caloundra have heritage-listed places?
Caloundra has 5 heritage-listed places on record.
Is Caloundra hilly or flat?
Caloundra is gently undulating: the median ground slope is about 5%, and 4% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 2 m to 32 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Caloundra?
Across 3,805 surveyed parcels in Caloundra, the median lot size is about 554 m². There are also 194 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Caloundra have a train station?
There is no train station inside Caloundra itself. The suburb is served by 26 bus stops.
What is the population of Caloundra?
At the 2021 Census Caloundra had 3,932 usual residents, with a median age of 58 and an average household size of 1.9 people. The wider Caloundra - Kings Beach statistical area, which contains Caloundra, went from 5,220 people in 2001 to 7,094 in 2025, up 36%.
Is Caloundra an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Caloundra scores 919 and sits in decile 2 of 10 nationally and decile 3 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Caloundra?
Median household income in Caloundra was $980 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,677 for the typical suburb in Sunshine Coast Regional. Median rent was $360 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,600 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moffat Beach | 1.0 km | 6% | 7% |
| Dicky Beach | 1.7 km | 8% | 10% |
| Kings Beach | 1.7 km | 1% | <1% |
| Shelly Beach | 1.8 km | 9% | 2% |
| Aroona | 2.0 km | 3% | 19% |
| Battery Hill | 2.1 km | 12% | 3% |
| Caloundra West | 2.8 km | 46% | 48% |
| Golden Beach | 3.0 km | 71% | 2% |
| Currimundi | 3.4 km | 38% | 9% |
| Little Mountain | 3.5 km | 10% | 23% |