Caloundra West QLD 4551 flood map & planning overlays
52 flights a day and 13.3% inside noise contours. Caloundra West hears the planes.
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 West
(Sunshine Coast Regional, QLD) - 8.26 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
8.26 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Caloundra West's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top. Amber hatching is the published aircraft noise (ANEF) contour. 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 West properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 3,321 analysed Caloundra West properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 3,321 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Caloundra West.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Caloundra West
The ANEF contour is a published planning forecast and observed overflight is what a sampled tracking feed recorded - neither describes any individual property.
Inside an aircraft noise contour
13% of the suburb's land sits inside a published ANEF or airport-environs contour. Contours vary street by street, so whether a particular lot is inside one needs a property-level check.
Highest contour present
Under AS 2021, land at ANEF 30 and above is generally unacceptable for new houses and most noise-sensitive uses. The contour is a forecast, not a measurement at any one house.
Contours held
- Caloundra Aerodrome ANEF
Observed overflight - sampled 4 Sep to 7 Nov 2026
typical observed square 0 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 500 ft - night is sampled as often as day, but night traffic is light, so this is a floor and no rate can be put on it.
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 West at a glance
Schools in and near Caloundra West
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
1 school providing primary years and 1 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; use the official catchment finder for a specific address.
How Caloundra West is zoned
Selling in Caloundra West? 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 8.26 km², Caloundra West is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 46% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 48% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Environmental Management and Conservation. The terrain is largely flat, and the median lot measures about 401 m² across 3,296 parcels.
Recent development applications in Caloundra West
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
The exact total and latest date are suppressed for privacy.
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 7 November 2026. Check the official council register.
Who lives in Caloundra West
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Caloundra West 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 976, and decile 6 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Caloundra West's 7,270 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Caloundra West - Baringa, the wider ABS statistical area containing Caloundra West. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Caloundra West itself.
1,986 in 2001 to 23,872 in 2025, up 1102%.
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 West 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) | Inside a held contour | 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 West 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 West. 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 West. 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 West lot.
Caloundra West planning - frequently asked
Is Caloundra West flood-prone?
About 46% of Caloundra West falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 30%. Across the suburb, 23% of the 3,321 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 363 rated high risk or historically affected. Published flood models are held over parts of Caloundra West; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Caloundra West bushfire-prone?
Around 48% of Caloundra West is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Sunshine Coast Regional average of 38%.
Is Caloundra West affected by aircraft noise?
About 13% of Caloundra West sits inside a published aircraft noise contour, and the highest contour present is ANEF 35 - under AS 2021, land above ANEF 25 is generally considered unacceptable for new houses, and 20-25 conditionally acceptable with noise attenuation. ANEF contours are forecasts published per airport and used to control noise-sensitive development; they are not a measurement at any one house, and a property can sit under a flight path and outside every contour.
Is Caloundra West under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 100% of Caloundra West, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 7 Nov 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 1,000 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 50 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 West?
The dominant planning zone in Caloundra West is Environmental Management and Conservation, though the suburb also includes Community Facilities and No.
Does Caloundra West have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Caloundra West.
Is Caloundra West hilly or flat?
Caloundra West is largely flat: the median ground slope is about 2%, and 4% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 3 m to 38 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Caloundra West?
Across 3,296 surveyed parcels in Caloundra West, the median lot size is about 401 m². There are also 423 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Caloundra West have a train station?
There is no train station inside Caloundra West itself. The suburb is served by 21 bus stops.
What is the population of Caloundra West?
At the 2021 Census Caloundra West had 7,270 usual residents, with a median age of 37 and an average household size of 2.6 people. The wider Caloundra West - Baringa statistical area, which contains Caloundra West, went from 1,986 people in 2001 to 23,872 in 2025, up 1102%.
Is Caloundra West an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Caloundra West scores 976 and sits in decile 5 of 10 nationally and decile 6 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Caloundra West?
Median household income in Caloundra West was $1,571 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,677 for the typical suburb in Sunshine Coast Regional. Median rent was $465 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,842 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baringa | 2.0 km | 32% | 25% |
| Little Mountain | 2.2 km | 10% | 23% |
| Golden Beach | 2.6 km | 71% | 2% |
| Caloundra | 2.8 km | 13% | 11% |
| Aroona | 3.0 km | 3% | 19% |
| Pelican Waters | 3.1 km | 72% | 23% |
| Moffat Beach | 3.8 km | 6% | 7% |
| Bells Creek | 3.9 km | 78% | 46% |
| Aura Central | 3.9 km | 32% | 11% |
| Corbould Park | 4.0 km | 30% | 58% |