Clifton Beach flood map & planning overlays
Median lots of 911 m², with 46.7% bushfire-mapped and mostly Conservation zoning.
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 Clifton Beach
(Cairns Regional, QLD) - 7.64 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
7.64 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Clifton Beach'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 Clifton Beach properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 1,935 analysed Clifton Beach properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 1,935 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Clifton Beach.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Clifton Beach
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
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.
Clifton Beach at a glance
Schools in and near Clifton Beach
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
0 schools providing primary years and 0 providing secondary years. A combined school may be counted in both teaching levels.
Nearest school availability
Primary: 0.38 km from the suburb boundary
Secondary: 3.98 km from the suburb boundary
Source: Queensland Government school geographic information. Catchment boundaries can divide a suburb and change over time.
Which school zone is a Clifton Beach address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Clifton Beach is zoned
Selling in Clifton Beach? 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 7.64 km², Clifton Beach is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 15% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 47% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Conservation. The terrain is largely flat, and the median lot measures about 911 m² across 1,974 parcels.
Who lives in Clifton Beach
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Clifton Beach 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 1014, and decile 8 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Clifton Beach's 3,192 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Clifton Beach - Kewarra Beach, the wider ABS statistical area containing Clifton Beach. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Clifton Beach itself.
6,519 in 2001 to 12,760 in 2025, up 96%.
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.
Clifton Beach 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 |
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 Clifton Beach 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 →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 Clifton Beach. 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).
Moving here? The Liveability section adds walking times from the address to schools, parks, shops and transport, and the school zones it sits in (+$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 Clifton Beach lot.
Clifton Beach planning - frequently asked
Is Clifton Beach flood-prone?
About 15% of Clifton Beach falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 55%. Across the suburb, 52% of the 1,935 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 997 rated high risk or historically affected. Published flood models are held over parts of Clifton Beach; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Clifton Beach bushfire-prone?
Around 47% of Clifton Beach is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Cairns Regional average of 23%.
Is Clifton Beach under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed over about 2% of Clifton Beach in the period sampled, but only above 3,000 ft - the lowest measured was 7,500 ft. 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 Clifton Beach?
The dominant planning zone in Clifton Beach is Conservation, though the suburb also includes Low Density Residential and Rural Residential.
Does Clifton Beach have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Clifton Beach.
Is Clifton Beach hilly or flat?
Clifton Beach is largely flat: the median ground slope is about 3%, and 4% 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 Clifton Beach?
Across 1,974 surveyed parcels in Clifton Beach, the median lot size is about 911 m². There are also 276 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Clifton Beach have a train station?
There is no train station inside Clifton Beach itself. The suburb is served by 17 bus stops.
What is the population of Clifton Beach?
At the 2021 Census Clifton Beach had 3,192 usual residents, with a median age of 48 and an average household size of 2.3 people. The wider Clifton Beach - Kewarra Beach statistical area, which contains Clifton Beach, went from 6,519 people in 2001 to 12,760 in 2025, up 96%.
Is Clifton Beach an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Clifton Beach scores 1014 and sits in decile 7 of 10 nationally and decile 8 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Clifton Beach?
Median household income in Clifton Beach was $1,480 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,618 for the typical suburb in Cairns Regional. Median rent was $365 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,820 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Macalister Range | 1.7 km | 5% | 47% |
| Kewarra Beach | 1.7 km | 23% | 30% |
| Palm Cove | 3.0 km | 13% | 31% |
| Trinity Beach | 3.8 km | 22% | 40% |
| Trinity Park | 5.2 km | 83% | 22% |
| Ellis Beach | 5.2 km | 7% | 8% |
| Smithfield | 6.1 km | 48% | 43% |
| Yorkeys Knob | 7.7 km | 87% | 15% |
| Caravonica | 9.8 km | 40% | 19% |
| Holloways Beach | 10.2 km | 81% | 15% |