Gilston flood map & planning overlays
A planning-constraint profile of Gilston
(Gold Coast City, QLD) - 9.45 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
9.45 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Gilston's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Gilston properties?
Overlay percentages say how much land is constrained; these figures say how many properties are actually touched in a suburb-wide analysis of 1,070 Gilston properties. No individual property result is identified on this page.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 1,070 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Gilston.
Gilston at a glance
Schools in and near Gilston
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: 1.46 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 Gilston is zoned
Selling in Gilston? 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 9.45 km², Gilston is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 19% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 99% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 2 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Rural. The terrain is hilly, and the median lot measures about 764 m² across 1,009 parcels.
Recent development applications in Gilston
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: 7 September 2026.
Previous 12 months: 11 (73% 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 19 September 2026. Check the official council register.
Who lives in Gilston
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Gilston 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 1045, and decile 9 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Gilston's 2,669 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Nerang - Mount Nathan, the wider ABS statistical area containing Gilston. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Gilston itself.
15,345 in 2001 to 22,560 in 2025, up 47%.
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.
Gilston 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 Gilston 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 Gilston. 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 Gilston lot.
See what's in the $9 report →Gilston planning - frequently asked
Is Gilston flood-prone?
About 19% of Gilston falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 38%. Across the suburb, 26% of the 1,070 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 258 rated high risk or historically affected.
Is Gilston bushfire-prone?
Around 99% of Gilston is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Gold Coast City average of 50%.
What is the zoning in Gilston?
The dominant planning zone in Gilston is Rural, though the suburb also includes Conservation and Emerging community.
Does Gilston have heritage-listed places?
Gilston has 2 heritage-listed places on record.
Is Gilston hilly or flat?
Gilston is hilly: the median ground slope is about 11%, and 25% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 20 m to 82 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Gilston?
Across 1,009 surveyed parcels in Gilston, the median lot size is about 764 m². There are also 494 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Gilston have a train station?
There is no train station inside Gilston itself. The suburb is served by 9 bus stops.
What is the population of Gilston?
At the 2021 Census Gilston had 2,669 usual residents, with a median age of 35 and an average household size of 3.2 people. The wider Nerang - Mount Nathan statistical area, which contains Gilston, went from 15,345 people in 2001 to 22,560 in 2025, up 47%.
Is Gilston an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Gilston scores 1045 and sits in decile 9 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 Gilston?
Median household income in Gilston was $2,446 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,830 for the typical suburb in Gold Coast City. Median rent was $540 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,172 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Park | 2.5 km | 2% | 52% |
| Worongary | 2.6 km | 8% | 88% |
| Tallai | 4.0 km | 2% | 94% |
| Advancetown | 5.1 km | 3% | 100% |
| Carrara | 5.6 km | 70% | 33% |
| Nerang | 5.7 km | 14% | 82% |
| Merrimac | 6.5 km | 78% | 26% |
| Lower Beechmont | 7.0 km | <1% | 97% |
| Mount Nathan | 7.1 km | 11% | 93% |
| Ashmore | 7.4 km | 11% | 12% |