Kelso flood map & planning overlays
A planning-constraint profile of Kelso
(Townsville City, QLD) - 17.17 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
17.17 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Kelso's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Kelso properties?
Overlay percentages say how much land is constrained; these figures say how many properties are actually touched in a suburb-wide analysis of 4,261 Kelso properties. No individual property result is identified on this page.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 4,261 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Kelso.
Kelso at a glance
Schools in and near Kelso
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: 3.06 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 Kelso is zoned
Selling in Kelso? 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 17.17 km², Kelso is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 2% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 40% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Rural Residential. The terrain is largely flat, and the median lot measures about 802 m² across 4,289 parcels.
Recent development applications in Kelso
Applications are counted across the whole gazetted suburb from the public Townsville City Council register. No application address or individual property is published here.
Submitted in the past 12 months
Latest included submission: 12 August 2026.
Previous 12 months: 110 (65% lower 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 Kelso
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Kelso 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 905, and decile 2 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Kelso's 10,599 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Kelso, the wider ABS statistical area containing Kelso. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Kelso itself.
8,020 in 2001 to 11,180 in 2025, up 39%.
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.
Kelso 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 | Townsville City Council |
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 Kelso 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 Kelso. 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 Kelso lot.
See what's in the $9 report →Kelso planning - frequently asked
Is Kelso flood-prone?
About 2% of Kelso falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 39%. Across the suburb, 0% of the 4,261 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk.
Is Kelso bushfire-prone?
Around 40% of Kelso is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Townsville City average of 50%.
What is the zoning in Kelso?
The dominant planning zone in Kelso is Rural Residential, though the suburb also includes Open Space and Low Density Residential.
Does Kelso have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Kelso.
Is Kelso hilly or flat?
Kelso is largely flat: the median ground slope is about 1%, and 2% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 21 m to 28 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Kelso?
Across 4,289 surveyed parcels in Kelso, the median lot size is about 802 m². There are also 269 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Kelso have a train station?
There is no train station inside Kelso itself. The suburb is served by 16 bus stops.
What is the population of Kelso?
At the 2021 Census Kelso had 10,599 usual residents, with a median age of 34 and an average household size of 2.8 people. The wider Kelso statistical area, which contains Kelso, went from 8,020 people in 2001 to 11,180 in 2025, up 39%.
Is Kelso an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Kelso scores 905 and sits in decile 2 of 10 nationally and decile 2 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Kelso?
Median household income in Kelso was $1,626 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,510 for the typical suburb in Townsville City. Median rent was $300 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,496 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rasmussen | 4.1 km | 8% | 16% |
| Gumlow | 4.9 km | 0% | 50% |
| Pinnacles | 5.9 km | 0% | 74% |
| Condon | 6.5 km | 5% | 27% |
| Mount Stuart | 6.6 km | <1% | 94% |
| Douglas | 8.0 km | 20% | 65% |
| Thuringowa Central | 8.5 km | 39% | 10% |
| Kirwan | 9.4 km | 32% | 8% |
| Cranbrook | 10.0 km | 11% | 8% |
| Murray | 10.4 km | <1% | 81% |