Lake Macdonald flood map & planning overlays
Lake Macdonald's 10,041 m² lots and 1,352 residents sit within 69.3% bushfire mapping.
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 Lake Macdonald
(Noosa Shire, QLD) - 26.45 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
26.45 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Lake Macdonald'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 Lake Macdonald properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 652 analysed Lake Macdonald properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 652 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Lake Macdonald.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Lake Macdonald
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: observed, lowest 4,000 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.
Lake Macdonald at a glance
Schools in and near Lake Macdonald
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: 0.56 km from the suburb boundary
Secondary: 0.57 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 Lake Macdonald address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Lake Macdonald is zoned
Selling in Lake Macdonald? 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 26.45 km², Lake Macdonald is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 44% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 69% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Rural. The terrain is gently undulating, and the median lot measures about 10,041 m² across 667 parcels.
Who lives in Lake Macdonald
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Lake Macdonald 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 1005, and decile 8 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Lake Macdonald's 1,352 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Noosa Hinterland, the wider ABS statistical area containing Lake Macdonald. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Lake Macdonald itself.
16,124 in 2001 to 26,251 in 2025, up 63%.
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.
Lake Macdonald 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 Lake Macdonald 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 46% of Lake Macdonald. 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 Lake Macdonald. 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 Lake Macdonald lot.
Lake Macdonald planning - frequently asked
Is Lake Macdonald flood-prone?
About 44% of Lake Macdonald falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 28%. Across the suburb, 32% of the 652 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 206 rated high risk or historically affected. Published flood models are held over parts of Lake Macdonald; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Lake Macdonald bushfire-prone?
Around 69% of Lake Macdonald is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Noosa Shire average of 76%.
Is Lake Macdonald under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 46% of Lake Macdonald, and over about 80% at any altitude up to 10,000 ft, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 7 Nov 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 5,000 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 2 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 Lake Macdonald?
The dominant planning zone in Lake Macdonald is Rural, though the suburb also includes Environmental Management and Conservation and Rural Residential.
Does Lake Macdonald have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Lake Macdonald.
Is Lake Macdonald hilly or flat?
Lake Macdonald is gently undulating: the median ground slope is about 10%, and 31% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 35 m to 137 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Lake Macdonald?
Across 667 surveyed parcels in Lake Macdonald, the median lot size is about 10,041 m². There are also 159 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
What is the population of Lake Macdonald?
At the 2021 Census Lake Macdonald had 1,352 usual residents, with a median age of 49 and an average household size of 2.6 people. The wider Noosa Hinterland statistical area, which contains Lake Macdonald, went from 16,124 people in 2001 to 26,251 in 2025, up 63%.
Is Lake Macdonald an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Lake Macdonald scores 1005 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 Lake Macdonald?
Median household income in Lake Macdonald was $1,771 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,602 for the typical suburb in Noosa Shire. Median rent was $420 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,733 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tinbeerwah | 3.9 km | 24% | 96% |
| Cooroy Mountain | 4.8 km | 29% | 60% |
| Cooroy | 5.4 km | 39% | 59% |
| Ringtail Creek | 6.2 km | 32% | 91% |
| Pomona | 7.1 km | 41% | 86% |
| Tewantin | 8.0 km | 30% | 77% |
| Cooroibah | 8.6 km | 46% | 77% |
| Eumundi Sunshine Coast Regional |
8.8 km | 27% | 43% |
| Black Mountain | 9.3 km | 25% | 76% |
| Doonan | 9.9 km | 13% | 96% |