Maleny flood map & planning overlays
Maleny sits 467 m up, with 15 heritage places and a median age of 59.
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 Maleny
(Sunshine Coast Regional, QLD) - 24.89 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
24.89 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Maleny'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 Maleny properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 2,417 analysed Maleny properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 2,417 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Maleny.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Maleny
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.
Maleny at a glance
Schools in and near Maleny
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
2 schools providing primary years and 2 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.
Which school zone is a Maleny address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Maleny is zoned
Selling in Maleny? 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 24.89 km², Maleny is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 24% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 23% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 15 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Rural. The terrain is hilly, and the median lot measures about 1,298 m² across 2,352 parcels.
Recent development applications in Maleny
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
Latest included submission: 7 October 2026.
Previous 12 months: 12 (33% 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 8 November 2026. Check the official council register.
Who lives in Maleny
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Maleny 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 990, and decile 7 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Maleny's 3,959 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Caloundra Hinterland, the wider ABS statistical area containing Maleny. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Maleny itself.
7,344 in 2001 to 9,352 in 2025, up 27%.
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.
Maleny 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 |
| 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 Maleny 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 44% of Maleny. 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 Maleny. 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 Maleny lot.
Maleny planning - frequently asked
Is Maleny flood-prone?
About 24% of Maleny falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 30%. Across the suburb, 8% of the 2,417 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 92 rated high risk or historically affected. Published flood models are held over parts of Maleny; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Maleny bushfire-prone?
Around 23% of Maleny is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Sunshine Coast Regional average of 38%.
Is Maleny under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 44% of Maleny, and over about 93% 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 1,000 ft, with an average of 4,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 1 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 Maleny?
The dominant planning zone in Maleny is Rural, though the suburb also includes Rural Residential and Low Density Residential.
Does Maleny have heritage-listed places?
Maleny has 15 heritage-listed places on record.
Is Maleny hilly or flat?
Maleny is hilly: the median ground slope is about 12%, and 27% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 387 m to 467 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Maleny?
Across 2,352 surveyed parcels in Maleny, the median lot size is about 1,298 m². There are also 636 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Maleny have a train station?
There is no train station inside Maleny itself. The suburb is served by 6 bus stops.
What is the population of Maleny?
At the 2021 Census Maleny had 3,959 usual residents, with a median age of 59 and an average household size of 2.1 people. The wider Caloundra Hinterland statistical area, which contains Maleny, went from 7,344 people in 2001 to 9,352 in 2025, up 27%.
Is Maleny an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Maleny scores 990 and sits in decile 6 of 10 nationally and decile 7 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Maleny?
Median household income in Maleny was $1,144 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,677 for the typical suburb in Sunshine Coast Regional. Median rent was $390 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,625 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reesville | 4.1 km | 18% | 37% |
| North Maleny | 4.2 km | 35% | 41% |
| Balmoral Ridge | 5.0 km | 15% | 49% |
| Wootha | 5.1 km | 14% | 38% |
| Witta | 5.4 km | 18% | 33% |
| Crohamhurst | 6.3 km | 18% | 51% |
| Bald Knob | 7.3 km | 1% | 31% |
| Booroobin | 7.4 km | 3% | 66% |
| Elaman Creek | 7.7 km | 25% | 54% |
| Montville | 8.3 km | 14% | 68% |