Palm Beach flood map & planning overlays
59 flights a day overhead, 4th in Gold Coast City, on a flat 1.7% median slope.
Most lots here are flood-mapped. The free check shows how much of one lot the overlay covers.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Palm Beach
(Gold Coast City, QLD) - 6.33 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
6.33 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Palm Beach's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top. Amber hatching is the published aircraft noise (ANEF) contour. 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 Palm Beach properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 10,767 analysed Palm Beach properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 10,767 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Palm Beach.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Palm Beach
The ANEF contour is a published planning forecast and observed overflight is what a sampled tracking feed recorded - neither describes any individual property.
Inside an aircraft noise contour
4% of the suburb's land sits inside a published ANEF or airport-environs contour. Contours vary street by street, so whether a particular lot is inside one needs a property-level check.
Highest contour present
Under AS 2021, land between ANEF 25 and 30 is generally unacceptable for new houses; 20 to 25 is conditionally acceptable with noise attenuation. The contour is a forecast, not a measurement at any one house.
Contours held
- tweed_gc_airport_anef
Observed overflight - sampled 4 Sep to 7 Nov 2026
typical observed square 1 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 500 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.
Palm Beach at a glance
Schools in and near Palm 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
1 school 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; use the official catchment finder for a specific address.
How Palm Beach is zoned
Selling in Palm 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 6.33 km², Palm Beach is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 78% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 13% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Low density residential. The terrain is largely flat, and the median lot measures about 507 m² across 10,770 parcels.
Recent development applications in Palm Beach
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: 5 November 2026.
Previous 12 months: 147 (22% higher in the latest period).
Common application types
- Material change of use: 27
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 Palm Beach
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Palm 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 1034, and decile 9 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Palm Beach's 16,349 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Palm Beach, the wider ABS statistical area containing Palm Beach. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Palm Beach itself.
13,024 in 2001 to 18,678 in 2025, up 43%.
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.
Palm 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) | Inside a held contour | 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 | City of Gold Coast |
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 Palm 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 →Aircraft have been seen below 3,000 ft over about 100% of Palm Beach. 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 Palm 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).
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and the indicative soil reactivity range to expect for a Palm Beach lot.
Palm Beach planning - frequently asked
Is Palm Beach flood-prone?
About 78% of Palm Beach falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 35%. Across the suburb, 73% of the 10,767 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 4332 rated high risk or historically affected. Published flood models are held over parts of Palm Beach; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Palm Beach bushfire-prone?
Around 13% of Palm Beach is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Gold Coast City average of 50%.
Is Palm Beach affected by aircraft noise?
About 4% of Palm Beach sits inside a published aircraft noise contour, and the highest contour present is ANEF 25 - under AS 2021, land above ANEF 25 is generally considered unacceptable for new houses, and 20-25 conditionally acceptable with noise attenuation. ANEF contours are forecasts published per airport and used to control noise-sensitive development; they are not a measurement at any one house, and a property can sit under a flight path and outside every contour.
Is Palm Beach under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 100% of Palm Beach, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 7 Nov 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 1,000 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 60 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 Palm Beach?
The dominant planning zone in Palm Beach is Low density residential, though the suburb also includes Medium density residential and Open space.
Does Palm Beach have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Palm Beach.
Is Palm Beach hilly or flat?
Palm Beach is largely flat: the median ground slope is about 2%. Ground level runs from roughly 2 m to 7 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Palm Beach?
Across 10,770 surveyed parcels in Palm Beach, the median lot size is about 507 m². There are also 321 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Palm Beach have a train station?
There is no train station inside Palm Beach itself. The suburb is served by 44 bus stops.
What is the population of Palm Beach?
At the 2021 Census Palm Beach had 16,349 usual residents, with a median age of 39 and an average household size of 2.3 people. The wider Palm Beach statistical area, which contains Palm Beach, went from 13,024 people in 2001 to 18,678 in 2025, up 43%.
Is Palm Beach an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Palm Beach scores 1034 and sits in decile 8 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 Palm Beach?
Median household income in Palm Beach was $1,721 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,830 for the typical suburb in Gold Coast City. Median rent was $445 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,093 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burleigh Heads | 2.0 km | 17% | 47% |
| Elanora | 3.0 km | 41% | 49% |
| Currumbin | 3.3 km | 33% | 67% |
| Burleigh Waters | 4.1 km | 64% | 11% |
| Currumbin Waters | 4.6 km | 49% | 55% |
| Tugun | 4.8 km | 27% | 39% |
| Tallebudgera | 5.4 km | 29% | 89% |
| Varsity Lakes | 5.5 km | 43% | 12% |
| Miami | 5.7 km | 23% | 21% |
| Reedy Creek | 6.2 km | 3% | 81% |