Pelican Waters flood map & planning overlays
Pelican Waters: $540 rents, 72% flood-mapped, and a median age of 55.
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 Pelican Waters
(Sunshine Coast Regional, QLD) - 8.37 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
8.37 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Pelican Waters'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 Pelican Waters properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 3,987 analysed Pelican Waters properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 3,987 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Pelican Waters.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Pelican Waters
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 1 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 1,000 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.
Pelican Waters at a glance
Schools in and near Pelican Waters
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 1 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 Pelican Waters address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Pelican Waters is zoned
Selling in Pelican Waters? 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 8.37 km², Pelican Waters is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 72% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 23% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Low Density Residential. The terrain is largely flat, and the median lot measures about 741 m² across 3,894 parcels.
Recent development applications in Pelican Waters
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: 28 September 2026.
Previous 12 months: 5 (0% 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 8 November 2026. Check the official council register.
Who lives in Pelican Waters
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Pelican Waters 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 Pelican Waters's 7,393 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Golden Beach - Pelican Waters, the wider ABS statistical area containing Pelican Waters. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Pelican Waters itself.
6,409 in 2001 to 14,293 in 2025, up 123%.
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.
Pelican Waters 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 Pelican Waters 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 Pelican Waters. 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 Pelican Waters. 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 Pelican Waters lot.
Pelican Waters planning - frequently asked
Is Pelican Waters flood-prone?
About 72% of Pelican Waters falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 30%. Across the suburb, 80% of the 3,987 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 1133 rated high risk or historically affected. Published flood models are held over parts of Pelican Waters; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Pelican Waters bushfire-prone?
Around 23% of Pelican Waters is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Sunshine Coast Regional average of 38%.
Is Pelican Waters under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 100% of Pelican Waters, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 7 Nov 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 1,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 16 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 Pelican Waters?
The dominant planning zone in Pelican Waters is Low Density Residential, though the suburb also includes Environmental Management and Conservation and Sport and Recreation.
Does Pelican Waters have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Pelican Waters.
Is Pelican Waters hilly or flat?
Pelican Waters is largely flat: the median ground slope is about 2%. Ground level runs from roughly 0 m to 6 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Pelican Waters?
Across 3,894 surveyed parcels in Pelican Waters, the median lot size is about 741 m². There are also 616 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Pelican Waters have a train station?
There is no train station inside Pelican Waters itself. The suburb is served by 8 bus stops.
What is the population of Pelican Waters?
At the 2021 Census Pelican Waters had 7,393 usual residents, with a median age of 55 and an average household size of 2.5 people. The wider Golden Beach - Pelican Waters statistical area, which contains Pelican Waters, went from 6,409 people in 2001 to 14,293 in 2025, up 123%.
Is Pelican Waters an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Pelican Waters 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 Pelican Waters?
Median household income in Pelican Waters was $1,552 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,677 for the typical suburb in Sunshine Coast Regional. Median rent was $540 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,200 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Beach | 1.9 km | 71% | 2% |
| Bells Creek | 2.3 km | 78% | 46% |
| Caloundra West | 3.1 km | 46% | 48% |
| Baringa | 3.3 km | 32% | 25% |
| Aura Central | 3.4 km | 32% | 11% |
| Caloundra | 4.7 km | 13% | 11% |
| Gagalba | 4.9 km | 24% | 3% |
| Little Mountain | 5.2 km | 10% | 23% |
| Nirimba | 5.3 km | 33% | 9% |
| Kings Beach | 5.4 km | 1% | <1% |