Preston flood map & planning overlays
The Toowoomba Preston: 16.2% slope, 729 m high, $2,472 a week per household.
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 Preston
(Toowoomba Regional, QLD) - 9.84 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
9.84 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Preston'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 Preston properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 126 analysed Preston properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 126 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Preston.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Preston
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 3,000 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.
Preston at a glance
Schools in and near Preston
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: 4.51 km from the suburb boundary
Secondary: 5.09 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 Preston address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Preston is zoned
Selling in Preston? 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 9.84 km², Preston is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 7% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 75% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Rural. The terrain is hilly, and the median lot measures about 8,454 m² across 125 parcels.
Who lives in Preston
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Preston 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 1089, and decile 10 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Preston's 644 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Cambooya - Wyreema, the wider ABS statistical area containing Preston. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Preston itself.
3,977 in 2001 to 8,905 in 2025, up 124%.
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.
Preston 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 Preston 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 24% of Preston. 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 Preston. 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 Preston lot.
Preston planning - frequently asked
Is Preston flood-prone?
About 7% of Preston falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 27%. Across the suburb, 6% of the 126 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 7 rated high risk or historically affected. Published flood models are held over parts of Preston; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Preston bushfire-prone?
Around 75% of Preston is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Toowoomba Regional average of 36%.
Is Preston under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 24% of Preston, and over about 98% 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 2,000 ft, with an average of 4,000 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 Preston?
The dominant planning zone in Preston is Rural, though the suburb also includes Rural Residential and Open Space.
Does Preston have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Preston.
Is Preston hilly or flat?
Preston is hilly: the median ground slope is about 16%, and 53% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 553 m to 729 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Preston?
Across 125 surveyed parcels in Preston, the median lot size is about 8,454 m². There are also 22 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
What is the population of Preston?
At the 2021 Census Preston had 644 usual residents, with a median age of 40 and an average household size of 3.1 people. The wider Cambooya - Wyreema statistical area, which contains Preston, went from 3,977 people in 2001 to 8,905 in 2025, up 124%.
Is Preston an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Preston scores 1089 and sits in decile 10 of 10 nationally and decile 10 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Preston?
Median household income in Preston was $2,472 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,583 for the typical suburb in Toowoomba Regional. Median rent was $420 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,167 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preston Lockyer Valley Regional |
2.0 km | <1% | 97% |
| Hodgson Vale | 2.7 km | 18% | 27% |
| Top Camp | 4.6 km | 18% | 29% |
| Upper Flagstone Lockyer Valley Regional |
4.6 km | 6% | 99% |
| Rockmount Lockyer Valley Regional |
5.5 km | <1% | 94% |
| Middle Ridge | 5.9 km | 2% | 55% |
| Mount Rascal | 6.4 km | 5% | 70% |
| Vale View | 6.7 km | 10% | 22% |
| Ramsay | 7.0 km | 6% | 73% |
| Kearneys Spring | 7.0 km | 11% | 21% |