Cairnlea flood map & planning overlays
Cairnlea is home to 10,038 people, 6% flood-mapped.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Cairnlea
(Brimbank, VIC) - 4.49 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is moderately constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
4.49 km² - this suburb is moderately constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Cairnlea'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
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Cairnlea
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 24 Oct 2026
typical observed square 5 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 1,500 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.
Cairnlea at a glance
How Cairnlea is zoned
Selling in Cairnlea? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 4.49 km², Cairnlea is moderately constrained by planning overlays. About 6% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay. There are 2 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ1). The median lot measures about 572 m² across 3,314 parcels.
Who lives in Cairnlea
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Cairnlea 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 968, and decile 3 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Cairnlea's 10,038 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Cairnlea, the wider ABS statistical area containing Cairnlea. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Cairnlea itself.
366 in 2001 to 10,035 in 2025, up 2642%.
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.
Cairnlea 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 | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Bushfire-prone mapping | Mapped | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Zoning | Mapped | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Heritage and environment | Mapped where published | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Aircraft noise contours (ANEF) | Not held | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services, Defence |
| Observed flight paths | Observed | adsb.lol, under the Open Database License |
| Demographics | Available | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census and SEIFA) |
Profile last materially updated 24 October 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 Cairnlea 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 30% of Cairnlea. The report's Aircraft Overflight page narrows that to the address itself: how many aircraft a day, how low, and at what heights.
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and the indicative soil reactivity range to expect for a Cairnlea lot.
Cairnlea planning - frequently asked
Is Cairnlea flood-prone?
About 6% of Cairnlea falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 6%.
Is Cairnlea bushfire-prone?
Bushfire mapping covers Cairnlea and little to none of it is mapped as bushfire-prone (the Brimbank average is 15%).
Is Cairnlea under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 30% of Cairnlea, and over about 100% at any altitude up to 10,000 ft, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 24 Oct 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 4,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 20 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 Cairnlea?
The dominant planning zone in Cairnlea is Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ1), though the suburb also includes Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ) and Public Park and Recreation Zone (PPRZ).
Does Cairnlea have heritage-listed places?
Cairnlea has 2 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Cairnlea?
Across 3,314 surveyed parcels in Cairnlea, the median lot size is about 572 m². There are also 1,164 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Cairnlea have a train station?
There is no train station inside Cairnlea itself. The suburb is served by 28 bus stops.
What is the population of Cairnlea?
At the 2021 Census Cairnlea had 10,038 usual residents, with a median age of 36 and an average household size of 3.4 people. The wider Cairnlea statistical area, which contains Cairnlea, went from 366 people in 2001 to 10,035 in 2025, up 2642%.
Is Cairnlea an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Cairnlea scores 968 and sits in decile 4 of 10 nationally and decile 3 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Cairnlea?
Median household income in Cairnlea was $2,062 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,486 for the typical suburb in Brimbank. Median rent was $400 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,883 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deer Park | 2.0 km | 7% | 0% |
| Albanvale | 2.1 km | 2% | 0% |
| Ardeer | 2.3 km | 10% | 0% |
| St Albans | 2.5 km | 7% | 0% |
| Kings Park | 3.1 km | 4% | <1% |
| Albion | 3.2 km | 2% | 0% |
| Burnside Melton |
3.4 km | 6% | 2% |
| Burnside Heights Melton |
3.9 km | 3% | 7% |
| Kealba | 4.4 km | 8% | 40% |
| Sunshine North | 4.5 km | 9% | 15% |