Cardigan flood map & planning overlays
Cardigan has Ballarat's top household income, $2,713 a week.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Cardigan
(Ballarat, VIC) - 36.5 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
36.5 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Cardigan'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 Cardigan
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
<1% 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.
Contours held
- Victorian Airport Environs Overlay
Observed overflight - sampled 4 Sep to 24 Oct 2026
typical observed square 1 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 3,500 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.
Cardigan at a glance
How Cardigan is zoned
Selling in Cardigan? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 36.5 km², Cardigan is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 3% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 99% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 3 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Farming Zone (FZ). The median lot measures about 2,754 m² across 928 parcels.
Who lives in Cardigan
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Cardigan 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 1055, and decile 9 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Cardigan's 1,064 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Alfredton, the wider ABS statistical area containing Cardigan. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Cardigan itself.
5,756 in 2001 to 20,825 in 2025, up 262%.
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.
Cardigan 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) | Inside a held contour | 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 Cardigan 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 46% of Cardigan. 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 Cardigan lot.
Cardigan planning - frequently asked
Is Cardigan flood-prone?
About 3% of Cardigan falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 8%.
Is Cardigan bushfire-prone?
Around 99% of Cardigan is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Ballarat average of 68%.
Is Cardigan affected by aircraft noise?
About <1% of Cardigan sits inside a published aircraft noise contour. 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 Cardigan under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 46% of Cardigan, and over about 78% 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 3,000 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 4 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 Cardigan?
The dominant planning zone in Cardigan is Farming Zone (FZ), though the suburb also includes Comprehensive Development Zone (CDZ1) and Low Density Residential Zone (LDRZ).
Does Cardigan have heritage-listed places?
Cardigan has 3 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Cardigan?
Across 928 surveyed parcels in Cardigan, the median lot size is about 2,754 m². There are also 244 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
What is the population of Cardigan?
At the 2021 Census Cardigan had 1,064 usual residents, with a median age of 36 and an average household size of 3.4 people. The wider Alfredton statistical area, which contains Cardigan, went from 5,756 people in 2001 to 20,825 in 2025, up 262%.
Is Cardigan an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Cardigan scores 1055 and sits in decile 9 of 10 nationally and decile 9 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Cardigan?
Median household income in Cardigan was $2,713 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,680 for the typical suburb in Ballarat. Median rent was $350 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,167 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucas | 2.9 km | Not mapped | 63% |
| Cardigan Village | 3.7 km | 0% | 21% |
| Mitchell Park | 4.1 km | 10% | 76% |
| Bunkers Hill | 4.4 km | 0% | 100% |
| Alfredton | 5.3 km | Not mapped | 2% |
| Windermere | 6.2 km | 25% | 100% |
| Lake Gardens | 6.5 km | 0% | 2% |
| Winter Valley | 6.5 km | Not mapped | 34% |
| Haddon Golden Plains |
7.0 km | 10% | 100% |
| Bo Peep Pyrenees |
7.1 km | 4% | 100% |