Carlton flood map & planning overlays

The schematic on this page is a Carlton flood map: the mapped flood overlays drawn over the suburb's terrain and street grid, covering about 5% of the suburb. Flood lines vary block to block, so for a specific property use the free interactive map - search any Carlton address and it shows the flood, zoning and bushfire mapping on the exact lot boundary.

About 5% of Carlton falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 22%. Flood overlays vary block to block, so whether a particular lot is affected needs a property-level check.

Bushfire mapping covers Carlton and little to none of it is mapped as bushfire-prone. Always confirm for the exact lot, as mapping can change.

The dominant planning zone in Carlton is Mixed Use Zone (MUZ), though the suburb also includes General Residential Zone (GRZ1) and Public Park and Recreation Zone (PPRZ). Zoning sets what you can build and do on a site, and can differ lot by lot.

Carlton has 145 heritage-listed places on record. Heritage listing affects what you can alter or demolish, so confirm whether a specific property is listed or near a heritage place.

Across 14,967 surveyed parcels in Carlton, the median lot size is about 1,725 m². There are also 691 registered easements mapped in the suburb - an easement can restrict where you can build, so always check the title and overlays for the specific lot.

There is no train station inside Carlton itself. The suburb is served by 37 bus stops and 15 tram stops.

At the 2021 Census Carlton had 16,055 usual residents, with a median age of 27 and an average household size of 1.8 people. The wider Carlton statistical area, which contains Carlton, went from 9,529 people in 2001 to 25,267 in 2025, up 165%. ABS publishes no annual population series for individual suburbs, so that trend describes the surrounding area rather than Carlton alone.

On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Carlton scores 1052 and sits in decile 9 of 10 nationally and decile 9 within Victoria - decile 1 being the most disadvantaged tenth of Australian suburbs and decile 10 the least. The national average score is 1000. SEIFA summarises income, education, occupation and housing across the whole suburb, so it describes the area, not any particular household in it.

Median household income in Carlton was $1,292 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,926 for the typical suburb in Melbourne. Median rent was $365 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,898 a month. These are 2021 Census figures and have not been indexed to today.

A Carlton planning report pulls every overlay - zoning, flood, bushfire, heritage, environmental and noise - that touches a single lot, on live council and state data. The interactive map preview is free; the full PDF report is $9.