Cheltenham flood map & planning overlays
The VIC Cheltenham tops Kingston on people (23,992), bus stops (135) and heritage (39).
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Cheltenham
(Kingston, VIC) - 10.62 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is moderately constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
10.62 km² - this suburb is moderately constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Cheltenham's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top. Amber hatching is the published aircraft noise (ANEF) contour. 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 Cheltenham
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
2% 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 5 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.
Cheltenham at a glance
How Cheltenham is zoned
Selling in Cheltenham? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 10.62 km², Cheltenham is moderately constrained by planning overlays. About 6% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay. There are 39 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ7). The median lot measures about 567 m² across 15,515 parcels.
Who lives in Cheltenham
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Cheltenham 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 1063, and decile 9 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Cheltenham's 23,992 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Highett (East) - Cheltenham , the wider ABS statistical area containing Cheltenham. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Cheltenham itself.
19,727 in 2001 to 26,320 in 2025, up 33%.
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.
Cheltenham 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 Cheltenham 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 Cheltenham. 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 Cheltenham lot.
Cheltenham planning - frequently asked
Is Cheltenham flood-prone?
About 6% of Cheltenham falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 19%.
Is Cheltenham bushfire-prone?
Bushfire mapping covers Cheltenham and little to none of it is mapped as bushfire-prone (the Kingston average is 6%).
Is Cheltenham affected by aircraft noise?
About 2% of Cheltenham 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 Cheltenham under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 100% of Cheltenham, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 24 Oct 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 1,000 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 64 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 Cheltenham?
The dominant planning zone in Cheltenham is Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ7), though the suburb also includes PRZ1 and Public Park and Recreation Zone (PPRZ).
Does Cheltenham have heritage-listed places?
Cheltenham has 39 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Cheltenham?
Across 15,515 surveyed parcels in Cheltenham, the median lot size is about 567 m². There are also 4,359 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Cheltenham have a train station?
Yes - Cheltenham has 2 train stations: Cheltenham Station, Southland Station. It is also served by 135 bus stops.
What is the population of Cheltenham?
At the 2021 Census Cheltenham had 23,992 usual residents, with a median age of 40 and an average household size of 2.4 people. The wider Highett (East) - Cheltenham statistical area, which contains Cheltenham, went from 19,727 people in 2001 to 26,320 in 2025, up 33%.
Is Cheltenham an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Cheltenham scores 1063 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 Cheltenham?
Median household income in Cheltenham was $1,919 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,932 for the typical suburb in Kingston. Median rent was $430 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,200 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highett Bayside |
1.9 km | 11% | 0% |
| Moorabbin | 2.3 km | 10% | 0% |
| Mentone | 2.5 km | 12% | 0% |
| Heatherton | 2.9 km | 9% | 0% |
| Beaumaris Bayside |
2.9 km | 8% | 0% |
| Black Rock Bayside |
3.1 km | <1% | 0% |
| Hampton East Bayside |
3.5 km | 14% | 0% |
| Sandringham Bayside |
4.1 km | 4% | 0% |
| Parkdale | 4.1 km | 14% | 0% |
| Moorabbin Airport | 4.2 km | 1% | 0% |