East Melbourne flood map & planning overlays
East Melbourne is the city's oldest (42), with 225 heritage places.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of East Melbourne
(Melbourne, VIC) - 1.86 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is relatively unconstrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
1.86 km² - this suburb is relatively unconstrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to East Melbourne'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 East Melbourne
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 7 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 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.
East Melbourne at a glance
How East Melbourne is zoned
Selling in East Melbourne? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 1.86 km², East Melbourne is relatively unconstrained by planning overlays. Flood mapping covers the suburb and none of it falls within a mapped flood overlay. There are 225 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Public Park and Recreation Zone (PPRZ). The median lot measures about 1,399 m² across 5,962 parcels.
Who lives in East Melbourne
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the East Melbourne 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 1156, and decile 10 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of East Melbourne's 4,896 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of East Melbourne, the wider ABS statistical area containing East Melbourne. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than East Melbourne itself.
3,731 in 2001 to 5,245 in 2025, up 41%.
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.
East Melbourne 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 East Melbourne 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 East Melbourne. 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 East Melbourne lot.
East Melbourne planning - frequently asked
Is East Melbourne flood-prone?
Flood mapping covers East Melbourne and less than 1% of the suburb falls within a mapped flood overlay (the council-wide suburb average is 22%).
Is East Melbourne bushfire-prone?
Bushfire mapping covers East Melbourne and little to none of it is mapped as bushfire-prone.
Is East Melbourne under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 100% of East Melbourne, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 24 Oct 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 2,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 32 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 East Melbourne?
The dominant planning zone in East Melbourne is Public Park and Recreation Zone (PPRZ), though the suburb also includes General Residential Zone (GRZ1) and Commercial 1 Zone (C1Z).
Does East Melbourne have heritage-listed places?
East Melbourne has 225 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in East Melbourne?
Across 5,962 surveyed parcels in East Melbourne, the median lot size is about 1,399 m². There are also 411 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does East Melbourne have a train station?
Yes - East Melbourne has 2 train stations: Jolimont-Mcg Station, Parliament Station. It is also served by 9 bus stops and 22 tram stops.
What is the population of East Melbourne?
At the 2021 Census East Melbourne had 4,896 usual residents, with a median age of 42 and an average household size of 1.8 people. The wider East Melbourne statistical area, which contains East Melbourne, went from 3,731 people in 2001 to 5,245 in 2025, up 41%.
Is East Melbourne an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), East Melbourne scores 1156 and sits in decile 10 of 10 nationally and decile 10 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in East Melbourne?
Median household income in East Melbourne was $2,345 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,926 for the typical suburb in Melbourne. Median rent was $480 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,383 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne | 1.3 km | 18% | 0% |
| Collingwood Yarra |
1.7 km | 15% | 0% |
| Fitzroy Yarra |
1.7 km | 10% | 0% |
| Cremorne Yarra |
1.8 km | 16% | 0% |
| Richmond Yarra |
1.9 km | 6% | 0% |
| Southbank | 2.0 km | 62% | 0% |
| Abbotsford Yarra |
2.0 km | 18% | 0% |
| Carlton | 2.1 km | 5% | 0% |
| South Yarra Stonnington |
2.6 km | 14% | 0% |
| South Melbourne Port Phillip |
2.8 km | 14% | 0% |