Howes Creek flood map & planning overlays
Howes Creek carries Mansfield's highest flood share, 36.2%.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Howes Creek
(Mansfield, VIC) - 33.31 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
33.31 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Howes Creek'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 Howes Creek
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 1 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 8,000 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.
Howes Creek at a glance
How Howes Creek is zoned
Selling in Howes Creek? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 33.31 km², Howes Creek is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 36% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 92% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Farming Zone (FZ). The median lot measures about 42,482 m² across 176 parcels.
Who lives in Howes Creek
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Howes Creek 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 963, and decile 3 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Howes Creek's 67 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Mansfield (Vic.), the wider ABS statistical area containing Howes Creek. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Howes Creek itself.
6,907 in 2001 to 11,324 in 2025, up 64%.
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.
Howes Creek 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 Howes Creek 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 →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 Howes Creek lot.
Howes Creek planning - frequently asked
Is Howes Creek flood-prone?
About 36% of Howes Creek falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 7%.
Is Howes Creek bushfire-prone?
Around 92% of Howes Creek is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Mansfield average of 99%.
Is Howes Creek under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed over about 16% of Howes Creek in the period sampled, but only above 3,000 ft - the lowest measured was 5,500 ft. 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 Howes Creek?
The dominant planning zone in Howes Creek is Farming Zone (FZ), though the suburb also includes Public Use Zone (PUZ1) and Rural Living Zone (RLZ1).
Does Howes Creek have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Howes Creek.
What is the typical lot size in Howes Creek?
Across 176 surveyed parcels in Howes Creek, the median lot size is about 42,482 m². There are also 33 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
What is the population of Howes Creek?
At the 2021 Census Howes Creek had 67 usual residents, with a median age of 46 and an average household size of 2.6 people. The wider Mansfield (Vic.) statistical area, which contains Howes Creek, went from 6,907 people in 2001 to 11,324 in 2025, up 64%.
Is Howes Creek an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Howes Creek scores 963 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 Howes Creek?
Median household income in Howes Creek was $1,375 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,408 for the typical suburb in Mansfield. Median rent was $238 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,733 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goughs Bay | 6.1 km | 10% | 100% |
| Lake Eildon | 6.7 km | 33% | 97% |
| Mountain Bay | 10.4 km | <1% | 100% |
| Piries | 11.8 km | 14% | 100% |
| Taylor Bay Murrindindi |
13.0 km | 19% | 100% |
| Delatite | 13.2 km | 25% | 100% |
| Maindample | 13.4 km | 4% | 100% |
| Mansfield | 13.7 km | 9% | 98% |
| Macs Cove | 13.9 km | 2% | 100% |
| Howqua Inlet | 14.8 km | 2% | 100% |