Ocean Grove flood map & planning overlays

The schematic on this page is a Ocean Grove flood map: the mapped flood overlays drawn over the suburb's terrain and street grid, covering about 18% of the suburb. Flood lines vary block to block, so for a specific property use the free interactive map - search any Ocean Grove address and it shows the flood, zoning and bushfire mapping on the exact lot boundary.

About 18% of Ocean Grove falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 18%. Flood overlays vary block to block, so whether a particular lot is affected needs a property-level check.

Around 49% of Ocean Grove is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Greater Geelong average of 50%. A bushfire-prone designation can trigger additional building requirements, so check the specific address.

The dominant planning zone in Ocean Grove is General Residential Zone (GRZ1), though the suburb also includes Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ) and Farming Zone (FZ). Zoning sets what you can build and do on a site, and can differ lot by lot.

Ocean Grove has 17 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 11,238 surveyed parcels in Ocean Grove, the median lot size is about 588 m². There are also 5,295 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 Ocean Grove itself. The suburb is served by 56 bus stops.

At the 2021 Census Ocean Grove had 17,714 usual residents, with a median age of 43 and an average household size of 2.5 people. The wider Ocean Grove statistical area, which contains Ocean Grove, went from 12,208 people in 2001 to 20,792 in 2025, up 70%. ABS publishes no annual population series for individual suburbs, so that trend describes the surrounding area rather than Ocean Grove alone.

On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Ocean Grove scores 1054 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 Ocean Grove was $1,837 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,670 for the typical suburb in Greater Geelong. Median rent was $420 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,000 a month. These are 2021 Census figures and have not been indexed to today.

An Ocean Grove 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.