Pakenham flood map & planning overlays
Pakenham houses 54,118 people, the 5th-biggest suburb in Victoria.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Pakenham
(Cardinia, VIC) - 85.88 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
85.88 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Pakenham'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 Pakenham
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 0 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 2,000 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.
Pakenham at a glance
How Pakenham is zoned
Selling in Pakenham? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 85.88 km², Pakenham is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 23% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 69% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 40 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Green Wedge Zone (GWZ1). The median lot measures about 511 m² across 27,125 parcels.
Who lives in Pakenham
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Pakenham 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 958, and decile 3 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Pakenham's 54,118 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Pakenham - South East, the wider ABS statistical area containing Pakenham. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Pakenham itself.
3,448 in 2001 to 6,778 in 2025, up 97%.
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.
Pakenham 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 Pakenham 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 77% of Pakenham. 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 Pakenham lot.
Pakenham planning - frequently asked
Is Pakenham flood-prone?
About 23% of Pakenham falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 48%.
Is Pakenham bushfire-prone?
Around 69% of Pakenham is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Cardinia average of 97%.
Is Pakenham under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 77% of Pakenham, and over about 95% at any altitude up to 10,000 ft, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 24 Oct 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 3,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 4 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 Pakenham?
The dominant planning zone in Pakenham is Green Wedge Zone (GWZ1), though the suburb also includes General Residential Zone (GRZ1) and Industrial 1 Zone (IN1Z).
Does Pakenham have heritage-listed places?
Pakenham has 40 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Pakenham?
Across 27,125 surveyed parcels in Pakenham, the median lot size is about 511 m². There are also 11,134 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Pakenham have a train station?
Yes - Pakenham has 3 train stations: Cardinia Road Station, East Pakenham Station, Pakenham Station. It is also served by 164 bus stops.
What is the population of Pakenham?
At the 2021 Census Pakenham had 54,118 usual residents, with a median age of 33 and an average household size of 2.8 people. The wider Pakenham - South East statistical area, which contains Pakenham, went from 3,448 people in 2001 to 6,778 in 2025, up 97%.
Is Pakenham an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Pakenham scores 958 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 Pakenham?
Median household income in Pakenham was $1,664 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,976 for the typical suburb in Cardinia. Median rent was $351 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,733 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Officer South | 6.0 km | 36% | 94% |
| Officer | 6.3 km | 10% | 70% |
| Pakenham Upper | 7.4 km | 3% | 100% |
| Rythdale | 8.0 km | 94% | 100% |
| Pakenham South | 8.1 km | 100% | 100% |
| Nar Nar Goon North | 8.8 km | 6% | 99% |
| Beaconsfield | 9.2 km | 11% | 76% |
| Beaconsfield Upper | 9.2 km | <1% | 100% |
| Cardinia | 9.6 km | 96% | 100% |
| Guys Hill | 9.8 km | 9% | 100% |