Pakenham Upper flood map & planning overlays
Pakenham Upper earns $2,593 a week per household, 3rd of 39 in Cardinia.
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 Upper
(Cardinia, VIC) - 31.95 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
31.95 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Pakenham Upper'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 Upper
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 Upper at a glance
How Pakenham Upper is zoned
Selling in Pakenham Upper? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 31.95 km², Pakenham Upper is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 3% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 100% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 8 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Rural Conservation Zone (RCZ2). The median lot measures about 27,516 m² across 537 parcels.
Who lives in Pakenham Upper
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Pakenham Upper 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 1073, and decile 10 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Pakenham Upper's 1,196 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Emerald - Cockatoo, the wider ABS statistical area containing Pakenham Upper. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Pakenham Upper itself.
16,964 in 2001 to 19,043 in 2025, up 12%.
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 Upper 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 Upper 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 50% of Pakenham Upper. 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 Upper lot.
Pakenham Upper planning - frequently asked
Is Pakenham Upper flood-prone?
About 3% of Pakenham Upper falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 48%.
Is Pakenham Upper bushfire-prone?
Around 100% of Pakenham Upper is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Cardinia average of 97%.
Is Pakenham Upper under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 50% of Pakenham Upper, and over about 81% 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 1,000 ft, with an average of 3,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 1 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 Upper?
The dominant planning zone in Pakenham Upper is Rural Conservation Zone (RCZ2), though the suburb also includes Green Wedge Zone (GWZ1) and Green Wedge A Zone (GWAZ2).
Does Pakenham Upper have heritage-listed places?
Pakenham Upper has 8 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Pakenham Upper?
Across 537 surveyed parcels in Pakenham Upper, the median lot size is about 27,516 m². There are also 483 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Pakenham Upper have a train station?
There is no train station inside Pakenham Upper itself. The suburb is served by 13 bus stops.
What is the population of Pakenham Upper?
At the 2021 Census Pakenham Upper had 1,196 usual residents, with a median age of 44 and an average household size of 3.0 people. The wider Emerald - Cockatoo statistical area, which contains Pakenham Upper, went from 16,964 people in 2001 to 19,043 in 2025, up 12%.
Is Pakenham Upper an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Pakenham Upper scores 1073 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 Pakenham Upper?
Median household income in Pakenham Upper was $2,593 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,976 for the typical suburb in Cardinia. Median rent was $255 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,400 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Burnett | 3.6 km | <1% | 100% |
| Dewhurst | 4.8 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| Nar Nar Goon North | 5.3 km | 6% | 99% |
| Pakenham | 7.4 km | 23% | 69% |
| Beaconsfield Upper | 7.5 km | <1% | 100% |
| Maryknoll | 8.6 km | <1% | 100% |
| Cockatoo | 9.1 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| Officer | 9.7 km | 10% | 70% |
| Emerald | 9.9 km | <1% | 100% |
| Guys Hill | 10.3 km | 9% | 100% |