South Melbourne flood map & planning overlays
South Melbourne: 29 tram stops, joint 16th of any Victorian suburb.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of South Melbourne
(Port Phillip, VIC) - 2.16 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is moderately constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
2.16 km² - this suburb is moderately constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to South 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 South 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 2 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 1,000 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.
South Melbourne at a glance
How South Melbourne is zoned
Selling in South Melbourne? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 2.16 km², South Melbourne is moderately constrained by planning overlays. About 14% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay. There are 134 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ1). The median lot measures about 1,138 m² across 12,359 parcels.
Who lives in South Melbourne
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the South 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 1093, and decile 10 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of South Melbourne's 11,548 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of South Melbourne, the wider ABS statistical area containing South Melbourne. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than South Melbourne itself.
8,498 in 2001 to 13,132 in 2025, up 55%.
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.
South 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 South 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 South 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 South Melbourne lot.
South Melbourne planning - frequently asked
Is South Melbourne flood-prone?
About 14% of South Melbourne falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 22%.
Is South Melbourne bushfire-prone?
Bushfire mapping covers South Melbourne and little to none of it is mapped as bushfire-prone.
Is South Melbourne under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 100% of South Melbourne, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 24 Oct 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 2,000 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 18 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 South Melbourne?
The dominant planning zone in South Melbourne is Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ1), though the suburb also includes Capital City Zone (CCZ1) and Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ2).
Does South Melbourne have heritage-listed places?
South Melbourne has 134 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in South Melbourne?
Across 12,359 surveyed parcels in South Melbourne, the median lot size is about 1,138 m². There are also 555 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does South Melbourne have a train station?
There is no train station inside South Melbourne itself. The suburb is served by 16 bus stops and 29 tram stops.
What is the population of South Melbourne?
At the 2021 Census South Melbourne had 11,548 usual residents, with a median age of 39 and an average household size of 1.9 people. The wider South Melbourne statistical area, which contains South Melbourne, went from 8,498 people in 2001 to 13,132 in 2025, up 55%.
Is South Melbourne an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), South Melbourne scores 1093 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 South Melbourne?
Median household income in South Melbourne was $2,101 a week at the 2021 Census, against $2,096 for the typical suburb in Port Phillip. Median rent was $421 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,200 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southbank Melbourne |
1.0 km | 62% | 0% |
| South Wharf Melbourne |
1.2 km | 32% | 0% |
| Albert Park | 1.5 km | 8% | 0% |
| Melbourne Melbourne |
1.8 km | 18% | 0% |
| Middle Park | 1.8 km | 15% | 0% |
| Docklands Melbourne |
2.3 km | 48% | 0% |
| South Yarra Stonnington |
2.7 km | 14% | 0% |
| East Melbourne Melbourne |
2.8 km | <1% | 0% |
| Cremorne Yarra |
2.9 km | 16% | 0% |
| St Kilda West | 2.9 km | 24% | 0% |