Family-friendly ranking · Greater Brisbane
By the average ICSEA of their schools, among suburbs where families with dependants are at least 40% of households, the ten best Greater Brisbane suburbs for families are St Lucia, Bardon, Toowong, Ashgrove, Wilston, Clayfield, Newmarket, Indooroopilly, South Brisbane and Graceville.
Updated 1 October 2026. Ranked from 186 Greater Brisbane suburbs.
The ten, in order
St Lucia (4067) is about 4 km from the Brisbane CBD. The one school we hold for the suburb has an ICSEA of 1178 (ACARA), the highest in Greater Brisbane among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 55% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 12,220 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Bardon (4065) is about 5 km from the Brisbane CBD. The four schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1173 (ACARA), the 2nd highest in Greater Brisbane among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 77% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 10,153 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Toowong (4066) is about 5 km from the Brisbane CBD. The six schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1162 (ACARA), the 3rd highest in Greater Brisbane among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 54% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 12,556 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Ashgrove (4060) is about 5 km from the Brisbane CBD. The five schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1156 (ACARA), the 4th highest in Greater Brisbane among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 74% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 13,450 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Wilston (4051) is about 4 km from the Brisbane CBD. The one school we hold for the suburb has an ICSEA of 1155 (ACARA), the 5th highest in Greater Brisbane among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 71% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 4,110 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Clayfield (4011) is about 7 km from the Brisbane CBD. The four schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1150 (ACARA), the 6th highest in Greater Brisbane among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 56% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 10,897 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Newmarket (4051) is about 4 km from the Brisbane CBD. The two schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1150 (ACARA), the 7th highest in Greater Brisbane among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 63% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 5,083 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Indooroopilly (4068) is about 6 km from the Brisbane CBD. The six schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1149 (ACARA), the 8th highest in Greater Brisbane among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 67% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 13,622 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
South Brisbane (4101) is about 1 km from the Brisbane CBD. The three schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1147 (ACARA), the 9th highest in Greater Brisbane among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 49% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 14,292 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Graceville (4075) is about 8 km from the Brisbane CBD. The two schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1142 (ACARA), the 10th highest in Greater Brisbane among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 80% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 4,764 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
| # | Suburb | Avg school ICSEA | Family households | Median house price | Km to CBD | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Lucia 4067 | 1178 | 55% | – | 4 | View profile → |
| 2 | Bardon 4065 | 1173 | 77% | – | 5 | View profile → |
| 3 | Toowong 4066 | 1162 | 54% | – | 5 | View profile → |
| 4 | Ashgrove 4060 | 1156 | 74% | – | 5 | View profile → |
| 5 | Wilston 4051 | 1155 | 71% | – | 4 | View profile → |
| 6 | Clayfield 4011 | 1150 | 56% | – | 7 | View profile → |
| 7 | Newmarket 4051 | 1150 | 63% | – | 4 | View profile → |
| 8 | Indooroopilly 4068 | 1149 | 67% | – | 6 | View profile → |
| 9 | South Brisbane 4101 | 1147 | 49% | – | 1 | View profile → |
| 10 | Graceville 4075 | 1142 | 80% | – | 8 | View profile → |
A dash means the suburb’s own page publishes no figure. “Area” marks an ABS statistical-area median.
Ranks 11 to 15 on the same rule, for a shortlist that runs past the ten.
Common questions
By the average ICSEA of their schools, among Greater Brisbane suburbs where families with dependants are at least 40% of households, the top three are St Lucia (ICSEA 1178), Bardon (ICSEA 1173) and Toowong (ICSEA 1162). ICSEA is ACARA's index of the socio-educational backgrounds of a school's students, published for every Australian school; it is a proxy for resourcing and outcomes, not a measure of teaching, so check the in-catchment school for an address before buying. The ranking is drawn from 186 suburbs.
None of the ten suburbs on this page has a published median house price yet. Prices for Queensland are ABS statistical-area (SA2) medians: each is the median for the area that carries the suburb's name. An SA2 can take in surrounding localities, so a figure can differ from sales in the suburb itself. A suburb's median is withheld where its source is a census proxy or where fewer than five sales were recorded, so a dash in the table means no figure, not a cheap one. Each suburb's own page says which, and lists the sales it holds.
We do not publish a list of suburbs to avoid. This page ranks suburbs for families on measured figures, and a suburb missing from it may simply have no school with an ICSEA we hold, a family share under 40% of households or fewer than 1,000 residents. Each suburb's own page shows its crime figures where the state publishes them and its rents and sales, so check those for the address you are looking at rather than the suburb's reputation.
We do not predict which suburbs will boom, and we hold no growth figure to rank Brisbane suburbs on: the medians we publish for Queensland are ABS statistical-area (SA2) medians, and they come without a 12-month change. A figure beside a suburb here is a median, a rent, a yield, a walk score or a school ICSEA, each measured and sourced, never a forecast. Each suburb's own page shows its published median and says where it comes from.
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