Family-friendly ranking · Greater Sydney
By the average ICSEA of their schools, among suburbs where families with dependants are at least 40% of households, the ten best Greater Sydney suburbs for families are Edgecliff, Kirribilli, Cremorne, Woollahra, North Sydney, Roseville, Crows Nest, Bronte, Northbridge and Turramurra.
Updated 1 October 2026. Ranked from 454 Greater Sydney suburbs.
The ten, in order
Edgecliff (2027) is about 3 km from the Sydney CBD. The one school we hold for the suburb has an ICSEA of 1217 (ACARA), the highest in Greater Sydney among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 51% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 2,499 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Kirribilli (2061) is about 2 km from the Sydney CBD. The two schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1206 (ACARA), the 2nd highest in Greater Sydney among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 45% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 3,629 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Cremorne (2090) is about 5 km from the Sydney CBD. The one school we hold for the suburb has an ICSEA of 1190 (ACARA), the 3rd highest in Greater Sydney among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 58% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 11,263 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Woollahra (2025) is about 4 km from the Sydney CBD. The three schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1187 (ACARA), the 4th highest in Greater Sydney among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 60% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 7,189 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
North Sydney (2060) is about 3 km from the Sydney CBD. The five schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1183 (ACARA), the 5th highest in Greater Sydney among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 52% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 8,964 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Roseville (2069) is about 9 km from the Sydney CBD. The two schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1182 (ACARA), the 6th highest in Greater Sydney among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 81% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 10,340 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Crows Nest (2065) is about 5 km from the Sydney CBD. The three schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1178 (ACARA), the 7th highest in Greater Sydney among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 57% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 4,974 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Bronte (2024) is about 6 km from the Sydney CBD. The one school we hold for the suburb has an ICSEA of 1176 (ACARA), the 8th highest in Greater Sydney 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. 7,166 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Northbridge (2063) is about 6 km from the Sydney CBD. The two schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1176 (ACARA), the 9th highest in Greater Sydney among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 81% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 6,493 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
Turramurra (2074) is about 17 km from the Sydney CBD. The two schools we hold for the suburb average an ICSEA of 1176 (ACARA), the 10th highest in Greater Sydney among suburbs where families are at least 40% of households. Families with dependants are 81% of households. No house median is published for it yet. 12,850 people lived there at the 2021 Census.
| # | Suburb | Avg school ICSEA | Family households | Median house price | 12-month change | Km to CBD | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edgecliff 2027 | 1217 | 51% | – | – | 3 | View profile → |
| 2 | Kirribilli 2061 | 1206 | 45% | – | – | 2 | View profile → |
| 3 | Cremorne 2090 | 1190 | 58% | – | – | 5 | View profile → |
| 4 | Woollahra 2025 | 1187 | 60% | – | – | 4 | View profile → |
| 5 | North Sydney 2060 | 1183 | 52% | – | – | 3 | View profile → |
| 6 | Roseville 2069 | 1182 | 81% | – | – | 9 | View profile → |
| 7 | Crows Nest 2065 | 1178 | 57% | – | – | 5 | View profile → |
| 8 | Bronte 2024 | 1176 | 67% | – | – | 6 | View profile → |
| 9 | Northbridge 2063 | 1176 | 81% | – | – | 6 | View profile → |
| 10 | Turramurra 2074 | 1176 | 81% | – | – | 17 | 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 Sydney suburbs where families with dependants are at least 40% of households, the top three are Edgecliff (ICSEA 1217), Kirribilli (ICSEA 1206) and Cremorne (ICSEA 1190). 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 454 suburbs.
None of the ten suburbs on this page has a published median house price yet. Prices are medians of house sales recorded by the NSW Valuer General. A suburb needs five recorded sales in the year before a median is published. 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 a rise over the last 12 months says what happened, not what will. What we can show is measured. The change is the 12-month movement in the median house price on the same sales as the median, and a change beyond 25% is left out as a small-sample artefact. The NSW growth ranking, linked below, lists every suburb with a measured change.
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