iSelect’s safety index ranks Canada Bay and Ku‑ring‑gai among Australia’s safest suburbs as brokers pinpoint crime, catastrophe, and ageing‑home hotspots reshaping insurance risk.
Australia’s safest suburbs are heavily concentrated in Sydney’s inner and middle rings, while parts of Queensland and Victoria emerge as risk hotspots, according to a new national safety index from iSelect.
The home and contents insurance comparison service assessed suburbs on four pillars: property crime, exposure to natural disasters, building age and resilience, and emergency preparedness. Each suburb was scored out of 100 on each factor, with higher scores signalling a safer overall profile.
New South Wales dominates the rankings, claiming eight of the top 10 safest suburbs. Canada Bay takes the national crown, performing strongly across all four pillars thanks to low property crime, limited natural disaster exposure and a relatively small share of older homes.
Nearby Georges River and Willoughby follow, reinforcing the perception that many inner‑ and middle‑ring Sydney councils combine lower everyday crime with newer housing stock and fewer extreme‑weather threats.
Western Australia is the only state to crack NSW’s near‑monopoly. Rockingham and Cockburn place sixth and seventh overall, aided by some of the lowest property crime rates in the top 10 and modest disaster exposure. For intermediaries, these lower‑risk pockets may translate into more stable pricing and capacity, even as catastrophe losses mount elsewhere.
At the other end of the scale, the lowest overall safety scores cluster in Queensland and Victoria. Townsville ranks as the least safe suburb, with an index score of 41.65 driven by high property crime and only moderate scores across natural disaster exposure, building resilience, and preparedness. Rockhampton, Cairns and Toowoomba also sit near the bottom, while Victorian areas including Yarra, Melbourne, Monash, Darebin, and Yarra Ranges round out the list.
On property crime alone, Ku‑ring‑gai in NSW records the lowest average yearly rate, with 451 offences per 100,000 people. Strong performers also include Wanneroo and Joondalup in northern Perth, along with Hornsby and Camden in Sydney, all achieving crime scores above 98 out of 100. These suburbs are likely to feel safer day‑to‑day, with fewer theft, burglary, and vandalism incidents.
At the other extreme, Cairns tops the national crime table with an average of more than 16,000 offences per 100,000 people each year and a property crime score of zero, followed by Townsville and Rockhampton. Logan, Brisbane, Mackay, Toowoomba, Ipswich, Melbourne, and inner‑city Yarra also appear on the high‑crime list.
Catastrophe exposure and ageing homes reshape risk
The index also underscores how geography and housing age shape local risk. Hobsons Bay in Victoria ranks among the lowest‑exposure areas for natural disasters, with moderate storm and fire danger. Redland and Logan in Queensland, plus Sydney councils such as Ryde, Willoughby, Randwick, and Georges River, also record comparatively low hazard scores.
Other regions face far higher peril. The Central Coast in NSW is singled out for elevated flood risk, Armadale in WA for a very high bushfire count, and Monash in Victoria for severe storms and damaging hail. Melton in Victoria and Shoalhaven in NSW round out the top natural‑disaster‑exposed suburbs through a mix of bushfire and flood risk.
Building age is another key differentiator. Wyndham in Victoria has the lowest concentration of pre‑1980 homes, followed by Sydney City and Maribyrnong, indicating newer, generally more resilient housing stock.
At the opposite end, Whitehorse in Melbourne records 292 older homes per 1,000 people and a building‑age score of 0/100, with Darebin, Banyule and Monash also heavily weighted towards ageing dwellings.
Emergency readiness was measured using State Emergency Service (SES) facilities and Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) activations.
Queensland centres such as Mackay, Bundaberg and Fraser Coast are comparatively well equipped for emergencies, with strong SES coverage and relatively few DRFA activations. Outside Queensland, the Unincorporated ACT features mid‑table, while South Australia’s Port Adelaide Enfield and Onkaparinga round out the top 10 better‑prepared areas.
By contrast, Yarra Ranges in Victoria ranks lowest for disaster preparedness, with 46 DRFA activations and only three SES facilities, while NSW regions including Port Macquarie‑Hastings, Central Coast and Shoalhaven also appear. Cardinia, Mornington Peninsula, and Ballarat in Victoria, plus Mid‑Coast, Penrith and Shellharbour in NSW, show a mix of fewer SES bases and moderate‑to‑high activation counts, suggesting residents may face longer response and recovery times when major events hit.
iSelect’s findings reinforce that risk is multi‑dimensional.
“Safety isn’t only about what happens on the streets,” said Adrian Bennett (pictured), general manager of general insurance. “Factors like exposure to natural disasters, the age of local housing, and preparedness for emergencies all play a key role in determining a suburb’s real-world risk.
“For homeowners and renters, this highlights why it’s important to look beyond postcodes alone and make sure your home and contents insurance reflects the specific risks of where you live. Even in suburbs that feel safe day-to-day, underinsurance can leave households exposed when the unexpected strikes.”
For mortgage brokers, the findings highlight postcode‑level differences that can affect insurance costs, borrower affordability, lender appetite, and conversations about underinsurance.
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Safest suburbs, iSelect, insurance
