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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Scarborough is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Brisbane, Australia, with a population of approximately 9,178, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 31 km from the Brisbane CBD, Scarborough is a middle ring area in Queensland. The median household income is $69,472 per year.
Lower income levels in Scarborough typically translate to more affordable entry points for investors. While further from the city, improving transport links could boost future demand.
Official Australia Post postcode for Scarborough. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Weekly median rent for occupied homes. Live rental data integration coming soon.
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Estimated 2 schools within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Scarborough on My School →Estimated 4 parks and green spaces near this suburb.
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Scarborough's population of 9,178 sits 68% above the Queensland suburb median of 5,474, giving it a wider tenant and buyer catchment than the average QLD locality. Scarborough's median household income of $69,472/year is 23% below the Queensland suburb median ($90,298) — this is an affordability play where returns lean on yield and patient capital growth rather than demographic premium. Rent of $350/week (80% coverage of the $1,907/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $390/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. At 31 km from Brisbane, Scarborough is an outer-metro location where buyers are typically trading commute time for floor space and a lower entry price. Only 55% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 77% state median), so this is a unit-heavy market where body-corporate decisions and strata supply meaningfully shape investor returns.
Middle-ring locations like this one historically reward patient holders — focus on homes near catchment-zone schools and major transport. Local rents consume roughly 26% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Scarborough stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Scarborough sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Scarborough | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 9,178 | 5,474 | +68% |
| Median household income | $69,472/yr | $90,298/yr | -23% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $350 | $385 | -9% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $1,907 | $1,733 | +10% |
| Distance to CBD | 31 km | 62 km | -50% |
| Separate houses | 55% | 77% | -22pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Scarborough — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 23% below the QLD median ($69,472 vs $90,298) means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Queensland market over full cycles.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $350/week covers 80% of a $1,907/month mortgage, leaving a $390/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 55% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 77% QLD median) — this is a unit and townhouse market, where cosmetic flips struggle against body-corporate restrictions, thinner after-reno uplift and competing new supply.
Run the numbers on a Scarborough property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Scarborough are modest for 2026 — incomes 23% below the QLD median of $90,298 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~80% of the typical mortgage ($1,517/month rent vs $1,907/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 54/100 places Scarborough in the mid tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is balanced heading into the second half of 2026.
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Scarborough scores 54/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a moderate rating. That score is driven by a population of 9,178, median household income of $69,472/year and median weekly rent of $350. Whether it fits your portfolio depends on whether you are targeting cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — all three are scored with suburb-specific numbers elsewhere on this page.
The main demand drivers in Scarborough are a median household income of $69,472/year, a dwelling mix that is 55% separate houses, roughly 2 schools and 4 parks within the catchment. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand and are the factors we weight most heavily in the suburb's investment score.
Scarborough has a usual resident population of approximately 9,178, compared with a Queensland suburb median of 5,474 — placing it in the upper half of the state's suburbs by size. Population is the clearest proxy for market depth: more residents mean more transactions and typically a shorter average days-on-market on resale.
Scarborough sits 31 km straight-line from the Brisbane CBD. This is an outer-metro location; local employment and infrastructure announcements tend to move prices more than CBD connectivity alone.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $350 in Scarborough, equating to approximately $18,200/year in gross rental income (state median $385/week). Market rents have typically drifted above the recorded figure — verify against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Scarborough is $1,907, or approximately $22,884/year (vs $1,733/month state median). Stress-test your own borrowing at rates 1–2 percentage points above today's to make sure you can still service the loan through an RBA tightening cycle.
A median weekly rent of $350 works out to $1,517/month, covering 80% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,907/month. That leaves a $390/month shortfall (around $4,680/year before tax benefits), so a typical owner-occupier-priced property here is negatively geared. Actual cash flow depends on your deposit, loan terms, ownership costs and marginal tax rate — run the full numbers in our rental yield calculator.
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,907 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($69,472 vs $90,298 state median), the broader Queensland market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
Every number on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, Australia Post postcode reference data, and OpenStreetMap amenity tiles. The investment score, strategy verdicts, and comparison table are computed deterministically from those inputs — no opinion, no estimation. See our full methodology and the data sources and licences for the formulas we use.