Suburb overview
South Toowoomba is a regional centre in Queensland, Australia, with a population of approximately 5,512, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 106 km from the Brisbane CBD, South Toowoomba is a regional area in Queensland. The median household income is $70,408 per year.
Location
Key indicators
Postcode
4350
Postcode for South Toowoomba, from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
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Population
5,512
Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Median weekly rent
$480/wk
Median weekly rent — as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (CC BY 4.0).
Distance to CBD
106 km
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Housing
Median monthly mortgage
$1,405/mo
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Home type
62% houses
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Why people like living in South Toowoomba
- Regional location about 106 km from Brisbane.
- Country-town feel with lower density and slower pace of life.
Who South Toowoomba suits
Pros and cons
Pros
- Rent sits within an affordable share of local incomes, supporting tenant demand.
- Mortgage costs are lower than the Queensland median, improving cash-flow margins.
- Lower purchase prices and more land for the money.
Cons
- Long distance to the CBD (106 km) — plan for commute time or local employment.
- Traffic can build during peak hours, especially on arterial roads.
Investment insight
5,512 residents places South Toowoomba squarely in the middle of the Queensland suburb size distribution (state median 5,474), with market depth comparable to most QLD localities. South Toowoomba's median household income of $70,408/year is 22% 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. Median rent of $480/week (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)) equates to roughly $2,080/month — about 148% of the $1,405/month median mortgage repayment recorded at the 2021 Census. On those figures rental income covers most or all of the recorded repayment, but repayments on new loans have risen with interest rates since 2021, so re-run the coverage at today's rates before treating this as a cash-flow suburb. South Toowoomba is 106 km from Brisbane, so the local market tracks regional employment and lifestyle drivers more than CBD-driven commuter demand. Only 62% 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.
Investment tip
This suburb suits yield-focused investors who are comfortable with lower liquidity. Employment concentration and local population trends matter more here than in metro markets. At the 2021 Census, local rents consumed roughly 21% of household income — a dated but useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
South Toowoomba vs Queensland median
How South Toowoomba stacks up against the median of all Queensland suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean South Toowoomba sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | South Toowoomba | QLD median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 5,512 | 5,474 | +1% |
| Median household income | $70,408/yr | $90,298/yr | -22% |
| Median rent (weekly, 2021 Census) | $290 | $385 | -25% |
| Median mortgage (monthly, 2021 Census) | $1,405 | $1,733 | -19% |
| Distance to CBD | 106 km | 62 km | +71% |
| Separate houses | 62% | 77% | -15pp |
Investor checklist
Pre-inspection briefing for South Toowoomba — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
- Market depth: 5,512 residents — 101% of the QLD suburb median (5,474).
- Purchasing power: median household income $70,408/year (-22% vs Queensland suburb median of $90,298).
- Cash-flow coverage (2021 Census): $290/week rent (≈ $1,257/month) covered ~89% of the $1,405/month median mortgage at the 2021 Census — verify against current rents and rates.
- CBD access: 106 km straight-line from Brisbane (state suburb median 62 km).
- Dwelling mix: 62% separate houses — mixed market (vs 77% state median).
- Rate stress-test: budget ~$141/month extra for a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise on top of the $1,405/month median repayment.
- Tenant rent burden: 21% of the median household income is spent on rent — comfortably affordable.
Investment strategy
Limited buy-and-hold upside: household incomes 22% below the QLD median ($70,408 vs $90,298) means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Queensland market over full cycles.
Strong rental coverage at the 2021 Census: $290/week (~$1,257/month) covered 89% of the $1,405/month median mortgage, a shortfall of just $148/month. Both rents and repayments have moved since 2021 — verify current figures, though this suburb has historically leaned cash-flow-friendly.
Only 62% 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.
Risk factors
- Interest-rate sensitivity: the $1,405/month median mortgage in South Toowoomba means a 1-percentage-point RBA rate rise could add roughly $141/month to repayments, reducing buyer borrowing capacity and cooling prices.
- Income vulnerability: household incomes in South Toowoomba are 22% below the Queensland median ($70,408 vs $90,298), which tends to compress rent growth and increases exposure to local unemployment shocks.
- Commute distance: at 106 km from the nearest CBD, South Toowoomba depends on local employment rather than city-driven commuter demand, which amplifies the market's sensitivity to regional industry slowdowns.
- Regulatory risk: changes to Australian tax settings (negative gearing, CGT discount, foreign-buyer surcharges, land-tax thresholds) could reshape after-tax returns in South Toowoomba regardless of local market conditions.
- Market cycle risk: property markets are cyclical, so stress-test your projections in South Toowoomba with a 10–15% price pullback scenario before committing capital — returns to date are not a guarantee of future performance.
Run the numbers on a South Toowoomba property
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Start your journey near South Toowoomba →2026 outlook
Capital-growth expectations for South Toowoomba are modest for 2026 — incomes 22% below the QLD median of $90,298 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. At the 2021 Census, rental coverage ran at ~89% of the typical mortgage ($1,257/month rent vs $1,405/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. Verify against current rents and rates. Overall investor sentiment for South Toowoomba is cautious heading into the second half of 2026, based on its income, rent and mortgage profile relative to the Queensland median.
Frequently asked questions
Is South Toowoomba a good suburb for investment?
Whether South Toowoomba suits you depends on your strategy, but the fundamentals are concrete: a population of 5,512, a median household income of $70,408/year and median weekly rent of $290. Weigh those against your goal — cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — each of which we break down with suburb-specific ABS numbers elsewhere on this page.
What drives property demand in South Toowoomba?
The main demand drivers in South Toowoomba are a median household income of $70,408/year, a dwelling mix that is 62% separate houses. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand.
What is the population of South Toowoomba?
South Toowoomba has a usual resident population of approximately 5,512, 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.
How far is South Toowoomba from the Brisbane CBD?
South Toowoomba sits 106 km straight-line from the Brisbane CBD. This is a regional market where CBD distance is only indicative — local industry diversity and commute alternatives matter more.
What is the median rent in South Toowoomba?
The median weekly rent in South Toowoomba is $480 (as at Mar 2026, Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld)), equating to approximately $24,960/year in gross rental income. Confirm against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
What is the typical mortgage repayment in South Toowoomba?
The median monthly mortgage repayment in South Toowoomba is $1,405, or approximately $16,860/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.
Is South Toowoomba cash-flow positive for investors?
A median weekly rent of $290 works out to $1,257/month, covering 89% of the median mortgage repayment of $1,405/month. That leaves a $148/month shortfall (around $1,776/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.
What are the main risks of investing in South Toowoomba?
The main risks are interest-rate sensitivity on the $1,405 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($70,408 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.
How we built this South Toowoomba profile
The population figure on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census. The postcode comes from a community postcode dataset cross-checked against Australia Post. The dwelling mix is from the ABS 2021 Census. The median household income is the ABS 2021 Census median weekly household income, annualised. Distance to the CBD is calculated from the suburb's ABS centroid. The Census median rent and mortgage figures are 2021 figures and are labelled as such wherever they appear — they are five years old and have moved substantially since. The current median weekly rent in Key indicators is a genuine recent figure from Residential Tenancies Authority (Qld) (Mar 2026), published under a Creative Commons licence and dated on the page. We do not publish an investment score or school/park counts for this suburb. See our methodology and data sources for exactly what's measured and what's estimated.