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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Chelsea is an outer-metropolitan suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 8,347, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 30 km from the Melbourne CBD, Chelsea is a outer metro area in Victoria. The median household income is $87,516 per year.
Moderate income levels in Chelsea indicate steady rental demand from working households.
Official Australia Post postcode for Chelsea. 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 Chelsea on My School →Estimated 3 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.
8,347 residents places Chelsea squarely in the middle of the Victoria suburb size distribution (state median 7,416), with market depth comparable to most VIC localities. Household income of $87,516/year is 8% below the Victoria median of $95,160, typically translating into lower entry prices and a tenant base more sensitive to rent increases. Rent of $375/week (81% coverage of the $2,008/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $383/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. At 30 km from Melbourne, Chelsea is an outer-metro location where buyers are typically trading commute time for floor space and a lower entry price. Only 32% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 78% state median), so this is a unit-heavy market where body-corporate decisions and strata supply meaningfully shape investor returns.
This suburb suits long-term investors due to steady population growth and affordable entry prices. Look for established streets close to schools and shops rather than raw new-estate land. Local rents consume roughly 22% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Chelsea stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Chelsea sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Chelsea | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 8,347 | 7,416 | +13% |
| Median household income | $87,516/yr | $95,160/yr | -8% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $375 | $380 | -1% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,008 | $1,950 | +3% |
| Distance to CBD | 30 km | 32 km | -6% |
| Separate houses | 32% | 78% | -46pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Chelsea — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Chelsea's 8,347-person market and $87,516 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $375/week covers 81% of a $2,008/month mortgage, leaving a $383/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 32% of dwellings are separate houses (vs 78% VIC 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 Chelsea property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Property values in Chelsea should track the wider Victoria market through 2026, with the $87,516/year median household income (8% below the $95,160 state median) keeping the suburb firmly mid-pack. Rental coverage runs at ~81% of the typical mortgage ($1,625/month rent vs $2,008/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 58/100 places Chelsea 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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Chelsea scores 58/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a moderate rating. That score is driven by a population of 8,347, median household income of $87,516/year and median weekly rent of $375. 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 Chelsea are a median household income of $87,516/year, a dwelling mix that is 32% separate houses, roughly 2 schools and 3 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.
Chelsea has a usual resident population of approximately 8,347, compared with a Victoria suburb median of 7,416 — 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.
Chelsea sits 30 km straight-line from the Melbourne 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 $375 in Chelsea, equating to approximately $19,500/year in gross rental income (state median $380/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 Chelsea is $2,008, or approximately $24,096/year (vs $1,950/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 $375 works out to $1,625/month, covering 81% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,008/month. That leaves a $383/month shortfall (around $4,596/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 $2,008 median mortgage, a unit-heavy dwelling mix (32% houses) where body-corporate costs and apartment supply affect resale, the broader Victoria 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.