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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Clayton is an outer-metropolitan suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 18,988, making it a smaller community. Located approximately 19 km from the Melbourne CBD, Clayton is a outer metro area in Victoria. The median household income is $77,688 per year.
Household incomes in Clayton sit in a comfortable mid-range for the Victoria market.
Official Australia Post postcode for Clayton. 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 5 schools within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Clayton on My School →Estimated 8 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.
With 18,988 residents, Clayton is one of Victoria's more populous suburbs — roughly 2.6× the state median of 7,416 — giving it a deep buyer and tenant pool that typically supports higher transaction volumes and shorter average days on market. Household income of $77,688/year is 18% below the Victoria median of $95,160, typically translating into lower entry prices and a tenant base more sensitive to rent increases. Rent of $400/week (87% coverage of the $2,000/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $267/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. 19 km from Melbourne places Clayton in the middle commuter belt, close enough for daily trips by car or rail but at a materially lower price point than inner suburbs. Only 29% 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.
Outer-metro suburbs reward careful property selection — aim for homes near infrastructure rather than generic house-and-land packages. Local rents consume roughly 27% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Clayton stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Clayton sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Clayton | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 18,988 | 7,416 | +156% |
| Median household income | $77,688/yr | $95,160/yr | -18% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $400 | $380 | +5% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,000 | $1,950 | +3% |
| Distance to CBD | 19 km | 32 km | -41% |
| Separate houses | 29% | 78% | -49pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Clayton — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Moderate buy-and-hold potential: Clayton's 18,988-person market and $77,688 median household income work for investors who are selective on street location and property quality rather than counting on a suburb-wide rerating.
Strong rental coverage: $400/week (~$1,733/month) covers 87% of the $2,000/month median mortgage repayment, so the shortfall sits at just $267/month. Investors targeting positive cash flow should shortlist this suburb.
Only 29% 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 Clayton property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Clayton are modest for 2026 — incomes 18% below the VIC median of $95,160 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~87% of the typical mortgage ($1,733/month rent vs $2,000/month repayment), keeping cash flow in positive or near-neutral territory. The EquitySight investment score of 59/100 places Clayton 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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Clayton scores 59/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a moderate rating. That score is driven by a population of 18,988, median household income of $77,688/year and median weekly rent of $400. 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 Clayton are proximity to Melbourne (19 km), a median household income of $77,688/year, a dwelling mix that is 29% separate houses, roughly 5 schools and 8 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.
Clayton has a usual resident population of approximately 18,988, 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.
Clayton sits 19 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is comfortable commuter territory, with reasonable rail and road access to the city.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $400 in Clayton, equating to approximately $20,800/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 Clayton is $2,000, or approximately $24,000/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 $400 works out to $1,733/month, covering 87% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,000/month. That leaves a $267/month shortfall (around $3,204/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 $2,000 median mortgage, below-median household incomes ($77,688 vs $95,160 state median), a unit-heavy dwelling mix (29% 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.