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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Essendon is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 21,240, making it a sizeable community. Located approximately 8 km from the Melbourne CBD, Essendon is a middle ring area in Victoria. The median household income is $110,864 per year.
Strong household incomes in Essendon underpin solid property demand. The short commute to the city centre is a key demand driver.
Official Australia Post postcode for Essendon. 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 Essendon 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 21,240 residents, Essendon is one of Victoria's more populous suburbs — roughly 2.9× 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. Median household income of $110,864/year runs 17% above the Victoria suburb median of $95,160, indicating strong purchasing power and the type of demographic profile that tends to sustain premium property prices through market cycles. Rent of $380/week (72% coverage of the $2,275/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $628/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. At 8 km from the Melbourne CBD, Essendon sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 41% 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 looking for a balance of rental yield and capital growth. Schools and transport underpin family demand. Local rents consume roughly 18% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How Essendon stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Essendon sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Essendon | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 21,240 | 7,416 | +186% |
| Median household income | $110,864/yr | $95,160/yr | +17% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $380 | $380 | 0% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,275 | $1,950 | +17% |
| Distance to CBD | 8 km | 32 km | -75% |
| Separate houses | 41% | 78% | -37pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Essendon — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Strong buy-and-hold fundamentals: household incomes run 17% above the Victoria suburb median ($110,864 vs $95,160), and the 8 km CBD distance keeps this suburb in the primary demand zone. In Victoria, suburbs with this profile have historically clustered in the upper tercile of 10-year capital growth.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $380/week covers 72% of a $2,275/month mortgage, leaving a $628/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 41% 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 Essendon property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Essendon enters 2026 with a demographic tailwind — household incomes 17% above the Victoria suburb median of $95,160 and a population of 21,240 give it the depth and purchasing power to outperform the wider VIC market over the next 12–18 months. Rental coverage runs at ~72% of the typical mortgage ($1,647/month rent vs $2,275/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 80/100 places Essendon in the upper-middle tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is constructive heading into the second half of 2026.
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Essendon scores 80/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 21,240, median household income of $110,864/year and median weekly rent of $380. 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 Essendon are proximity to Melbourne (8 km), an above-state-median household income of $110,864/year, a dwelling mix that is 41% 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.
Essendon has a usual resident population of approximately 21,240, 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.
Essendon sits 8 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is inner-ring territory — pricing competes directly with established Melbourne employment nodes.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $380 in Essendon, equating to approximately $19,760/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 Essendon is $2,275, or approximately $27,300/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 $380 works out to $1,647/month, covering 72% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,275/month. That leaves a $628/month shortfall (around $7,536/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 $2,275 median mortgage, 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.