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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
St Kilda West is an outer-metropolitan suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 2,951, making it a boutique locality. Located 5 km from the Melbourne CBD, St Kilda West is a outer metro area in Victoria. The median household income is $103,116 per year.
Above-average earnings in St Kilda West support sustained property values. Close CBD access strengthens tenant appeal and resale value.
Official Australia Post postcode for St Kilda West. 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 1 school within or near this suburb.
Find schools near St Kilda West on My School →Estimated 1 park 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.
St Kilda West is a smaller community of 2,951 — about 40% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Households here earn $103,116/year on average — 8% above the VIC suburb median of $95,160 — a modest premium that supports resilient owner-occupier demand. Rent of $385/week (73% coverage of the $2,300/month median mortgage) leaves a gap of roughly $632/month that a typical investor bridges with negative gearing, depreciation and capital growth. At 5 km from the Melbourne CBD, St Kilda West sits inside the high-demand inner ring — properties here compete directly with the city's employment, transport and amenity networks. Only 7% 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 19% of household income — a useful sanity check on tenant affordability.
How St Kilda West stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean St Kilda West sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | St Kilda West | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 2,951 | 7,416 | -60% |
| Median household income | $103,116/yr | $95,160/yr | +8% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $385 | $380 | +1% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,300 | $1,950 | +18% |
| Distance to CBD | 5 km | 32 km | -84% |
| Separate houses | 7% | 78% | -71pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for St Kilda West — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 2,951 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Victoria market over full cycles.
Moderate rental coverage: rent of $385/week covers 73% of a $2,300/month mortgage, leaving a $632/month gap that an investor bridges with equity, depreciation and tax benefits.
Only 7% 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 St Kilda West property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for St Kilda West are modest for 2026 — incomes 8% above the VIC median of $95,160 and a population of 2,951 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~73% of the typical mortgage ($1,668/month rent vs $2,300/month repayment), leaving a manageable top-up for most investors. The EquitySight investment score of 65/100 places St Kilda West in the upper-middle tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is balanced heading into the second half of 2026.
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St Kilda West scores 65/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 2,951, median household income of $103,116/year and median weekly rent of $385. 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 St Kilda West are proximity to Melbourne (5 km), an above-state-median household income of $103,116/year, a dwelling mix that is 7% separate houses, roughly 1 schools and 1 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.
St Kilda West has a usual resident population of approximately 2,951, compared with a Victoria suburb median of 7,416 — placing it in the lower 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.
St Kilda West sits 5 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 $385 in St Kilda West, equating to approximately $20,020/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 St Kilda West is $2,300, or approximately $27,600/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 $385 works out to $1,668/month, covering 73% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,300/month. That leaves a $632/month shortfall (around $7,584/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 a thin buyer pool (2,951 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,300 median mortgage, a unit-heavy dwelling mix (7% 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.