Where we get our data
SuburbCost compiles data from official government sources, utility pricing schedules, and academic datasets across Queensland and New South Wales. Here's every source we use.
Council rates
Ipswich City Council
ipswich.qld.gov.au
City Budget 2026–27 (minimum general rate, owner-occupied residential)
QLD Dept of Local Government Comparative Data
data.qld.gov.au
Residential Rating Comparative Information 2025–26
NSW Office of Local Government, Your Council
olg.nsw.gov.au
Average residential rate per NSW council, 2024–25 time-series data
IPART, NSW rate peg
ipart.nsw.gov.au
Final rate pegs and components for all NSW councils 2026–27, applied to uplift each council's rate
Water and sewerage
Sydney Water
sydneywater.com.au
Typical annual residential water and wastewater bill 2026–27 (Greater Sydney, Illawarra, Blue Mountains)
Hunter Water
hunterwater.com.au
Typical annual residential bill 2026–27 (Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens)
Electricity
Australian Energy Regulator, residential benchmarks
aer.gov.au
Typical annual electricity use by household size and climate zone, matched to each suburb by postcode
Australian Energy Regulator, Default Market Offer
aer.gov.au
2026-27 final determination, residential flat rate tariff caps for Energex, Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy and Essential Energy, including GST
Queensland Competition Authority
qca.org.au
Regulated retail electricity prices for regional Queensland 2026-27, Tariff 11 (Ergon Energy), plus GST
Ausgrid
ausgrid.com.au
Average electricity consumption by local government area 2024-25, used to assign councils to the Ausgrid network
Commute and transport
Transport for NSW, Opal
transportnsw.info
Opal adult fares by distance band with daily and weekly caps, for Sydney-metro commutes
Suburb geography
Australian Bureau of Statistics
abs.gov.au
ABS Digital Boundary Files: SAL_2021_AUST_GDA2020, Suburbs and Localities shapefile (GDA2020). Used for suburb boundary polygons, centroid calculations, and spatial school matching.
Risk data
NSW Rural Fire Service
rfs.nsw.gov.au
Bush Fire Prone Land (certified, statewide). NSW suburbs rated by share of high-hazard (Category 1) vegetation
NSW flood (modelled)
seed.nsw.gov.au
No single statewide NSW flood layer exists, so flood risk is modelled from a 30 m elevation model (topographic susceptibility) and labelled as modelled
Queensland Police Service
mypolice.qld.gov.au
QLD reported offence data, classified Low / Medium / High per suburb across two measures (property offences and other offences). Queensland classifications vary at suburb level and are not comparable with the NSW BOCSAR ratings, which are built from incidents per resident
BOCSAR
bocsar.nsw.gov.au
NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research: recorded incidents by suburb for 2024-25 and 2025-26, per 1,000 residents at the ABS 2021 Census, rated Low / Medium / High in thirds across NSW suburbs for property crime and for other (violent) crime. Suburbs under 1,000 residents, or missing from either source, keep their council area's rating. The Sydney safety study uses the same rates
School data
ACARA, School Profile 2025
acara.edu.au
ICSEA percentile data used for school score calculations (score = ICSEA percentile ÷ 10)
ACARA, School Location 2025
acara.edu.au
School coordinates (lat/lng) used for spatial matching to suburb polygons
Queensland Department of Education
data.qld.gov.au
State school catchment boundaries (GIS shapefile)
Insurance and strata estimates
ACCC, insurance monitoring report 2026
accc.gov.au
House insurance since 6 November 2026: the average premium per $100,000 insured by cyclone risk (Table ES.1), applied to a standard $600,000 house, with each area's average combined home and contents premium (by ABS SA3) as a ceiling.
Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation, cyclone pool
arpc.gov.au
Cyclone Pool Premium Assessment, May 2025: the wind risk bands by region, used to place each area at no, low or medium to high cyclone risk.
Anthropic Claude AI
anthropic.com
Contents insurance for units and body corporate levy estimates are generated using Claude. House insurance used these estimates until 6 November 2026; their flood and fire spread between neighbouring suburbs is still used within each area. These are estimates only, not quotes from licensed insurers. Actual premiums depend on your specific property, insurer, and circumstances.
Known limitations
Council rates shown are the general rate only. Waste charges, emergency levies, and separate charges are not included as they vary by service level and council area.
Water bills are calculated using typical household consumption (200kL/year). Your actual bill will vary based on household size and usage habits.
Insurance and strata figures are estimates: house insurance from ACCC premium rates, unit contents insurance and strata levies from AI. They are useful for comparison but should not be relied upon for budgeting without obtaining actual quotes.
School catchment data reflects state government boundaries and does not include private schools, selective schools, or out-of-catchment enrolments.
Risk classifications are suburb-level and may not reflect the specific risk profile of an individual property.
Data is updated annually each July. Figures may not reflect mid-year pricing changes by councils or utilities.