Brighton East is a suburb in Bayside, Victoria (postcode 3187), located in the Greater Melbourne region. At the ABS Census 2021 it had a population of 16,757 people.

At a glance

Population (2021)

16,757

Median age

Household income

$2,544/wk

Weekly rent

$600

Unemployment

4.4%

SEIFA IRSD decile

10 / 10

Age distribution

0-4

4.4%

5-14

14.5%

15-19

7.3%

20-24

5.0%

25-34

6.8%

35-44

11.4%

45-54

15.8%

55-64

12.7%

65-74

9.6%

75-84

7.3%

85+

5.1%

Housing tenure

Owned

40.6%

Mortgage

34.2%

Rented

19.5%

Other

4.3%

Key statistics

Indicator	Value
Postcode	3187
Population (2021)	16,757
Males	8,014 (47.8%)
Females	8,744 (52.2%)
Median age	45 years
Average household size	2.6
Median weekly household income	$2,544
Median weekly family income	$3,400
Median weekly rent	$600
Median monthly mortgage	$3,300
Labour force	8,321
Unemployment rate	4.4%
Participation rate	63.9%
Born overseas	29.7%
Separate houses	62.1%
Worked at home	43.4%
SEIFA IRSD decile	10 of 10
Bachelor degree or higher	70.3%
Completed Year 12 or equivalent	80.9%
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander residents	0.2%
Residents needing assistance with core activities	6.1%
Households with 2+ vehicles	60.2%
Distance from Melbourne CBD	12.5 km (straight line)

Age profile

Median age: 45 years. Residents under 15: 18.9%. Residents aged 65 and over: 22.0%.

Age group	People	Share of population
0-4	741	4.4%
5-14	2,425	14.5%
15-19	1,229	7.3%
20-24	834	5.0%
25-34	1,139	6.8%
35-44	1,916	11.4%
45-54	2,653	15.8%
55-64	2,123	12.7%
65-74	1,617	9.6%
75-84	1,221	7.3%
85 and over	854	5.1%

Households and families

Household type	Count	Share of households
Total households	6,009
Average household size	2.6
One person	1,446	24.1%
Two persons	1,779	29.6%
Three persons	956	15.9%
Four persons	1,290	21.5%
Five persons	432	7.2%
Six or more persons	109	1.8%

Family type	Count	Share of families
Total families	4,497
Couples with children	329	7.3%
Couples without children	1,474	32.8%
One-parent families	595	13.2%
Other families	35	0.8%

Children ever born

Measure	Value
Average children per woman aged 15+	1.55
Women with no children	29.3%
Women with three or more children	20.7%

Of the 2,392 couple families with children in Brighton East, 6.7% are step or blended families.

Marital status

Marital status of residents aged 15 and over in Brighton East.

Status	Share of adults
Married (registered marriage)	52.7%
Married (de facto)	8.6%
Not married	38.7%

Housing

Dwellings	Count	Share of dwellings
Total dwellings	6,564
Occupied	6,009	91.5%
Unoccupied	556	8.5%

Dwelling structure	Count	Share of dwellings
Separate house	4,078	62.1%
Semi-detached or townhouse	1,432	21.8%
Flat or apartment	477	7.3%
Other dwelling	17	0.3%

Tenure	Count	Share of households
Owned outright	2,438	40.6%
Owned with a mortgage	2,054	34.2%
Rented	1,172	19.5%
Other tenure	259	4.3%

Weekly rent

Rent band	Share of renting households
Under $350 per week	15.2%
$350 to $549 per week	25.4%
$550 or more per week	59.4%

7.7% of renting households rent through a state or community housing provider.

Monthly mortgage repayments

Repayment band	Share of mortgaged households
Under $1,000	13.2%
$1,000 to $1,799	10.0%
$1,800 to $2,999	19.1%
$3,000 or more	57.7%

Bedrooms per dwelling

Bedrooms	Share of dwellings
None or one bedroom	4.3%
Two bedrooms	18.3%
Three bedrooms	37.3%
Four or more bedrooms	40.1%

Employment

Labour force status	Count	Share
Labour force	8,321
Employed	7,960	95.7%
Unemployed	366	4.4%
Not in the labour force	4,711
Unemployment rate	4.4%
Participation rate	63.9%

37.5% of employed residents work part time, fewer than 35 hours per week.

Household income

Household incomes in Brighton East are distributed across the following weekly bands.

Weekly household income	Share of households
Under $650	14.7%
$650 to $1,499	18.3%
$1,500 to $2,999	22.1%
$3,000 or more	44.9%

For residents aged 15 and over, personal weekly income is distributed as follows.

Weekly personal income	Share of residents 15+
Under $500	32.2%
$500 to $999	16.8%
$1,000 to $1,999	23.7%
$2,000 or more	27.3%

Travel to work

Method	Count	Share of workers
Car driver	2,903	36.5%
Car passenger	185	2.3%
Train	118	1.5%
Bus	10	0.1%
Tram	23	0.3%
Bicycle	60	0.8%
Walked only	103	1.3%
Worked at home	3,455	43.4%

Religious affiliation

Religion	Count	Share of residents
Christianity	7,150	42.7%
No religion	6,475	38.6%
Islam	149	0.9%
Hinduism	167	1.0%
Buddhism	264	1.6%
Judaism	1,535	9.2%
Other or not stated	1,017	6.1%

Socio-economic profile (SEIFA 2021)

SEIFA deciles run from 1 (most disadvantaged) to 10 (least disadvantaged) nationally.

Index	Score	Decile	Percentile
IRSD (disadvantage)	1084	10	92
IRSAD (advantage and disadvantage)	1127	10
IER (economic resources)	1088	9
IEO (education and occupation)	1131	10

Where residents were born

69.3% of residents were born in Australia and 30.7% were born overseas. The most common overseas birthplaces in Brighton East are listed below.

Country of birth	People	Share of residents
England	752	4.6%
China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)	647	4.0%
South Africa	296	1.8%
New Zealand	242	1.5%
India	195	1.2%
Greece	145	0.9%

When overseas-born residents arrived

Year of arrival	Share of overseas-born residents
2016 to 2021	16.5%
2011 to 2015	12.1%
2001 to 2010	21.2%
Before 2001	50.1%

Languages spoken at home

78.3% of residents speak only English at home. The most common other languages in Brighton East are listed below. Across all households, 2.3% of residents speak English not well or not at all.

Language	People	Share of residents
Chinese: Mandarin	768	4.8%
Greek	455	2.8%
Russian	347	2.2%
Italian	220	1.4%
Spanish	113	0.7%
Chinese: Cantonese	104	0.6%

Ancestry

Residents of Brighton East most commonly report the following ancestries.

Ancestry	Responses	Share of responses
English	5,261	23.4%
Australian	4,514	20.1%
Irish	1,914	8.5%
Scottish	1,585	7.1%
Chinese	1,164	5.2%
Italian	1,007	4.5%

Work and industry

The largest employment sectors for Brighton East residents are listed below.

Industry of employment	Workers	Share of workers
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services	1,186	15.6%
Health Care and Social Assistance	968	12.7%
Retail Trade	752	9.9%
Education and Training	730	9.6%
Financial and Insurance Services	570	7.5%
Construction	546	7.2%

The most common occupations among Brighton East residents are listed below.

Occupation	Workers	Share of workers
Professionals	2,714	34.7%
Managers	1,920	24.6%
Clerical and Administrative Workers	943	12.1%
Sales Workers	729	9.3%
Community and Personal Service Workers	660	8.4%
Technicians and Trades Workers	494	6.3%

Education

Of residents attending an education institution in Brighton East, 20.2% are at university or higher education, 4.4% are at TAFE or vocational education, and 72.9% are at school.

80.9% of residents aged 15 and over have completed Year 12 or equivalent.

The most common fields of study among Brighton East residents with qualifications are listed below.

Field of study	People	Share
Management and Commerce	2,669	31.4%
Society and Culture	1,203	14.2%
Health	1,019	12.0%
Engineering and Related Technologies	901	10.6%
Education	740	8.7%
Creative Arts	440	5.2%

Long-term health conditions

56.7% of residents report no long-term health condition. The most commonly reported conditions in Brighton East are listed below.

Health condition	People	Share of residents
Arthritis	1,413	7.6%
Mental health condition (including depression or anxiety)	1,190	6.4%
Asthma	1,173	6.3%
Heart disease (including heart attack or angina)	815	4.4%
Cancer (including remission)	684	3.7%
Diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes)	583	3.1%
Dementia (including Alzheimer's)	264	1.4%
Lung condition (including COPD or emphysema)	231	1.2%
Stroke	180	1.0%
Kidney disease	167	0.9%

19.2% of residents report one condition, 5.8% report two, and 3.3% report three or more.

Community and care

How residents of Brighton East contribute to their community (share of residents aged 15 and over).

Community activity	Share
Volunteers for an organisation or group	15.8%
Provides unpaid assistance to a person with a disability or health condition	14.4%
Provides unpaid child care	59.7%
Does 15 or more hours of unpaid domestic work	21.3%
Has served or is serving in the Australian Defence Force	2.2%

Moving and stability

Mobility	Share of residents
Same address 1 year ago	86.2%
Moved within Victoria in the last year	10.4%
Moved interstate in the last year	0.7%
Moved from overseas in the last year	1.0%
Same address 5 years ago	62.6%
Moved within Victoria in the last 5 years	24.8%
Moved interstate in the last 5 years	2.1%
Moved from overseas in the last 5 years	6.0%

Photo: Brighton East, Victoria. Credit: File:Brightoneastphotodec21.jpg : Celco85 derivative work: Georgfotoart / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Crime and safety

Victoria Police recorded 712 offences in Brighton East in the 12 months to March 2026.

Offence division	Recorded offences
A Crimes against the person	89
B Property and deception offences	480
C Drug offences	48
D Public order and security offences	22
E Justice procedures offences	72
F Other offences	1

That is a calculated rate of 42.5 recorded offences per 1,000 residents, based on the ABS Census 2021 population. This rate was calculated by My Victoria AU and is not a Crime Statistics Agency figure.

For context, the Bayside local government area recorded 4,889 offences per 100,000 residents in the same period. That figure is the official Crime Statistics Agency rate for the LGA.

Five-year trend

2022
604

2023
764

2024
716

2025
794

2026
712

Recorded offences count crimes reported to Victoria Police in this locality, not crimes committed by or against its residents. Areas with shopping centres, transport hubs, hospitals or entertainment precincts record more offences regardless of how safe they are for people who live there. Counts are revised as investigations progress.

Source: Crime Statistics Agency Victoria, Data tables - Recorded offences, Year ending March 2026. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Rates per 1,000 residents are calculations by My Victoria AU using ABS Census 2021 population and are not CSA figures. View the source dataset.

Location

Nearby suburbs

Bentleigh (1.7 km)
McKinnon (1.8 km)
Gardenvale (2.2 km)
Ormond (2.3 km)
Brighton (2.3 km)

Browse more suburbs in Bayside, or explore the wider Greater Melbourne region of Victoria.

Data disclaimer: The statistics on this page are sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Census of Population and Housing 2021 and SEIFA 2021 (ASGS Edition 3), and are used under the ABS CC BY 4.0 licence. This directory is an independent community resource and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the ABS.

Brighton East

About

At a glance

Age distribution

Housing tenure

Key statistics

Age profile

Households and families

Children ever born

Marital status

Housing

Weekly rent

Monthly mortgage repayments

Bedrooms per dwelling

Employment

Household income

Travel to work

Religious affiliation

Socio-economic profile (SEIFA 2021)

Where residents were born

When overseas-born residents arrived

Languages spoken at home

Ancestry

Work and industry

Education

Long-term health conditions

Community and care

Moving and stability

Crime and safety

Five-year trend

Location

Nearby suburbs

Reviews

Location & Contact

Location

Contact

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