Ocean Grove is a suburb in Greater Geelong, Victoria (postcode 3226), located in the Geelong & Bellarine region. At the ABS Census 2021 it had a population of 17,714 people.

At a glance

Population (2021)

17,714

Median age

Household income

$1,837/wk

Weekly rent

$420

Unemployment

2.6%

SEIFA IRSD decile

9 / 10

Age distribution

0-4

5.7%

5-14

14.4%

15-19

5.3%

20-24

3.8%

25-34

8.9%

35-44

13.6%

45-54

12.9%

55-64

13.2%

65-74

13.7%

75-84

6.2%

85+

2.4%

Housing tenure

Owned

41.1%

Mortgage

37.4%

Rented

18.5%

Other

1.5%

Key statistics

Indicator	Value
Postcode	3226
Population (2021)	17,714
Males	8,394 (47.4%)
Females	9,323 (52.6%)
Median age	43 years
Average household size	2.5
Median weekly household income	$1,837
Median weekly family income	$2,299
Median weekly rent	$420
Median monthly mortgage	$2,000
Labour force	8,712
Unemployment rate	2.6%
Participation rate	64.2%
Born overseas	11.3%
Separate houses	73.8%
Worked at home	24.5%
SEIFA IRSD decile	9 of 10
Bachelor degree or higher	48.7%
Completed Year 12 or equivalent	64.8%
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander residents	0.7%
Residents needing assistance with core activities	4.4%
Households with 2+ vehicles	65.9%
Distance from Melbourne CBD	61.9 km (straight line)

Age profile

Median age: 43 years. Residents under 15: 20.0%. Residents aged 65 and over: 22.2%.

Age group	People	Share of population
0-4	1,003	5.7%
5-14	2,545	14.4%
15-19	933	5.3%
20-24	669	3.8%
25-34	1,584	8.9%
35-44	2,416	13.6%
45-54	2,292	12.9%
55-64	2,333	13.2%
65-74	2,420	13.7%
75-84	1,097	6.2%
85 and over	424	2.4%

Households and families

Household type	Count	Share of households
Total households	6,567
Average household size	2.5
One person	1,519	23.1%
Two persons	2,482	37.8%
Three persons	872	13.3%
Four persons	1,187	18.1%
Five persons	413	6.3%
Six or more persons	100	1.5%

Family type	Count	Share of families
Total families	4,949
Couples with children	198	4.0%
Couples without children	2,186	44.2%
One-parent families	605	12.2%
Other families	30	0.6%

Children ever born

Measure	Value
Average children per woman aged 15+	1.73
Women with no children	27.5%
Women with three or more children	27.4%

Of the 2,141 couple families with children in Ocean Grove, 8.4% are step or blended families.

Marital status

Marital status of residents aged 15 and over in Ocean Grove.

Status	Share of adults
Married (registered marriage)	54.9%
Married (de facto)	11.8%
Not married	33.2%

Housing

Dwellings	Count	Share of dwellings
Total dwellings	8,317
Occupied	6,567	79.0%
Unoccupied	1,749	21.0%

Dwelling structure	Count	Share of dwellings
Separate house	6,136	73.8%
Semi-detached or townhouse	393	4.7%
Flat or apartment	20	0.2%
Other dwelling	15	0.2%

Tenure	Count	Share of households
Owned outright	2,696	41.1%
Owned with a mortgage	2,454	37.4%
Rented	1,214	18.5%
Other tenure	99	1.5%

Weekly rent

Rent band	Share of renting households
Under $350 per week	24.8%
$350 to $549 per week	63.1%
$550 or more per week	12.1%

1.7% of renting households rent through a state or community housing provider.

Monthly mortgage repayments

Repayment band	Share of mortgaged households
Under $1,000	14.0%
$1,000 to $1,799	26.7%
$1,800 to $2,999	42.2%
$3,000 or more	17.2%

Bedrooms per dwelling

Bedrooms	Share of dwellings
None or one bedroom	1.1%
Two bedrooms	11.3%
Three bedrooms	46.7%
Four or more bedrooms	40.9%

Employment

Labour force status	Count	Share
Labour force	8,712
Employed	8,481	97.3%
Unemployed	228	2.6%
Not in the labour force	4,860
Unemployment rate	2.6%
Participation rate	64.2%

43.8% of employed residents work part time, fewer than 35 hours per week.

Household income

Household incomes in Ocean Grove are distributed across the following weekly bands.

Weekly household income	Share of households
Under $650	14.9%
$650 to $1,499	27.9%
$1,500 to $2,999	31.1%
$3,000 or more	26.1%

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

Weekly personal income	Share of residents 15+
Under $500	30.2%
$500 to $999	25.5%
$1,000 to $1,999	28.8%
$2,000 or more	15.5%

Travel to work

Method	Count	Share of workers
Car driver	4,610	54.4%
Car passenger	262	3.1%
Train	16	0.2%
Bus	23	0.3%
Tram	0	0.0%
Bicycle	48	0.6%
Walked only	162	1.9%
Worked at home	2,078	24.5%

Religious affiliation

Religion	Count	Share of residents
Christianity	7,710	43.5%
No religion	8,588	48.5%
Islam	30	0.2%
Hinduism	23	0.1%
Buddhism	103	0.6%
Judaism	19	0.1%
Other or not stated	1,241	7.0%

Socio-economic profile (SEIFA 2021)

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

Index	Score	Decile	Percentile
IRSD (disadvantage)	1073	9	87
IRSAD (advantage and disadvantage)	1054	9
IER (economic resources)	1056	7
IEO (education and occupation)	1058	9

Where residents were born

88.2% of residents were born in Australia and 11.8% were born overseas. The most common overseas birthplaces in Ocean Grove are listed below.

Country of birth	People	Share of residents
England	743	4.4%
New Zealand	159	0.9%
Netherlands	97	0.6%
Scotland	92	0.5%
Germany	89	0.5%
United States of America	66	0.4%

When overseas-born residents arrived

Year of arrival	Share of overseas-born residents
2016 to 2021	6.3%
2011 to 2015	8.2%
2001 to 2010	17.9%
Before 2001	67.6%

Languages spoken at home

96.5% of residents speak only English at home. The most common other languages in Ocean Grove are listed below. Across all households, 0.1% of residents speak English not well or not at all.

Language	People	Share of residents
Italian	74	0.4%
German	60	0.4%
Chinese: Mandarin	56	0.3%
Spanish	52	0.3%
Greek	38	0.2%
French	34	0.2%

Ancestry

Residents of Ocean Grove most commonly report the following ancestries.

Ancestry	Responses	Share of responses
English	7,706	31.1%
Australian	7,340	29.6%
Irish	2,978	12.0%
Scottish	2,339	9.4%
German	829	3.3%
Italian	640	2.6%

Work and industry

The largest employment sectors for Ocean Grove residents are listed below.

Industry of employment	Workers	Share of workers
Health Care and Social Assistance	1,437	17.5%
Education and Training	1,057	12.8%
Construction	1,035	12.6%
Retail Trade	735	8.9%
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services	666	8.1%
Public Administration and Safety	636	7.7%

The most common occupations among Ocean Grove residents are listed below.

Occupation	Workers	Share of workers
Professionals	2,380	28.5%
Technicians and Trades Workers	1,234	14.8%
Managers	1,225	14.6%
Community and Personal Service Workers	1,073	12.8%
Clerical and Administrative Workers	986	11.8%
Sales Workers	682	8.2%

Education

Of residents attending an education institution in Ocean Grove, 13.5% are at university or higher education, 7.6% are at TAFE or vocational education, and 77.1% are at school.

64.8% of residents aged 15 and over have completed Year 12 or equivalent.

The most common fields of study among Ocean Grove residents with qualifications are listed below.

Field of study	People	Share
Management and Commerce	1,516	17.3%
Health	1,389	15.9%
Education	1,359	15.5%
Society and Culture	1,189	13.6%
Engineering and Related Technologies	1,041	11.9%
Architecture and Building	767	8.8%

Long-term health conditions

53.2% of residents report no long-term health condition. The most commonly reported conditions in Ocean Grove are listed below.

Health condition	People	Share of residents
Asthma	1,729	8.8%
Mental health condition (including depression or anxiety)	1,714	8.7%
Arthritis	1,680	8.5%
Heart disease (including heart attack or angina)	770	3.9%
Cancer (including remission)	689	3.5%
Diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes)	603	3.1%
Lung condition (including COPD or emphysema)	291	1.5%
Stroke	186	0.9%
Kidney disease	151	0.8%
Dementia (including Alzheimer's)	140	0.7%

22.3% of residents report one condition, 7.2% report two, and 3.3% report three or more.

Community and care

How residents of Ocean Grove contribute to their community (share of residents aged 15 and over).

Community activity	Share
Volunteers for an organisation or group	18.7%
Provides unpaid assistance to a person with a disability or health condition	13.8%
Provides unpaid child care	64.4%
Does 15 or more hours of unpaid domestic work	26.0%
Has served or is serving in the Australian Defence Force	3.0%

Moving and stability

Mobility	Share of residents
Same address 1 year ago	84.5%
Moved within Victoria in the last year	8.7%
Moved interstate in the last year	0.6%
Moved from overseas in the last year	0.4%
Same address 5 years ago	53.0%
Moved within Victoria in the last 5 years	28.5%
Moved interstate in the last 5 years	2.5%
Moved from overseas in the last 5 years	1.8%

Photo: Ocean Grove, Victoria. Credit: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Crime and safety

Victoria Police recorded 466 offences in Ocean Grove in the 12 months to March 2026.

Offence division	Recorded offences
A Crimes against the person	58
B Property and deception offences	273
C Drug offences	28
D Public order and security offences	13
E Justice procedures offences	91
F Other offences	3

That is a calculated rate of 26.3 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 Greater Geelong local government area recorded 8,631 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
465

2023
456

2024
527

2025
384

2026
466

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

Marcus Hill (3.9 km)
Wallington (4.2 km)
Barwon Heads (4.7 km)
Point Lonsdale (5.8 km)
Mannerim (6.4 km)

Browse more suburbs in Greater Geelong, or explore the wider Geelong & Bellarine 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.

Ocean Grove

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

Similar listings in category

Aireys Inlet

Anakie

Anglesea