How this works
The viral "Strava heatmap = good suburb" trick has a real insight buried in it — places where people run, ride and walk at night are usually places people feel safe. But heat lines alone mostly show where fit people live, and they happily run straight through high-crime pockets. So we treat activity as one signal of five, and back it with official data.
🏃 Activity
Density of public GPS traces (OpenStreetMap, ODbL) plus gyms, ovals, pools and sports facilities per km². The glowing map layer is this data, rendered raw.
🛡️ Safety
Offences per 1,000 residents from Queensland Police Service, latest 12 months. IMPORTANT: Queensland publishes no suburb-level crime data — the finest geography available is the POLICE DIVISION, so every suburb here carries the rate for the division containing it. Neighbouring suburbs therefore share a figure. We show it because it is the same resolution the QPS crime map itself uses, and we say so rather than implying a precision the source does not have.
💰 Value
Median household income vs median rent (ABS Census 2021). High score = your rent buys more suburb than it should.
🏷️ Sale prices
Sale prices: Queensland Regional Profiles (QGSO), 12 months ending 31 March 2026 — © The State of Queensland (Queensland Treasury), Queensland Government Statistician's Office, Queensland Regional Profiles, CC BY 4.0; suburb-to-SA2 placement via ABS ASGS 2021 (CC BY 4.0). Queensland publishes sale medians per ABS Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2 — "broadly equivalent to suburb size"), not per suburb, so this is the median for the SA2 the suburb sits in (named next to each figure when it differs); detached dwellings = houses, attached = units. The window is the latest 12 months, not a quarter, and QGSO withholds medians under 10 sales.
🌳 Parks & ☕ Cafés
OpenStreetMap park and café density per km², blended 50/50 with the same counts normalised per 1,000 residents so both crowded inner suburbs and sparser leafy ones can score well.
💪 Active & Healthy
A composite of fitness-infrastructure density (gyms/ovals/pools per capita), proximity + attendance at the nearest parkrun event, % of the suburb within 400m of a park, and café density per capita. Off by default — drag its slider up to weight it into the ranking.
🧮 The blend
Every suburb gets a 0–100 percentile per signal. Your sliders weight the signals; the headline number is the weighted blend. No paid placements, ever.
Top 10 suburbs in Brisbane (October 2026)
Updated 15 October 2026 · one sentence of real reasons per suburb, from the data on this page. Crime here is published per police division, not per suburb, so these lines quote no crime figures.
- Ashgrove ★ 93
Ashgrove ranks #1: 100% of it within 400 m of a park, 2 government primary schools inside the suburb, and 100 public transport stops inside it for a transit score of 78.
- Bardon ★ 87
At #2, Bardon combines 89% of it within 400 m of a park and 114 public transport stops inside it for a transit score of 86, and 3 government primary schools inside the suburb.
- St Lucia ★ 80
St Lucia takes #3 on 100% of it within 400 m of a park, with 18 cafés, and 1 government primary school inside the suburb.
- Fig Tree Pocket ★ 78
#4 Fig Tree Pocket — 95% of it within 400 m of a park, plus 1 government primary school inside the suburb, and 12.1 ha of parkland per 1,000 residents.
- Alderley ★ 78
At #5, Alderley combines 99% of it within 400 m of a park and 57 public transport stops inside it for a transit score of 87, and 7.3 ha of parkland per 1,000 residents.
- Windsor ★ 77
At #6, Windsor combines 88% of it within 400 m of a park and 45 public transport stops inside it for a transit score of 76, and 1 government primary school inside the suburb.
- Newmarket ★ 77
Newmarket takes #7 on 90% of it within 400 m of a park, with 29 public transport stops inside it for a transit score of 81, and 1 government primary school inside the suburb.
- Auchenflower ★ 77
What lifts Auchenflower to #8 is 34 public transport stops inside it for a transit score of 89; it also has 8 cafés, and 71% of it within 400 m of a park.
- Indooroopilly ★ 77
What lifts Indooroopilly to #9 is 95% of it within 400 m of a park; it also has 23 cafés, and 1 government primary school and 1 secondary inside the suburb.
- Graceville ★ 75
At #10, Graceville combines 78% of it within 400 m of a park and 1 government primary school inside the suburb, and 24 public transport stops inside it for a transit score of 64.
What are the best suburbs in Brisbane for families?
Ashgrove — safety 96/100, parks 91/100, green space 68/100
McDowall — safety 98/100, parks 68/100, green space 85/100
Fig Tree Pocket — safety 93/100, parks 81/100, green space 75/100
Wakerley — safety 67/100, parks 90/100, green space 88/100
St Lucia — safety 93/100, parks 90/100, green space 61/100
See the full what are the best suburbs in Brisbane for families? ranking →
What are the safest suburbs in Brisbane?
Dayboro — safety score 100/100, 18 recorded offences per 1,000 residents
Cashmere — safety score 100/100, 18 recorded offences per 1,000 residents
Bunya — safety score 98/100, 26 recorded offences per 1,000 residents
Eatons Hill — safety score 98/100, 26 recorded offences per 1,000 residents
Warner — safety score 98/100, 26 recorded offences per 1,000 residents
See the full what are the safest suburbs in Brisbane? ranking →
Which Brisbane suburbs offer the best value?
Brookfield — value score 100/100, median rent $400/wk
Highvale — value score 99/100, median rent $425/wk
Kalinga — value score 99/100, median rent $400/wk
Shorncliffe — value score 99/100, median rent $275/wk
Grange — value score 98/100, median rent $460/wk
See the full which Brisbane suburbs offer the best value? ranking →
What are the best inner-city & lifestyle suburbs in Brisbane?
Milton — cafés 98/100, transit 98/100, activity 82/100
Albion — cafés 98/100, transit 87/100, activity 88/100
Stones Corner — cafés 99/100, transit 97/100, activity 77/100
Fairfield — cafés 89/100, transit 97/100, activity 84/100
Dutton Park — cafés 96/100, transit 98/100, activity 75/100
See the full what are the best inner-city & lifestyle suburbs in Brisbane? ranking →
Frequently asked questions
What is the best suburb in Brisbane for families?
Ashgrove ranks highest for families in Brisbane, with a safety score of 96/100, a parks score of 91/100 and a green space score of 68/100.
What is the safest suburb in Brisbane?
Dayboro has the highest safety score in Brisbane (100/100), with 18 recorded offences per 1,000 residents.
What is the cheapest suburb to rent in Brisbane?
Inala has the lowest median rent in our Brisbane dataset, at $250/week (ABS Census 2021).
What is the best suburb in Brisbane for lifestyle and cafés?
Milton leads Brisbane for lifestyle, with a café score of 98/100 and a transit score of 98/100.
How are Brisbane suburbs ranked?
Every suburb gets a 0–100 percentile score across up to 10 signals — safety (official crime statistics), activity (open GPS-activity traces), value (income vs rent), parks, green space, cafés, transit, wealth, parkrun proximity and a healthy/active composite. You set the weights with the sliders above; the ranking re-orders live. Full method: bestsuburbs.io/methodology.