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Balmain East

Ranked #1 of 422 Sydney suburbs for parks. Every number below comes from open data — official crime statistics, ABS census and GPS activity traces — not opinion.

By BestSuburbs research · Updated October 2026 · Sydney
Balmain East suburb score card: safety, activity, value and other scores, Sydney
Parks100#1 of 422
Transit94#24 of 422
Active92#10 of 422
Schools nearby (OSM)92#13 of 422

Balmain East suburb profile: score breakdown

Active
92
#10 of 422
Safety
28
#301 of 422
Wealth
83
#71 of 422
Value
83
#70 of 422
Parks
100
#1 of 422
Cafés
13
#329 of 422
Transit
94
#24 of 422
Green space
66
#125 of 422
Active & healthy
74
#27 of 422
Schools nearby (OSM)
92
#13 of 422

Balmain East crime rate, rent, prices and other numbers

Population1,900
Area0.26 km²
Postcode2041
Median household income$3,020/wk
Median rent$617/wk
Median house price (Jan–Mar 2026)$2,793,000 (36 sales this quarter; down 19.3% YoY, down 8.7% QoQ; postcode 2041, not suburb-level)
Median unit price (Jan–Mar 2026)$1,730,000 (low sales volume; up 22.7% YoY, up 24.5% QoQ; postcode 2041, not suburb-level)
Crime rate56.8 incidents per 1,000 people — 52% of offences are against property, 48% against the person
Parks11 (1.14 ha per 1,000 people)
Schools (government data)1 — 1 primary, 0 secondary; nearest primary 0.16 km, secondary 2.04 km
Families score69/100 (safety 30 · schools 25 · parks per 1,000 15 · kinders 10 · price-for-size 10 · transit 10)
Within 400m of a park100.0% of the suburb
Cafés0
Gyms & sport venues27
Public transport stops11 (10 bus stops, 1 ferry wharf)
Nearest parkrunPirrama parkrun (0.92 km)
Schools nearby (OSM, not catchment zoning)1 school in the suburb, plus 1 kindergarten — nearest is Nicholson Street Public School (0.17 km)

Sale prices: NSW DCJ Rent and Sales Report, January - March 2026 quarter — © State of New South Wales (Department of Communities and Justice), Rent and Sales Report, CC BY 4.0; suburb-to-postcode mapping © GeoNames.org, CC BY 4.0. NSW publishes no free suburb-level sale medians, so this is the median for the suburb's POSTCODE (non-strata sales = houses, strata = units), which can span several suburbs. Low-volume figures rest on 30 or fewer sales in the quarter; postcodes with 10 or fewer sales are withheld by DCJ.

Who lives in Balmain East

Population
1,900
Median age
46 years
Median household income
$3,020/wk
Median rent
$617/wk
Median house price (Jan–Mar 2026)
$2,793,000
Median unit price (Jan–Mar 2026)
$1,730,000

Source: ABS Census 2021; sale prices NSW DCJ Rent and Sales Report, January - March 2026 quarter. We do not hold a suburb-level renter/owner split, families-with-children rate, born-overseas rate or dwelling-type breakdown for Balmain East — the fields above are everything the census data behind this site currently carries.

Common questions about Balmain East

What is the postcode for Balmain East?

The postcode for Balmain East, Sydney is 2041.

Is Balmain East a good suburb?

There is no single invented "overall" score here -- Balmain East is measured on 10 separate categories rather than blended into one number. Its strongest is parks, ranking #1 of 422 Sydney suburbs, and it ranks in the top half of Sydney for 8 of the 10 categories measured here. The full breakdown is above.

Is Balmain East safe?

It is on the less safe side of Sydney, scoring 28/100 for safety and ranking #301 of 422 suburbs. Recorded offences run at 57 per 1,000 residents. That score is recorded offences per 1,000 residents from official crime statistics, as a percentile against every other suburb in the city.

Is Balmain East good for families?

Mixed, and the weak spot is safety. Here are the family measures we can compute — safety 28/100, parks 100/100 and green space 66/100, with a median age of 46. It has 1 school in the suburb, with the nearest primary 0.2 km from its centre. School counts and distances feed the families score; catchment zoning and school results do not (we cannot publish those) — see our Sydney families ranking for the full method.

Is Balmain East expensive to live in?

The median house sale price was $2,793,000 in Jan–Mar 2026 (NSW DCJ Rent and Sales Report, postcode-level), down 19.3% YoY, down 8.7% QoQ. Median rent is $617 a week, and household income ranks #71 of 422 in Sydney. Against what the suburb offers, it scores 83/100 for value.

Does Balmain East have good public transport?

It scores 94/100 for transit, #24 of 422 in Sydney. That measures train, tram and bus access within the suburb boundary, weighted by mode.

Are there parks in Balmain East?

100% of the suburb is within walking distance of a park, at 1.1 hectares per 1,000 residents — 66/100 for green space.

Is Balmain East good for running?

The nearest parkrun is Pirrama parkrun, 0.9 km away, and GPS activity traces put it at 92/100 for how much walking, running and riding actually happens there.

Scores are percentiles against every other suburb in Sydney: 100 is the best in the city, 50 is mid-table. Updated October 2026 (last updated 2026-10-12). Sources: open GPS activity traces, official crime statistics, ABS census, OpenStreetMap.
About this data: every number on this page is computed from public sources — it is not an opinion or a sponsored placement. See how we rank suburbs for the full method.
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