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Rockdale

Ranked #89 of 422 Sydney suburbs for cafés. 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
Rockdale suburb score card: safety, activity, value and other scores, Sydney
Cafés80#89 of 422
Schools nearby (OSM)78#73 of 422
Transit77#99 of 422
Active65#130 of 422

Rockdale suburb profile: score breakdown

Active
65
#130 of 422
Safety
22
#328 of 422
Wealth
28
#305 of 422
Value
42
#242 of 422
Parks
42
#268 of 422
Cafés
80
#89 of 422
Transit
77
#99 of 422
Green space
28
#344 of 422
Active & healthy
46
#247 of 422
Schools nearby (OSM)
78
#73 of 422

Rockdale crime rate, rent, prices and other numbers

Population15,475
Area2.39 km²
Postcode2216
Median household income$1,906/wk
Median rent$460/wk
Median house price (Jan–Mar 2026)$2,025,000 (31 sales this quarter; up 11.2% YoY, up 7.1% QoQ; postcode 2216, not suburb-level)
Median unit price (Jan–Mar 2026)$760,000 (107 sales this quarter; up 2.4% YoY, down 4.9% QoQ; postcode 2216, not suburb-level)
Crime rate65.2 incidents per 1,000 people — 68% of offences are against property, 32% against the person
Parks12 (1.26 ha per 1,000 people)
Schools (government data)1 — 1 primary, 0 secondary; nearest primary 0.16 km, secondary 0.76 km
Families score47/100 (safety 30 · schools 25 · parks per 1,000 15 · kinders 10 · price-for-size 10 · transit 10)
Within 400m of a park62.9% of the suburb
Cafés11
Gyms & sport venues39
Public transport stops67 (1 train station, 66 bus stops)
Nearest parkrunDolls Point parkrun (4.63 km)
Schools nearby (OSM, not catchment zoning)3 schools in the suburb, plus 2 kindergartens — nearest is Rockdale Primary School (0.21 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 Rockdale

Population
15,475
Median age
34 years
Median household income
$1,906/wk
Median rent
$460/wk
Median house price (Jan–Mar 2026)
$2,025,000
Median unit price (Jan–Mar 2026)
$760,000

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 Rockdale — the fields above are everything the census data behind this site currently carries.

Common questions about Rockdale

What is the postcode for Rockdale?

The postcode for Rockdale, Sydney is 2216.

Is Rockdale a good suburb?

There is no single invented "overall" score here -- Rockdale is measured on 10 separate categories rather than blended into one number. Its strongest is cafés, ranking #89 of 422 Sydney suburbs, and it ranks in the top half of Sydney for 4 of the 10 categories measured here. The full breakdown is above.

Is Rockdale safe?

It is on the less safe side of Sydney, scoring 22/100 for safety and ranking #328 of 422 suburbs. Recorded offences run at 65 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 Rockdale good for families?

Mixed, and the weak spot is safety and green space. Here are the family measures we can compute — safety 22/100, parks 42/100 and green space 28/100, with a median age of 34. 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 Rockdale expensive to live in?

The median house sale price was $2,025,000 in Jan–Mar 2026 (NSW DCJ Rent and Sales Report, postcode-level), up 11.2% YoY, up 7.1% QoQ. Median rent is $460 a week, and household income ranks #305 of 422 in Sydney. Against what the suburb offers, it scores 42/100 for value.

Does Rockdale have good public transport?

It scores 77/100 for transit, #99 of 422 in Sydney. That measures train, tram and bus access within the suburb boundary, weighted by mode.

Are there parks in Rockdale?

63% of the suburb is within walking distance of a park, at 1.3 hectares per 1,000 residents — 28/100 for green space.

Is Rockdale good for running?

The nearest parkrun is Dolls Point parkrun, 4.6 km away, and GPS activity traces put it at 65/100 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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