📍 bestsuburbs.io

The best suburbs in Melbourne, ranked by real data — not vibes.

People are using Strava heatmaps to pick "safe, wealthy" suburbs. Cute trick — except joggers run through rough areas too. So we blended the activity-heat signal with what the heatmap can't show: actual crime statistics and census incomes, per suburb. Drag the sliders to set what you care about; the ranking re-orders live.

🏃 216 suburbs scored🔥 open GPS-trace heat layer🛡️ Victoria crime stats💰 ABS census 2021Updated August 2026

What matters to you?

🛡️ Safety60
🏃 Activity60
💰 Value40
🌳 Parks30
☕ Cafés30
🔥 outdoor activity (public GPS traces)
low → high

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

Criminal incidents recorded per 1,000 residents, latest year, from Victoria's Crime Statistics Agency — per suburb, not per council.

💰 Value

Median household income vs median rent (ABS Census 2021). High score = your rent buys more suburb than it should.

🌳 Parks & ☕ Cafés

OpenStreetMap park and café density per km² — the liveability texture the census can't see.

🧮 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.