Sunbury, VIC
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Sunbury is a satellite town on the north-western fringe of Melbourne, within the City of Hume. It lies on the country of the Wurundjeri people, for whom a recorded name for the district is Koorakoorakup. Settlers arrived in the 1830s, and the brothers William and Samuel Jackson named the township after Sunbury-on-Thames in England when it was laid out in the 1850s. Sunbury's enduring claim to fame is Rupertswood, the grand mansion the Clarke family built in the 1870s: during the touring English cricket team's visit at Christmas 1882, Lady Clarke burnt a bail and presented the ashes in a small urn to the captain, Ivo Bligh — the origin of cricket's storied Ashes. The estate is now Salesian College, and in the early 1970s the district hosted the well-remembered Sunbury Pop Festival. Today it is a fast-growing commuter town close to Melbourne Airport.
Around the national middle
Sunbury is more socio-economically advantaged than about 57% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1000, where about 1000 is the national average).
A socio-economic measure from ABS Census data — not a measure of how good a suburb is to live in or visit. How we calculate this.
Sunbury at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 38,851
- Median age
- 38
- Median weekly household income
- $1,925
- SEIFA score
- 1000
- Coordinates
- -37.5466, 144.7065
Sunbury demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Sunbury using the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census; every percentage is a share of a clearly stated Census count, so each one traces back to the source. At a glance, the largest age group is young adults (25–44) at 28%, 20% of homes are rented, and 18% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 7,378 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 4,712 | 12% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 10,725 | 28% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 10,148 | 26% |
| Seniors (65+) | 5,892 | 15% |
Share of the 38,855 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 4,342 | 31% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 6,612 | 47% |
| Rented | 2,885 | 20% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 12,496 | 89% |
| Townhouses & semis | 580 | 4% |
| Flats & apartments | 1,033 | 7% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 14,114 occupied private dwellings in Sunbury.
- Median weekly rent
- $361
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,733
- Average household size
- 2.6 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,239
- Median weekly personal income
- $854
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 6,570 (18%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 3,711 (10%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 476 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 16,702 (56%)
- Labour-force participation
- 66.4%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.5%
- Employed full-time
- 12,230
- Employed part-time
- 6,319
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021 (General Community Profile, by Suburb and Locality). © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. How we group bands and derive each share is set out on our methodology page.
Weather and climate in Sunbury
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Sunbury is January (average daytime high around 26.1°C) and the coolest is July (around 11.2°C). The area receives roughly 694 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 26.1°C | 13.9°C | 62 mm |
| Feb | 24.8°C | 13.2°C | 30 mm |
| Mar | 22.7°C | 12.3°C | 50 mm |
| Apr | 18.5°C | 9.9°C | 57 mm |
| May | 14.5°C | 7.6°C | 53 mm |
| Jun | 11.8°C | 5.8°C | 64 mm |
| Jul | 11.2°C | 5.2°C | 46 mm |
| Aug | 12.1°C | 5.1°C | 56 mm |
| Sep | 14.8°C | 6.3°C | 65 mm |
| Oct | 18.2°C | 7.9°C | 73 mm |
| Nov | 20.5°C | 9.8°C | 69 mm |
| Dec | 23.6°C | 11.6°C | 69 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
Common questions about Sunbury
Where is Sunbury?
Sunbury is a suburb of Victoria, Australia.
What is the population of Sunbury?
At the 2021 Census, Sunbury had a population of about 38,851.
Is Sunbury an advantaged area?
Sunbury has an ABS SEIFA score of 1000, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 57 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 57% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Sunbury?
Sunbury has average daytime highs of about 18.2°C and overnight lows of about 9°C, with roughly 694 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
How big is Sunbury?
Sunbury is one of the most populous suburbs in Victoria — the 10th-largest by usual resident population at the 2021 Census (about 38,851 usual residents).
Where Sunbury ranks
Sunbury appears in these data-driven guides — each a transparent sort on a single ABS figure shown on this page.
- Largest suburbs in Victoria#10 of 25
- Largest suburbs in Australia#16 of 25
Nearby suburbs in Victoria
More suburb guides in Victoria
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.