suburb.guide

QLD · Cairns Council

Yorkeys Knob, 4878

Est. population · Jun 2025

2,863

Growth (1 yr)

+0.4%

Growth (5 yr)

+1.1%

Median age

46

Median income

$1,234/wk

Employment rate

55.7%

University qualified

19.8%

Work from home

12.5%

Languages at home

10.2%non-English

Most common: Australian Indigenous languages, German, French

2021 Census · usual residence

Desirability score

39.8/100
Below average

847th in QLD

Verified 75% confidence

How this score is calculated
  • Beach
  • Green suburb
  • Rural living
What Yorkeys Knob is known for: Beach, Green suburb, Rural living

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Yorkeys Knob, QLD suburb snapshot — Suburb Guide

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Suburb Guide, “Yorkeys Knob, QLD Suburb Guide”, updated 2 October 2026, https://suburb.guide/qld/yorkeys-knob

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Suburb profile

Yorkeys Knob is a rural locality in Queensland, in Cairns Council. Notable landmarks include Innisfail Court House (former).

The suburb is highly walkable compared with similar places, placing it among the highest-ranked rural localities. Local amenities are a relative strength. Local school ICSEA scores sit well above the peer median, and open-space access is better than in most comparable places. Trade-offs centre on weaker population growth and higher crime, with population growth 84% below the peer median.

Overall, the suburb suits people prioritising walkability and local amenities over population growth.

Generated from the official metrics on this page. It can omit nuance or contain errors — check the tables and source notes before relying on it.

Strengths and weaknesses

Rural locality · compared with rural localities in Queensland (1448)

Strengths

  • The suburb is highly walkable compared with similar places
  • Local amenities are a relative strength
  • Local school ICSEA scores sit well above the peer median
  • Open-space access is better than in most comparable places

Weaknesses

  • Population growth is a relative weakness
  • Reported crime in the wider postcode 4878 is elevated relative to comparable places

What stands out

  • Yorkeys Knob Beach
  • Innisfail Court House (former)

Who it suits

  • Families
  • Professionals
  • Retirees
  • StudentsInsufficient data
  • Budget buyersInsufficient data

Housing, growth and risk

How Yorkeys Knob compares

A quick read of housing, growth, livability, and risk

Median house price

—

No data available

Median rent

$520/wk

Population (ERP)

2,863

+0.4% annual growth

Dwelling vacancy

12.5%

Census unoccupied dwellings

Livability profile

Desirability pillars vs the peer median (50th percentile)

How it compares

Relative standing using percentiles, ranks, and national deciles

Desirability

#205

among Country & regional · Mature

Crime rate

65th

percentile in state (higher = more crime)

Pop. growth

27th

percentile in QLD

Rented dwellings

47%

2021 Census tenure

Advantage (IRSAD)

3/10

national SEIFA decile

School ICSEA

46th

percentile among schools with ICSEA

Population growth

Recent ERP change over 1 and 5 years

Housing mix

Dwelling types from the 2021 Census

Risks & flags

Quick scan — open a section below for full context

Living here

Desirability

Ranks & confidence
Desirability score
39.8/100 — Below average
National rank
4460th in Australia
State rank
847th in QLD
Peer rank
#205 among Country & regional · Mature suburbs
Cohort rank
#420 among Country & regional suburbs
Data confidence
75%

Data sources & freshness

  • Suburb Guide desirability index — Suburb Guide (derived) · current · Updated

Housing

All types (Mar 2026)
$520

Median weekly rent from Queensland RTA rental bond data. Figures can be unreliable where few bonds were lodged in the quarter.

Contributes to desirability score · Housing (10%) · Future Growth (6%)

Household crowding and healthy vacancy — not cheapness Modest price change as a healthy-growth band

Data sources & freshness

Population

Estimated resident population

2,863(June 2025)

+0.4% annual · +1.1% over 5 years · 27th percentile in QLD

Growth figures & methodology
Annual growth
+0.4%
5-year growth
+1.1%
Change in 1 year
+12
Change in 5 years
+31
Growth rank in QLD
27th percentile

ABS Estimated Resident Population allocated to this suburb from SA2-level data. Not an official ABS suburb count.

Methodology

Figures are allocated from ABS Estimated Resident Population at Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2), using 2021 Census share within overlapping SA2 regions. Where Census data is unavailable, area overlap is used instead.

The dashed chart line is a simple growth-trend estimate to June 2030 (~2,900), extrapolated at +0.2% average annual growth since 2011. It is illustrative only — not an official ABS forecast.

2021 Census figures

2021 Census

Population
2,794
Median age
46
Median household income / week
$1,234
Dwelling vacancy
12.5%
Unoccupied private dwellings
183 of 1,462
Median monthly mortgage
$1,357
Median weekly rent (2021 Census)
$310
Tenure (owned / mortgaged / rented)
25.9% / 26.8% / 47.3%
Employment rate
55.7%
Travel to work (WFH / public transport / car)
12.5% / 0.7% / 62.7%
Walked or cycled to work
2.8%
Dwelling mix (houses / semi / flats)
474 / 480 / 306 (+ 20 other)

Contributes to desirability score · Community (12%) · Accessibility (12%) · Future Growth (6%)

Employment, household income and owned-outright tenure (2021 Census) Work-from-home and public-transport commute shares (2021 Census) Five-year population change as a healthy-growth band, not a boom bonus

Data sources & freshness

  • 2021 Census — General Community Profile (including method of travel to work and educational attainment) — Australian Bureau of Statistics · Updated

    The 2026 Census was conducted in August 2026; suburb-level updates are expected from mid-2027.

  • Estimated Resident Population — Australian Bureau of Statistics · 2025 · Updated · SA2 ERP allocated to suburb boundaries

Qualifications

19.8% of adults have a university degree, compared with 21.9% across Queensland. 21.7% have a trade or vocational qualification.

  • University qualified19.8% · 21.9% QLD
  • Diploma qualified10.7% · 9.4% QLD
  • Trade / vocational21.7% · 18.9% QLD
  • Year 12 or below47.8% · 49.8% QLD

Highest qualification field

Main field of the highest non-school qualification (2021 Census).

  • Engineering and related technologies17.8%
  • Management and commerce16.8%
  • Society and culture14%
  • Health12.9%
  • Education10.1%
  • Food, hospitality and personal services8.9%
How these groups are defined
MeasureDefinition
University qualifiedBachelor degree or higher
Diploma qualifiedAdvanced Diploma / Diploma
Trade / vocationalCertificate III + IV
Year 12Year 12 as highest attainment
Below Year 12Year 11 / 10 / 9 or below

People aged 15 years and over, 2021 Census. University, diploma and trade shares match ABS highest educational attainment (HEAP). Year 12 and below Year 12 are combined in the chart because the General Community Profile reports school-only attainment as a residual.

Contributes to desirability score · Community (12%)

University qualifications from the 2021 Census

Data sources & freshness

  • 2021 Census — General Community Profile (including method of travel to work and educational attainment) — Australian Bureau of Statistics · Updated

    The 2026 Census was conducted in August 2026; suburb-level updates are expected from mid-2027.

Tax & income

Median taxable income (2023–24)
$58,755

66th percentile in QLD · 0% vs Australia

Median salary / wages (2023–24)
$62,695

58th percentile in QLD · -4% vs Australia

Residents with rental investments
13.0%

67th percentile in QLD · -6% vs Australia

Median super balance (2023–24)
$71,380

54th percentile in QLD · +13% vs Australia

Residents with business income
11.0%

53rd percentile in QLD · +6% vs Australia

Australian Taxation Office Taxation Statistics 2023–24, individuals Table 25. Figures describe taxpayers who live in postcode 4878 — not a suburb-level official statistic. Rental investment is the share of local taxpayers reporting rental income or loss, not the share of local properties owned by investors.

Counts, net rent & state comparison
Taxpayers in this postcode
9,802
Taxpayers reporting net rent
1,227
Median net rent
$655
Taxpayers reporting business income
1,049
Taxable income vs state median
+6%
Salary / wages vs state median
+3%
Rental investment vs state median
+18%
Super vs state median
+3%
Business income vs state median
+10%

Percentiles rank this postcode among unique postcodes in QLD, so suburbs that share a postcode are not counted twice. Dollar figures are compared with Australia-wide ATO medians from the same release. Median net rent is among taxpayers who reported the rent label and can be negative.

Data sources & freshness

  • Taxation Statistics 2023–24 — individuals by postcode (Table 25) — Australian Taxation Office · Updated · Annual release; taxpayer residential postcode, not suburb boundary

Community & culture

10.2% speak a language other than English at home; 24.8% born overseas

Language at home
2,295 English only · 260 other
Non-English at home
10.2%
Born overseas
633 (24.8%)
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
173 (6.2%)
Australian citizens
2,336
Languages spoken at home (other than English)
9

Top languages other than English

Share of residents who speak a language other than English at home (2021 Census).

  • Australian Indigenous languages10 · 19.6%
  • German9 · 17.6%
  • French8 · 15.7%
  • Italian5 · 9.8%
  • Japanese5 · 9.8%
  • Afrikaans4 · 7.8%
  • Punjabi4 · 7.8%
  • Mandarin3 · 5.9%

Religion

49.2%No religion

No religion is the most common response at 49.2%, while Christianity accounts for 36.6%.

MeasureSuburbState
No religion49.2%40.7%
Christianity36.6%45.7%
Other / not stated14.2%13.6%
Christian denominations
DenominationSuburbState
Catholic15.5%18.6%
Anglican9.4%11.3%
Presbyterian and Reformed2.7%2.1%
Uniting Church2.6%3.6%
Christian (not further defined)2.3%3.1%

2021 Census — languages spoken at home, birthplace, Indigenous status, and religious affiliation (usual residence). Religion is optional on the Census form.

Data sources & freshness

  • 2021 Census — General Community Profile (including method of travel to work and educational attainment) — Australian Bureau of Statistics · Updated

    The 2026 Census was conducted in August 2026; suburb-level updates are expected from mid-2027.

Crime & safety

Offence counts are estimated for this suburb from postcode 4878, which is shared with other suburbs.

Reported offences are running higher than the same point last year.

Offence counts & rates
Total offences (Jan 2026 to Sep 2026)
177
Against the person
30
Against property
98
Rate per 1,000 residents (annualised)
82.6
Person-crime prevalence
About 1 in 93 residents
State crime-rate percentile
65.3th (higher = more crime)
Increase (daily rate, partial year)
+0.7%

Most common offence types

  • Assault17
  • Drug Offences18
  • Other Theft (Excl. Unlawful Entry)40
  • Traffic And Related Offences22
  • Unlawful Entry28

Contributes to desirability score · Safety (22%)

Crime rate, offences against the person, year-on-year trend and recorded road crash rates

Data sources & freshness

  • QPS Online Crime Map — Queensland Police Service · Jan 2025 to Dec 2025 → Jan 2026 to Sep 2026; Jan 2026 to Sep 2026 · Updated · Calendar-year aggregates

Family & Lifestyle

Schools & preschools

Schools within 2 km
1
Median school ICSEA
998
Median ICSEA percentile
46th
Primary catchments overlapping suburb
4
Secondary catchments overlapping suburb
2
School list
  • Yorkeys Knob State SchoolPrimary · Government · ICSEA 998 · 46th percentile · LBOTE 25% · 321 students · Top SEA quarter 14% · 1.6 km awayView on My School →
School catchments
  • Cairns SHSGovernment school catchment overlapping this suburb boundarysecondary_catchment
  • Caravonica SSGovernment school catchment overlapping this suburb boundaryprimary_catchment
  • Machans Beach SSGovernment school catchment overlapping this suburb boundaryprimary_catchment
  • Tropical North Learning Academy - Smithfield SHSGovernment school catchment overlapping this suburb boundarysecondary_catchment
  • Tropical North Learning Academy - Trinity Beach SSGovernment school catchment overlapping this suburb boundaryprimary_catchment
  • Yorkeys Knob SSGovernment school catchment overlapping this suburb boundaryprimary_catchment

Government school intake zones that overlap this suburb boundary. Living in a catchment does not guarantee enrolment; check the education authority.

Contributes to desirability score · Education (14%)

Median school ICSEA first, then school and catchment counts

Data sources & freshness

Amenities

11 mapped amenities

6 beaches · 1 petrol stations

Local character & venue list

Local character

  • Limited walkable amenities nearby
  • Decent local green space — 5 parks in suburb
Walkability proxy
3/100
Cafés per 1,000 residents
0
Food & drink per 1,000 residents
0
Parks per 1,000 residents
1.79
Everyday services(1)
  • MobilPetrol station
Sport & outdoors(8)
  • Beach (6)
  • Ray Howarth ReserveNature reserve
  • Yorkeys Creek Fish Habitat AreaNature reserve
Transport(2)

2 bus stops

Names and addresses from OpenStreetMap. Unnamed venues show as their type (e.g. Cafe). Transport stops are summarised by type rather than listed individually. Campgrounds, beaches, wineries and local trails are included when they sit inside the suburb boundary.

Contributes to desirability score · Lifestyle (12%)

Food, shopping, recreation and sport per 1,000 residents (OpenStreetMap)

Data sources & freshness

  • Local amenity insights — Suburb Guide (derived) · current · Updated
  • OpenStreetMap amenities — OpenStreetMap contributors · current · Updated

Sporting clubs

1 named sporting club in this suburb

  • Half Moon Bay Golf Club

    Golf · +61 7 4055 7933

Named sporting clubs from OpenStreetMap, assigned to this suburb's boundary. Sporting facilities such as ovals, courts and recreation centres are listed under Amenities.

Data sources & freshness

  • OpenStreetMap sporting clubs — OpenStreetMap contributors · current · Updated · Geofabrik australia-latest.osm.pbf

Parks & reserves

4 parks and public open space in this suburb

  • Best Street ReservePark
  • Old School ParkPark
  • Ray Howarth ReserveNature reserve
  • Yorkeys Creek Fish Habitat AreaNature reserve

Data sources & freshness

Green cover

Green cover of suburb area
3.9%
Woodland / forest cover
3.4%
Parks & woodland features (OSM)
7
Parks (OSM)
5
Typical summer maximum
31°C

Green cover is the share of this suburb's boundary overlapping OpenStreetMap parks, woodland and forest polygons — not a satellite tree-canopy product. Summer maximum is the WorldClim / Open-Meteo seasonal normal already collected for Weather.

Contributes to desirability score · Environment (12%)

Tree canopy first, then green-cover area and parks per 1,000

Data sources & freshness

  • OpenStreetMap green cover and tree canopy — OpenStreetMap contributors · current · Updated · Park/woodland polygons intersected with suburb boundaries

Health access

Nearest hospital
Cairns North Community Health Facility (9.2 km)
Nearest hospital type
Hospital
Nearest hospital emergency
Emergency department
GP clinics in suburb
0

GP clinic counts from OpenStreetMap. Bulk-billing figures only include clinics tagged in OSM (sparse and unofficial — not a Medicare list).

Contributes to desirability score · Accessibility (12%)

Hospitals, GPs and aged care

Data sources & freshness

NDIS participation

NDIS participants (31 March 2026)
64
Participants per 1,000 residents
22.4

Active NDIS participants allocated from NDIA Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2, ASGS 2016) counts to this suburb boundary. Not an official suburb-level NDIS figure · as at 31 March 2026.

For NDIS spend and service-demand exploration by SA2 or postcode, see the Care Sector Demand Map.

Data sources & freshness

Weather

Typical conditions by season for suburbs in the same ~44 km climate area. Rainfall totals are summed from monthly WorldClim layers; rainy-day counts are approximate.

Summer (Dec–Feb)

Usual max / min
31° / 25°
Rainfall
1,038 mm · ~90 rainy days

Autumn (Mar–May)

Usual max / min
29° / 24°
Rainfall
925 mm · ~92 rainy days

Winter (Jun–Aug)

Usual max / min
25° / 20°
Rainfall
164 mm · ~20 rainy days

Spring (Sep–Nov)

Usual max / min
28° / 22°
Rainfall
188 mm · ~24 rainy days

Contributes to desirability score · Lifestyle (12%)

Temperature and humidity comfort

Data sources & freshness

  • Seasonal climate normals — WorldClim 2.1 · Updated

Future & Planning

Planning & development

Development applications from QLD coordinated projects (lodged 2020–2026).

1 planning-related records

Other· 1 proposal
  • Aquis Resort at the Great Barrier Reef project
    Redevelopment of 343 ha of rural land into a large scale integrated tourism resort, 13 kilometres north of Cairns and 3 kilometres south of Yorkeys Knob.Completed EIS project

Data sources & freshness

Heritage

1 heritage place

  • Innisfail Court House (former)State heritage place

Contributes to desirability score · Environment (12%)

Heritage listings as established streetscape

Data sources & freshness

  • State heritage register — State heritage authority · current · Updated

Hazards

Bushfire planning zone
No overlay at centroid
Flood / inundation overlay
No mapped inundation on suburb boundary

Bushfire overlay checked at suburb centroid via Queensland Bushfire Prone Area mapping. Flood cover uses floodplain overlay polygons against the suburb boundary where published.

Contributes to desirability score · Safety (22%)

Bushfire and flood hazard overlays

Data sources & freshness

  • Bushfire and flood planning overlays — State government hazard layers · current · Updated

Politics & representation

Federal electorate
Leichhardt
Member of Parliament
Matt SMITH (Australian Labor Party)
Results from
2025 federal election
Electorate enrolment (2025)
122,757
Turnout (2025)
83.0%
Swing since 2022 (2025)
+9.5 pp toward Labor

Two-party preferred (2025)

Coalition 43.9%Labor 56.1%

Estimated suburb voting profile

Estimated from 8 nearby ordinary polling places (up to 5.5 km away).

Coalition 40.9%Labor 59.1%

3.0 percentage points more Labor-leaning than the electorate

Estimated swing since 2022: +7.0 pp toward Labor

Nearest polling places

  • Yorkeys KnobLabor 57.8% · Coalition 42.2% TPP (2025)1.4 km away
  • Holloways BeachLabor 60.6% · Coalition 39.4% TPP (2025)2.7 km away
  • Trinity ParkLabor 56.9% · Coalition 43.1% TPP (2025)3.0 km away
  • SmithfieldLabor 68.5% · Coalition 31.6% TPP (2025)3.6 km away
  • CaravonicaLabor 55.0% · Coalition 45.0% TPP (2025)3.7 km away

Federal electorate from AEC federal division boundaries (2025 redistribution). Division-level results are official AEC figures from the latest general election, with by-election updates where applicable. The estimated suburb profile blends up to eight nearest ordinary polling booths in the same electorate using inverse-distance weighting from the suburb centroid — an approximation, not official AEC data. Nearest polling places are shown for reference.

Data sources & freshness

Socio-economic

IRSAD decile (2021)
3/10
IRSD decile (2021)
2/10

ABS Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), 2021 release — the latest available, derived from the 2021 Census. Deciles rank suburbs nationally from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).

What do IRSAD and IRSD measure?

IRSAD — Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage. Combines indicators of advantage (e.g. high income, skilled occupations) and disadvantage. Higher decile = more advantaged relative to other Australian areas.

IRSD — Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage. Focuses on disadvantage only (e.g. low income, unemployment, limited education). Higher decile = less disadvantage nationally.

A new SEIFA edition typically follows each census; the ABS has not announced a release date beyond 2021.

Contributes to desirability score · Community (12%)

Socio-economic advantage (IRSAD and IRSD deciles)

Data sources & freshness

Compare with

Similar suburbs to weigh up side by side — scores, safety, schools, and lifestyle.

More in Cairns Council

Other suburbs in the same local government area.

Comparable suburbs

Similar population and socio-economic profile in other parts of Queensland.