FairfieldVIC · suburb profile
VIC 3078 · Yarra
Daily life in Fairfield offers a blend of urban convenience and community feel. With 43.6% of residents working from home, the suburb supports flexible work arrangements. Commuting is varied, with 28.8% driving and 6.2% using public transport. The suburb has a vibrant community with a mix of cultural backgrounds, with 73.8% of residents born in Australia and a significant Greek and Italian presence.
Sales · 12 months to August 2026
What property sold for in Fairfield
Units · The median unit in Fairfield went for $490,000 over the 12 months to August 2026, cheaper than 81% of the Victorian suburbs we cover. That is 8.8% down on the twelve months before, on 80 sales.
The middle half of units sold between $385,000 and $573,000.
Houses
$1.58m
median of 18 sales
Too few sales to be reliable — treat as a rough guide
Half sold between $1.29m and $1.88m.
Last sold within the past month
Units
$490k
median of 80 sales
8.8% down on the previous twelve months.
Cheaper than 81% of the 162 suburbs we cover in Victoria.
Half sold between $385k and $573k.
Last sold within the past month
Townhouses
$943k
median of 6 sales
Too few sales to be reliable — treat as a rough guide
Half sold between $888k and $1.18m.
Last sold two to four months ago
104 sales on record · data to 30 August 2026
Since 2022
How prices have moved
Units · The longer arc is downward here, $580,000 in 2022 to $490,000 now.
- Houses
- Units
- Townhouses
Dashed lines and hollow points are part years — incomplete, so a dip may only mean fewer sales have happened yet. A break in a line is a year with no published figure, not a fall to zero.
| Year | Houses | Units | Townhouses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 · part year | $1.79m | $490k | |
| 2025 · part year | $1.74m | $518k | $985k |
| 2024 | $1.63m | $635k | |
| 2023 | $1.58m | $565k | |
| 2022 | $1.77m | $580k |
Quarter by quarter
| Quarter | Median | Sales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 | $1.40m | 9 |
| Quarter | Median | Sales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q2 | $495k | 22 | +1%low confidence22 sales this quarter, 18 the quarter before. Under 30 either side, the movement is mostly which homes happened to sell rather than the market moving. |
| 2026 Q1 | $490k | 18 | -0.6%low confidence18 sales this quarter, 28 the quarter before. Under 30 either side, the movement is mostly which homes happened to sell rather than the market moving. |
| 2025 Q4 | $493k | 28 |
A change is marked low confidence where either quarter had fewer than 30 sales. The medians are real; with a handful of sales the movement between them is mostly which homes happened to change hands, not the market moving.
Last 12 months
What an extra bedroom costs in Fairfield
Units · The step from 1 to 2 bedrooms is the expensive one in Fairfield, worth about $180,000.
Houses
| Bedrooms | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | $1.55m | 11 · few |
Units
| Bedrooms | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $383k | 38 |
| 2 | $563k | 42 |
Counts with fewer than five sales are left out rather than estimated, and bigger does not always mean dearer — a bedroom count with few sales can be pulled either way by the particular homes that happened to change hands.
1 school · 2025 figures
Who goes to school in Fairfield
All schools · Fairfield has a single school, with 556 students.
Schools here
1
1 primary
Students, all schools
556
2025 · +15.1% since 2015
At primary schoolsStudents at schools whose type is “Primary”. It excludes children in primary years at a Prep-to-12 college — they are counted in the tile beside this one. This number answers “are the primary schools here filling or emptying?”
+8.4%
556 students · five years
Children in primary yearsChildren in Years 1–6 at any school, including Prep-to-12 colleges. This answers “are there still young families here?” — a different question from the tile on the left, which is why the two can move in opposite directions.
Prep and ungraded students are counted separately again; see the chart below.
+14.5%
489 · Years 1–6, anywhere
11 years · two ways to read them
Enrolments, 2015–2025
The same students, counted two ways — by the kind of school they attend, and by the year they are in. They answer different questions and can point in different directions. Both views are in the page; the buttons only change which is visible.
Enrolments in Fairfield have grown 15.1% over 10 years.
- Primary schools
Show data table
| Year | Primary schools |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 483 |
| 2016 | 493 |
| 2017 | 487 |
| 2018 | 495 |
| 2019 | 496 |
| 2020 | 513 |
| 2021 | 527 |
| 2022 | 524 |
| 2023 | 556 |
| 2024 | 577 |
| 2025 | 556 |
Which schools in Fairfield are filling and which are emptying. A school that covers Prep to Year 12 is counted once, in its own line — its primary-age students are not in the primary schools line.
- Years 1–6
- Prep & ungradedTwo groups that sit outside the numbered year levels: Prep — the first year of school, which the national data does not number — and ungraded students at specialist schools, who are not placed in a year level at all.
A suburb with a specialist school will have a large line here.
Show data table
| Year | Years 1–6 | Prep & ungraded | All students |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 400 | 83 | 483 |
| 2016 | 427 | 66 | 493 |
| 2017 | 404 | 83 | 487 |
| 2018 | 410 | 85 | 495 |
| 2019 | 422 | 74 | 496 |
| 2020 | 427 | 86 | 513 |
| 2021 | 430 | 97 | 527 |
| 2022 | 442 | 82 | 524 |
| 2023 | 467 | 89 | 556 |
| 2024 | 482 | 95 | 577 |
| 2025 | 489 | 67 | 556 |
This counts children by the year they are in, not by the kind of school they attend — so a Prep-to-12 college contributes to every line. The three add up to every student in the suburb.
2025 · ACARA
The school in Fairfield
Ordered by size, not by results — 1 government, 0 Catholic and 0 independent. Schools with more than one campus are counted once.
What these columns mean
- Type
- Prep-to-12 is one school a child can start and finish at without changing schools. Specialist schools also appear as Prep-to-12.
- 5 yr
- Change in enrolments against five years ago, not against last year. Enrolments move slowly, so a single year is mostly noise.
| School | Sector | Type | Students | 5 yr | 10 yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfield Primary School | Government | Primary | 556 | +8.4% | +15.1% |
Government zoning
Which catchments cover Fairfield
6 government catchments cover Fairfield — 3 secondary and 3 primary — so which one applies depends on the address, not the suburb.
| CatchmentThe area around a government school where living there guarantees your child a place. Boundaries follow streets, not suburb lines, so an address near the edge of a suburb may be zoned elsewhere. They are redrawn each year. | Level |
|---|---|
| Fitzroy High School | Secondary |
| Northcote High School | Secondary |
| Thornbury High School | Secondary |
| Fairfield Primary School | Primary |
| Spensley Street Primary School | Primary |
| Wales Street Primary School | Primary |
The read
What living here is actually like
Fairfield, VIC, is a suburb with a population of 6,541, characterized by a median age of 37, slightly younger than the Victorian average of 38. The suburb has a balanced gender distribution with 48.3% males and 51.7% females. Families in Fairfield are diverse, with 45.3% being couples with children and 41.3% couples without children. The suburb has a high level of educational attainment, with 50.3% of residents holding a bachelor's degree or higher, significantly above the Victorian average of 29.2%. The median household income in Fairfield is $1,967 per week, which is above the Victorian average of $1,759.
Buyer fit
Who this suburb suits
One score per buyer type, out of 100, built from the demographic, housing and commute profile. Strongest first.
Buyer-fit score
Fairfield · 0–100
Show data table
| Buyer type | Score |
|---|---|
| Professionals | 85 |
| Families | 75 |
| Investors | 70 |
| Retirees | 60 |
| First home buyers | 55 |
Why professionals score highest
The signals doing the work
- High percentage of professionals - 42.8%
- Strong work-from-home culture - 43.6%
- Above average personal income - $1,093 weekly
- Proximity to higher education institutions
Against the state
How Fairfield differs from Victoria
Every bar is this suburb. The vertical tick is the Victorian figure — the gap between them is the story.
Housing & movement
What’s built here, and how people leave in the morning
Dwelling mix
Share of occupied private dwellings
Show data table
| Dwelling type | Share |
|---|---|
| Apartments | 34.6% |
| Separate houses | 43.7% |
| Townhouses | 21.3% |
How people get to work
Method of travel, 2021 Census
Show data table
| Method | Share |
|---|---|
| Worked from home | 43.6% |
| Drove a car | 28.8% |
| Public transport | 6.2% |
| Walked only | 2.5% |
| Car passenger | 1.5% |
Costs 2021 Census
Census figures, collected in 2021. Rents and repayments have moved since — for what property is selling for now, see .
Top occupations
Share of the employed workforce
Key highlights
- Highly educated population - 50.3% hold bachelor degrees (vs VIC 29.2%)
- Above average household income - $1,967 weekly (vs VIC $1,759)
- High work-from-home rate - 43.6% (vs VIC 25.7%)
- Diverse housing options - 43.7% separate houses, 34.6% apartments
- Low unemployment rate - 4.0% (vs VIC 5.0%)
Things to be aware of
- Higher rental rates with 41.4% renting (vs VIC 28.5%)
- Lower percentage of separate houses - 43.7% (vs VIC 73.4%)
- Significant mental health conditions reported at 12.6%
- High proportion of single-person households at 37.9%
- Potential challenges for first-home buyers due to high property costs
Coming soon to this page
Where the richer profile lands
Schools & catchments
Zoned primary and secondary, NAPLAN bands, distances.
Transport & access
Stations, tram routes, drive time to the CBD, walkability.
Development activity
Permits approved, projects underway, zoning changes.
Want to dig into one address in Fairfield?
A suburb page gets you this far. For a specific block you get what homes of that size sell for here, the schools that address is zoned to, any subdivisions proposed within 500 m, plus lot dimensions, easements, planning overlays and true sun aspect — free, no account.
X-Ray an address →Data sources
Demographic figures from the Census of Population and Housing © Australian Bureau of Statistics, used under Creative Commons Attribution.
Cadastral and boundary data contains information © State of Victoria (Vicmap), licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Narrative summaries are AI-generated from the underlying data and may contain errors.
School details, enrolments and senior secondary results from the National Schools Data Collection © Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).
School catchment boundaries contain information © State of Victoria (Department of Education), licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Base map © Mapbox © OpenStreetMap. Improve this map at openstreetmap.org/fixthemap.
Informational only — not financial, legal or planning advice. Verify zoning, overlays and catchments with the relevant council before relying on them. Data vintage: 2021 Census.