For state-level context, explore the New South Wales economy.
Kensington
New South Wales · Census 2021
Kensington (NSW) is a dense inner suburb of Randwick.
Median house price
Rolling median of settled transfers, state Valuer-General open data (CC BY 4.0). Median of New South Wales suburb medians: $1.0M.
How it compares
Percentiles rank this suburb against New South Wales suburbs that carry the metric — never across states, and never against suburbs where it is missing. Price references are ABS median established-house transfer prices for the Mar 2026 quarter (CC BY 4.0); the suburb figure is a Valuer-General median over a different window, so read the gap as indicative. Income references are the Census 2021 median of the middle suburb in New South Wales and nationally, not a household-weighted median.
People & housing
Who lives here
- Couples with children
- 23%
- −9 pts vs NSW
- Living alone
- 30%
- +6 pts vs NSW
- Unemployment
- 6%
- +1 pts vs NSW
- In the labour force
- 62%
- +3 pts vs NSW
- Bachelor degree or higher
- 45%
- +17 pts vs NSW
- Earning $1–$499 a week
- 18%
- −5 pts vs NSW
- Earning $2,000+ a week
- 18%
- +5 pts vs NSW
Households for the family mix, residents aged 15+ for work, education and income; unemployment is a share of the labour force. NSW figures weight each suburb by its dwellings or residents. ABS Census 2021 (CC BY 4.0). Withheld for very small populations — under 100 residents, or under 50 dwellings, households or workers for the shares that count those.
Housing stock
4,354 occupied private dwellings
- Separate house 21%
- Flat or apartment 71%
- Semi, terrace & other 8%
NSW: 65% separate houses · 22% flats & apartments
- Owned outright 24%
- Mortgaged 19%
- Rented 55%
- Other & not stated 2%
NSW: 31% owned outright · 33% mortgaged · 33% rented
ABS Census 2021 (CC BY 4.0). Withheld for very small populations — under 100 residents, or under 50 dwellings, households or workers for the shares that count those.
Terrain & hazard exposure
Shares are the proportion of the suburb's land area. Land where Landsat saw water in at least 1% of clear passes since 1987, excluding permanent water and filtered by DEA's confidence layer. Satellites miss flood peaks, so this is a floor, not a risk estimate; dense high-rise cores can still register tower shadow as water. No flood map lodged in the NSW planning instruments for most of this suburb; most councils keep theirs in a development control plan. Designated for development control; a designation, not a prediction of fire behaviour. Elevation is orthometric height from a 30 m model; no hydrology or drainage is modelled.
Planning & zoning
- Low-density residential37%
- Open space & recreation25%
- General / medium / high-density residential19%
- Infrastructure & special purpose16%
- Centres & mixed use3.3%
Planning instruments: Randwick Local Environmental Plan 2012; Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012. Zones are grouped into ten families so states compare; the council's own scheme is the authority for any one lot. Height, floor space ratio and lot size are the NSW Local Environmental Plan standards: the area-weighted median over the residential-zoned land where the LEP maps that standard, given only where it maps it on at least half of that land; clause-based exceptions are not modelled. Not given because the LEP maps it on under half of the suburb's residential land (usually only its centres): minimum lot size (47%). Listed-place counts follow each state's own list, so they do not compare across states. Source: NSW EPI Land Zoning; NSW EPI Heritage; NSW EPI Height of Buildings, Floor Space Ratio and Lot Size.
Local amenities
Amenity counts via © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) & Geoscience Australia HealthDirect (CC BY 4.0). Distance to coast derived from ABS state boundaries (CC BY 4.0).
Culture & community
- Dominant religion
- No religion · 38%
- Top language at home
- Mandarin · 4%
- No religion
- 38%
- Born overseas
- 48%
- English only at home
- 59%
Schools by sector
- Government / Catholic / Indep.
- 1 / 3 / 0
- Primary / Secondary
- 3 / 1
- Nearest secondary
- 0.1 km
School sector & type: ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority), School Location dataset.
Local council
- Council (LGA)
- Randwick
- Population
- 146,484 (2025) · +1.2% in a year
- Area / density
- 36 km² · 4,035/km²
- Council medians (2021)
- age 37 · $2,305/wk household income · $550/wk rent
- Council-wide house median (2023-24)
- $3.1M
- Federal grants
- $5.10M in 2025-26 · $35/resident
- Website
- randwick.nsw.gov.au
Council boundaries and the suburb split: ABS ASGS LGA 2024, allocated by 2021 mesh block and weighted by Census 2021 residents. Population: ABS Estimated Resident Population 2025. Medians: ABS Census 2021. House median: ABS Data by Region, established-house transfers across the whole council, financial year 2023-24. Federal grants: Financial Assistance Grants, Dept of Infrastructure. ABS and Dept of Infrastructure data CC BY 4.0; council website from Wikidata (CC0).
Representation
- Federal division
- Kingsford Smith
- Federal MP
- Matt Thistlethwaite (ALP)
- Two-party-preferred
- Labor 67% 2PP
- State electorate
- Heffron
- State MP
- Ron Hoenig (ALP)
Crime & safety
FY2024–25, 2-yr pooled. Recorded incidents: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR); adjusted to the ABS Crime Victimisation Survey; ABS ERP population denominator. All CC BY 4.0. Percentile is the population-weighted rank among suburbs in the same state — higher means more reported crime. Ranks are never compared across states, because each police force counts offences under its own rules.
Comparable suburbs
Closest by median house price across NSW.
Similar suburbs
Closest demographic & amenity profile, nationally.
Sources: ABS ASGS boundaries (CC BY 4.0); ABS Census 2021 (CC BY 4.0); New South Wales Valuer-General settled transfers (CC BY 4.0); ACARA School Locations (CC BY 4.0); © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); Australian Electoral Commission (CC BY 4.0); Geoscience Australia 1 Second DEM-S (CC BY 4.0); DEA Water Observations Statistics, Geoscience Australia (CC BY 4.0); NSW Environmental Planning Instrument — Flood, NSW Department of Planning (CC BY 4.0); NSW Bush Fire Prone Land, NSW Rural Fire Service (CC BY 4.0); NSW Environmental Planning Instrument — Land Zoning, NSW Department of Planning (CC BY); NSW Environmental Planning Instrument — Heritage, NSW Department of Planning (CC BY); NSW Environmental Planning Instrument — Height of Buildings, Floor Space Ratio and Minimum Lot Size, NSW Department of Planning (CC BY); Wikipedia state-member tables (CC BY-SA 4.0). Not financial advice.