What's the best place to raise a family in Australia?

If you've got kids, or you're planning on having them and getting yourself organised, a question you may be asking yourself is: what's the best place to raise a family in Australia? It's an important question. Where you plant roots affects a lot, including schooling, time spent commuting, what you’ll do on weekends and many also settle in one place while bringing up kids. So it’s great to choose well.

And there's no single winner perfect for everyone but some places really do tick a lot of boxes.

Australia is enormous, stunningly beautiful and wildly varied, and the best place to raise a family depends on what your family actually values: space, schools, job opportunities, weather, or just being close to grandma. Still, some places consistently check a lot of boxes for families, and as interstate removals specialists, we've spent some time digging into the country's gems.

Cities and regions that tick the family-friendly box

Brisbane, QLD

Brisbane has become something of a darling for families over the last decade and it’s not just because of Bluey (although the Bluey citycat is pretty cool). It combines a lot of benefits into one tidy package, including:

• a great place to live
• many work and career options
• good for raising kids with lots of culture, activities and things to do
• a capital city with a mild climate
• laid-back outdoor lifestyle
• property prices usually less than Sydney or Melbourne.

Suburbs like Kenmore, Carindale and The Gap offer good schools, parks and that suburban breathing room families crave, all while staying within easy reach of the CBD and a genuine job market. Brisbane boasts the greatest concentration of green space of any Australian city, which translates to more room for your kids to run, play and enjoy the great outdoors, without giving up the career opportunities and amenities that come with capital city living.

Toowoomba, QLD

Sitting a little over 90 minutes west of Brisbane on the Darling Downs, Toowoomba is the sleeper hit for families who want city-sized convenience without the city-sized price tag - or the humidity. Known as the Garden City, it's got quite a different climate to the rest of Queensland: cooler nights, four proper seasons, and streets lined with jacarandas that put on a show every spring during the famous Carnival of Flowers.

It's a great-sized city that is big enough for:

• excellent schools (both public and a strong stable of well-regarded private and grammar schools)
• a growing food and café scene
• a proper hospital
• university presence

It’s also small enough that you're not losing your weekends to traffic. 

Families are drawn to the abundance of parks and green space, from the heritage-listed Queens Park and Botanic Gardens right through the suburbs. There are sports, activities and a close proximity to Brisbane for special events or occasions.

Adelaide, SA

Adelaide has a lot of appeal for families. It's compact enough that school runs and commutes don't eat your whole day, but big enough to have excellent hospitals, universities and cultural offerings. It stands out as a beautiful place to settle with its tree-lined streets, stunning heritage houses and shady park areas ringing the city centre.

What really sets Adelaide apart is the lifestyle mix. This is a city that takes its food seriously, with a produce and wine culture that runs deep thanks to the Adelaide Hills, Barossa and McLaren Vale right on the doorstep, plus a market and laneway dining scene that makes this spot a drawcard for any foodie family. Add in beaches like Henley, Glenelg and Semaphore just a short drive from most suburbs, and you've got a capital city where weekends can include hills, coast and city markets.

Hobart, TAS

Hobart has built a reputation as a spot for families wanting a slower pace, clean air and a strong sense of community. The schools here are well regarded, and the surrounding foothills of kunanyi/Mount Wellington offer weekend hikes and a lovely small-town (but not too small) feel without sacrificing access to good healthcare, education and a properly cosmopolitan food and arts scene, thanks in no small part to MONA and the waterfront precinct. 

It's a compact capital where the harbour, the mountain and the CBD all sit within a short drive of one another, which makes for an easy, unhurried kind of family life that's hard to replicate on the mainland.

Sunshine Coast, QLD

The Sunshine Coast is the pick for families chasing the beach city lifestyle without the Sydney price tag. Towns like Caloundra, Coolum, Mooloolaba and Maroochydore have become increasingly popular, offering that rare combination of a genuine coastal town feel with the infrastructure of a growing city - good schools, a solid hospital, and a university in the mix.

Newcastle, NSW

Newcastle has worked to transform itself over the past decade from an industrial port town into one of the most liveable cities on the east coast. It's got city beaches (Nobbys and Bar Beach are both a short ride from the CBD), a good public transport network for a regional city, and a growing university presence that's brought younger families and a decent café and bar scene along with it.

For families, the appeal is the combination: real job opportunities in health, education and construction, good schools across the city and surrounding suburbs like Merewether and New Lambton, and beaches and harbourside parks at a fraction of the price and less than a 90-minute train ride from Sydney if you still need the big city occasionally.

Mildura, VIC

Sitting on the banks of the Murray River in Victoria's sun-baked north-west, Mildura is proof that a great family life doesn't have to happen near the coast. It's a genuine regional hub with a Mediterranean climate, citrus groves and vineyards on the outskirts, and a food and wine scene that outperforms its size thanks to the horticulture industry that built the town.

Housing affordability is a big drawcard, with median house prices well below the state average, and families get a real work-life balance here: less time commuting, more time on the river, at sport, or at one of the regional festivals the town is known for. It's a long way from the capital cities, but for families willing to trade proximity for space and affordability, it's hard to beat.

Perth: Bayswater, Midland & Success Hill, WA

Perth doesn't always get the airtime of the eastern capitals, but its inner-northeastern suburbs get called out as some of the best places for families to live. Bayswater, just a few kilometres from the CBD along the Swan River, has transformed from an industrial pocket into a genuinely trendy, family-friendly suburb with cafés, breweries and river-front parks, all while staying more affordable than the western suburbs.

Nearby Midland is the hub of Perth's east - a major train and bus interchange, a big shopping centre, a public hospital and a real mix of housing, from character homes to new estates, which makes it a practical choice for growing families. Success Hill and the surrounding Bassendean pocket round out the trio, offering leafy, riverside streets and a quieter, villagey feel while still being on the train line into the city. Together, this stretch gives families Perth's river lifestyle and city access without the price tag of the coastal suburbs.

Yamba, NSW

Yamba, at the mouth of the Clarence River on the NSW North Coast, is the pick for families who want the beach lifestyle in a smaller, tight-knit town. It regularly turns up on best-town lists, and it's easy to see why: safe, patrolled beaches, a laid-back café and boutique scene, and a real sense of community that's hard to find in bigger coastal centres.

It's smaller than Newcastle, Coffs Harbour or the Sunshine Coast, so it suits families after a proper sea-change rather than city convenience. If you’re after a smaller and more chill location for you and your kids, this is a great option.

Victor Harbor, SA

An hour south of Adelaide on the Fleurieu Peninsula, Victor Harbor is the classic South Australian seaside town, and a growing number of families are making the move from a holiday base to a full-time home. Encounter Bay is sheltered and family-friendly, Granite Island and the horse-drawn tram are a genuine drawcard for the kids, and the town has a cooler, more temperate climate than Adelaide in summer, which locals treat as a selling point in its own right.

It's smaller and slower than the capital, but with a proper town centre, good schools and easy access back up to Adelaide when you need it, it suits families after space, sea air and a strong community feel over big-city buzz.

What makes a place family-friendly?

For any location you’re considering, there are a few key things worth weighing up, including:

• Schools and childcare availability. Some of the great schools have waitlists and this can catch families off guard. You also want to make sure childcare is available if needed.
• Healthcare access. Proximity to a good GP and a decent hospital matters a lot once you've got kids.
• Community feel. Some suburbs have a strong sense of connection, with local sporting clubs, markets and events. Others feel more transient.
• Cost of living. Housing is the obvious one, but don't forget childcare fees, transport and everyday expenses.
• Commute times. An extra hour a day in the car adds up fast when you're trying to get to school for pickup or a Saturday footy game.
• Future opportunities for your children as they become qualified for their careers or working age.

When you've found "the one," here's where we come in

Once you've settled on the best place to raise a family for your household, the next challenge is actually getting there. And if that "there" happens to be a different state altogether, that's where interstate removals come into play, and where a lot of families realise the move itself can be more stressful than the decision to move.

Interstate removals involve a fair bit more planning than a local shift across town. You're dealing with longer transit times, different logistics depending on whether your goods travel by road or rail, and the general chaos of coordinating a move while still working full time and wrangling kids. A good removalist takes a lot of that pressure off your shoulders, handling the packing, transport and timing so you can focus on the school enrolments and the goodbye barbecues.

If you're weighing up a move to any location we’ve suggested on this list, it's worth getting a quote for a removalist early in the process. Booking ahead gives you more flexibility with dates, and it means one less thing to worry about while you're busy figuring out which suburb has the best local park. It also relieves you of the concern of ensuring your own choice of moving date is locked in and going to happen.

The bottom line

There isn't a universal answer to the best place to raise a family in Australia, but that's a good thing. It means there's somewhere out there that suits your family's rhythm, whether that's beachside Queensland, laid-back Tasmania, a river town in regional Victoria or a quieter coastal pocket of South Australia. Do your homework, visit if you can, and talk to other parents in the area before you commit.

And when the time comes to make the move official, we're here to help with your interstate removals and make the logistics the easiest part of the whole adventure.

Happy Moving!