REDLANDS Coast and Bayside residents have always bragged about their bayside paradise – and now two major national indexes have backed them up, crowning the region one of the best places in Australia to live, work and thrive.
The SGS 2025 Cities and Regions Wellbeing Index, and the 2025 Australia Unity Wellbeing Index have both cemented the region’s reputation as an enviable lifestyle hotspot.
Last month’s SGS Economics and Planning report examined 24 indicators across employment, housing, health, environment, economy, equality and work-life balance – and Brisbane and the Redlands Coast once again muscled their way into the Top 5 highest-performing LGAs in Queensland.
The latest report shows that Redlands Coast and Brisbane maintained their ranking in the Top 5 of highest performing Local Government Areas in Queensland in terms of wellbeing levels – along with the Gold Coast, Douglas Shire and Cairns, which toppled Noosa from this year’s Top 5.
And the accolades keep coming.
The annual Australian Unity Wellbeing Index – one of the nation’s longest-running measures of life satisfaction – also placed the federal electorates of Bowman and Bonner as among Australia’s most content communities.
The PWI scale contains seven items of satisfaction, each one corresponding to a quality-of-life domain as: Standard of living, health, achieving in life, relationships, safety, community-connectedness, and future security.
Conducted for two decades by Deakin University, the index paints a national picture of happiness – and Bowman and Bonner are glowing.
Bowman achieved a perfect Personal Wellbeing Index score of 10 out of 10.
It scored top marks for achieving in life, personal relationships and community-connectedness, while scoring 9 out of 10 for standard of living, health, personal safety, and future security.
Meanwhile, Bonner achieved a Personal Wellbeing Index score of 9 out of 10. It scored 10 out of 10 for personal relationships and personal safety and 9 out of 10 for health, achieving in life, community-connectedness, and future security.
The Bowman electorate is home to 159,222 people, with a median age of 43 and a slight majority of women (51.2 per cent).
Around one in four residents were born overseas, although few speak a language other than English at home.
Unemployment sits at 4.4 per cent, while most households earn between $91,000 and $104,000 and own their homes.
Nearby Bonner has a slightly larger population of 162,883 and a younger median age of 38.
Women also make up 51.2 per cent of residents.
Bonner is more culturally diverse, with 31 per cent born overseas and 22.6 per cent speaking another language at home.
Unemployment is 4.6 per cent, and median household incomes are higher, ranging from $104,000 to $130,000, with just over a quarter of residents renting.
