Best School Suburbs in Melbourne 2026
These are the best school access suburbs in Melbourne, drawn from SuburbCheck's data on every Melbourne suburb. Ranked by School Score — a national percentile combining the quality of nearby schools (ACARA ICSEA ratings) with school choice (how many schools are within reach). A score of 80 or above places a suburb in the top 20% nationally for access to strong schools. Scores update as new government data is released.
Last updated 12 June 2026.
- 1ArmadaleVIC 3143 · Stonnington$2.64M9,368 people100
- 2CanterburyVIC 3126 · Boroondara$3.32M7,800 people100
- 3Glen IrisVIC 3146 · Boroondara$2.50M26,131 people100
- 4CamberwellVIC 3124 · Boroondara$2.61M21,965 people99
- 5DeepdeneVIC 3103 · Boroondara$3.10M2,101 people99
- 6FairfieldVIC 3078 · Yarra$1.64M6,535 people99
- 7Fitzroy NorthVIC 3068 · Yarra$1.67M12,781 people99
- 8KewVIC 3101 · Boroondara$2.84M24,499 people99
- 9Mont AlbertVIC 3127 · Whitehorse$2.35M4,948 people99
- 10Surrey HillsVIC 3127 · Boroondara$2.35M13,655 people99
- 11ToorakVIC 3142 · Stonnington$5.76M12,817 people99
- 12AlphingtonVIC 3078 · Darebin$2.14M5,702 people98
- 13AshburtonVIC 3147 · Boroondara$2.00M7,952 people98
- 14Brighton EastVIC 3187 · Bayside$2.29M16,757 people98
- 15Carlton NorthVIC 3054 · Melbourne$1.57M6,177 people98
- 16HamptonVIC 3188 · Bayside$2.40M13,518 people98
- 17HawthornVIC 3122 · Boroondara$2.61M22,322 people98
- 18IvanhoeVIC 3079 · Banyule$1.82M13,374 people98
- 19Ivanhoe EastVIC 3079 · Banyule$2.24M3,762 people98
- 20Malvern EastVIC 3145 · Stonnington$2.14M22,296 people98
- 21Middle ParkVIC 3206 · Port Phillip$2.81M4,000 people98
- 22MurrumbeenaVIC 3163 · Glen Eira$1.68M9,996 people98
- 23PrahranVIC 3181 · Stonnington$1.79M12,203 people98
- 24South YarraVIC 3141 · Stonnington$2.19M25,028 people98
- 25St HelenaVIC 3088 · Banyule$1.19M2,890 people98
Frequently asked questions
Which suburb in Melbourne has the best schools?
Armadale tops SuburbCheck's School Score ranking for Melbourne, with a School Score of 100/100. The score reflects the quality (ICSEA) of nearby schools and how much school choice the area offers, benchmarked against every Australian suburb.
How is the School Score calculated?
The School Score is a national percentile (0–100) that combines the average ICSEA rating of the schools in and around a suburb with school choice (how many schools are within reach). It is led by quality — a score of 80 or above puts a suburb in the national top 20% for access to strong schools. ICSEA is used because the ACARA dataset has no NAPLAN figures.
What is ICSEA?
ICSEA (Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage) is ACARA's measure of the socio-educational background of a school's students, on a scale where 1000 is the national average. It's the standard like-for-like benchmark for comparing schools across Australia; higher-ICSEA schools tend to post stronger academic results.