Surry Hills · Suburb / Locality

Walkability in Surry Hills

How much of daily life sits within a walk of home — a transparent 0–10 walkability score and the everyday destinations you can reach on foot: shops, public transport, schools, parks and health services, plus the streets and terrain in between.

A 7.5% average slope makes Surry Hills a hilly landscape, yet it remains a walker's paradise with a score of 9.8. Every single home in the area is within a 15-minute walk of a wide range of amenities, far exceeding the state average.

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📍 Surry Hills, Suburb / Locality

Where Surry Hills sits — Walkability score

9.8 A walker's paradise
  • 0.0–0.4: 7643 areas
  • 0.4–0.7: 936 areas
  • 0.7–1.1: 607 areas
  • 1.1–1.4: 409 areas
  • 1.4–1.8: 339 areas
  • 1.8–2.1: 286 areas
  • 2.1–2.5: 268 areas
  • 2.5–2.9: 253 areas
  • 2.9–3.2: 267 areas
  • 3.2–3.6: 273 areas
  • 3.6–3.9: 281 areas
  • 3.9–4.3: 291 areas
  • 4.3–4.6: 311 areas
  • 4.6–5.0: 280 areas
  • 5.0–5.4: 308 areas
  • 5.4–5.7: 296 areas
  • 5.7–6.1: 271 areas
  • 6.1–6.4: 257 areas
  • 6.4–6.8: 245 areas
  • 6.8–7.1: 204 areas
  • 7.1–7.5: 211 areas
  • 7.5–7.9: 167 areas
  • 7.9–8.2: 188 areas
  • 8.2–8.6: 145 areas
  • 8.6–8.9: 126 areas
  • 8.9–9.3: 95 areas
  • 9.3–9.6: 62 areas
  • 9.6–10.0: 23 areas

All suburb / locality areas, 2021. The marker is Surry Hills — a walker's paradise of areas.

Walkability score compared with the state and national average
Surry Hills9.8
2010, NSW 9.8
New South Wales 6.2

Walking times to everyday amenities

Share of homes (G-NAF addresses) in Surry Hills by walking time to the nearest amenity of each type, on an elevation-aware pedestrian network. How we calculate this →

The score

The overall walkability score and how much of daily life is a short walk away.

The area is exceptionally walkable, with 100% of homes falling within a 15-minute-city walkshed. This is far above the New South Wales figure of 71.9%, and residents have access to 8 different types of amenities within a short stroll.

9.8

A walker's paradise of suburb / locality areas.

A 0–10 score for how much of daily life sits within an easy walk of the average home — weighing how close groceries, public transport, cafés, parks, health services, schools, culture and everyday services are, and how many of each. Walking times are measured on an elevation-aware pedestrian network, so hills count against reach. The methodology page describes how the score is put together.

8.0

Higher than 99% of suburb / locality areas.

How many of the eight everyday amenity types — groceries, food & drink, health, schools, parks, culture, everyday services and public transport — the average home can reach on foot within 15 minutes, out of 8.

100.0%

Higher than 99% of suburb / locality areas.

Share of local homes that can reach at least five of the eight everyday amenity types within a 15-minute walk — the "15-minute city" test. Homes are counted as addresses (G-NAF), not people.

What's in walking distance

How many homes can walk to groceries, transport, schools, parks and health services.

Every home is within a 15-minute walk of transport, parks, schools, groceries, and health services, with the gap for health services being the largest compared to the state. Most residents can reach food, groceries, and parks in under five minutes, while school access is slightly lower at 64% within a five-minute walk.

Streets & terrain

Amenity density, how well the streets connect, and how hilly the walk is.

There are 791 intersections per square kilometre across the suburb. With 17.8 walkable amenities per 1,000 residents, the area has a little more access to services than the state average.

17.8

Higher than 59% of suburb / locality areas.

Walkable amenities — shops, cafés, parks, health services, schools, cultural and community places, everyday services and public-transport stops — per 1,000 residents. Measures how much is around, apart from how far it is to walk there.

7.5%

Higher than 66% of suburb / locality areas.

Average terrain slope across the area, as a percent grade. Steeper ground shortens how far people will walk; it is already folded into the walkability score through the elevation-aware pedestrian network, and is shown here on its own for context.

Sources

  • Walkability (OpenStreetMap, GTFS, ACARA & G-NAF, via Valhalla) — OpenStreetMap contributors, state transport agencies, ACARA & Geoscape Australia, 2026 (ODbL 1.0 + CC BY).

More for Surry Hills

Cite this page

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Walkability in Surry Hills [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/sal/SAL13714/surry-hills/topic/walkability