New drivers aren't spread evenly across Melbourne. Out in the growth corridors, streets full of teenagers and two-car driveways produce far more learner demand than the inner suburbs, where trams, trains and short distances make it easy to put off getting a licence. DriveScore puts a number on it: a 0–100 demand index built from three ABS Census measures, suburb by suburb.
The rankings: Mount Burnett leads at 87/100
| # | Suburb | DriveScore | Aged 15–24 | Cars per home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mount Burnett | 87/100 | 25.0% | 2.4 |
| 2 | Warrandyte South | 82/100 | 18.2% | 2.7 |
| 3 | Guys Hill | 82/100 | 18.3% | 2.6 |
| 4 | Park Orchards | 78/100 | 17.6% | 2.4 |
| 5 | Lysterfield South | 78/100 | 16.4% | 2.6 |
| 6 | Yering | 77/100 | 17.4% | 3.0 |
| 7 | Plenty (Vic.) | 77/100 | 16.4% | 2.5 |
| 8 | Oaklands Junction | 75/100 | 17.5% | 2.6 |
| 9 | Kangaroo Ground | 74/100 | 16.6% | 2.4 |
| 10 | Langwarrin South | 73/100 | 16.0% | 2.6 |
| 11 | Yarrambat | 73/100 | 16.5% | 2.5 |
| 12 | Wonga Park | 72/100 | 15.8% | 2.4 |
| 13 | Narre Warren North | 72/100 | 16.0% | 2.6 |
| 14 | Waterways | 72/100 | 16.5% | 2.2 |
| 15 | Harkaway | 72/100 | 15.3% | 2.5 |
| 16 | Lysterfield | 71/100 | 16.3% | 2.4 |
| 17 | Long Forest | 70/100 | 15.7% | 2.5 |
| 18 | Warranwood | 69/100 | 15.9% | 2.2 |
| 19 | Warrandyte | 69/100 | 16.0% | 2.3 |
| 20 | Kilsyth South | 69/100 | 17.2% | 2.3 |
| 21 | Narre Warren East | 69/100 | 15.2% | 2.5 |
| 22 | Hopetoun Park | 66/100 | 13.8% | 2.7 |
| 23 | Beaconsfield Upper | 66/100 | 13.6% | 2.4 |
| 24 | Research | 65/100 | 14.1% | 2.2 |
| 25 | Gisborne South | 65/100 | 12.8% | 2.4 |
Youth plus car dependence is what puts a suburb on top
Read down the columns and the pattern is plain: the suburbs at the top pair a big learning-age population with heavy car dependence, and the bottom rows show the opposite — fewer residents at learning age, fewer cars per home, daily life that works without driving. Where two suburbs look alike on age share and cars per home, the third input — household income, the lowest-weighted of the three — is usually what separates their scores.
For learners, the ranking cuts both ways. A high-DriveScore suburb has more families competing for the same instructors — which is exactly where booking ahead (and comparing prices, since the hourly rate barely moves by suburb) pays off. Instructors read it the other way: the top of this table is where the work is.
How DriveScore works
Three ABS Census 2021 measures feed every suburb's score, each normalised to a set band and weighted: share of residents aged 15–24 (45% of the score, banded 5–25%), motor vehicles per dwelling (30%, banded 0.5–2.5), and median household income (25%, banded $800–$3,500 a week). The result is a single 0–100 index — the same score on every suburb page of our driving lessons directory.
Three honest limitations. DriveScore models the conditions for learner-driver demand — it isn't a count of learner permits, which the ABS doesn't publish by suburb. It's built on Census 2021 — the most recent Census with published data; the 2026 Census was counted on 11 August 2026 but its first release lands mid-2027 — so fast-growing estates have likely grown further since. And where a suburb is missing one of the three inputs, that input scores a neutral 50 rather than dropping the suburb from the ranking.
Journalists: rankings for any region, the full methodology, or comment — [email protected]. Reuse freely with attribution to DriveBuddy. Source: ABS Census 2021 via DriveBuddy DriveScore.