Who lives here
16,055
residents at the 2021 Census
- Median age27
- Aged 65+8.4%
- Under 2535.9%
- Median household income$1,292/wk
- Median rent$365/wk
Melbourne, Victoria
The suburb Melbourne University never really leaves.
Carlton runs on Melbourne University and the Lygon Street strip that grew up feeding it: cheap eats becoming institutions, then institutions with white tablecloths. The population is 16,055, and the median age is 27, low even for inner Melbourne, because 35.9% of residents are under 25. Family income still runs to $2,066 a week, which tells you the rest of the story: this is not a poor student ghetto, it is a suburb where postgrads, young professionals and career academics share the same terrace houses.
Carlton already carries an estimated 4,910 local businesses, and that number is the real problem for a pizzeria that has run for years on Lygon Street off walk-in trade alone. It is no longer competing with the restaurant next door so much as every kitchen within an easy walk that also turns up when someone searches "pizza near Melbourne uni" on a Friday night. A fresh wave of students arrives every February with no loyalty and a phone already open, and with 35.9% of the suburb under 25, that search happens constantly. Household income runs to $1,292 a week, modest by inner-Melbourne standards, but a share house pooling incomes still orders dinner and is worth ranking for. The kitchen that shows up first online catches the students before they settle on a regular, in a suburb that resets every academic year.
Three vetted Australian developers, hand-picked to a Carlton brief, quoted in writing within 24 hours. Free, no obligation.
Live ABS data · updated 2026-08-29
The Carlton market, by the numbers.
Pulled from the Australian Bureau of Statistics: the 2021 Census for Carlton itself, and the latest Data by Region release (2025) for the Melbourne area. This is the market your website sells into.
The business scene
~4,910
businesses in Carlton (estimated*)
- Melbourne total46,783
- Solo / non-employing30,783
- 1–4 staff9,540
- 5–19 staff4,234
- 20+ staff2,226
86% of local businesses have fewer than 5 staff. That's exactly who FindDevs was built for.
Biggest local industries
Businesses by industry, Melbourne (2025)
-
Professional, scientific & technical services10,002
-
Financial & insurance services7,356
-
Rental, hiring & real estate6,922
-
Construction3,934
-
Accommodation & food services2,962
-
Health care & social assistance2,696
*Suburb business estimate: LGA business count (ABS CABEE, Data by Region) apportioned by the suburb's share of the LGA population at the 2021 Census; rounded to the nearest 10. Sources: ABS Census 2021 (Suburbs and Localities), ABS Data by Region. Refreshed 2026-08-29.
Typical projects
What Carlton businesses actually build.
Indicative ranges from briefs like these in the FindDevs network. Your three quotes will be specific to your scope.
Café & Restaurant Site
Typical price
$3,500 – $9,500
Timeline
3–5 weeks
A booking-ready site for a Lygon Street café or restaurant, built for the dinner rush: current menu, table bookings, and a page that loads fast on a phone outside on the footpath.
- Online table bookings
- Menu with prices, easy to update
- Mobile-first for foot traffic
- Trading hours and map up front
Consultancy & Professional Site
Typical price
$3,000 – $8,000
Timeline
2–4 weeks
A credibility-first site for a consultant, adviser or academic working near the university: clear services, case studies, and an enquiry form that reads as polished as the client across the table.
- Services and case studies pages
- Enquiry form built in
- Credibility-first design
- Fast on laptop or phone
Rental & Room Listings Portal
Typical price
$4,500 – $12,000
Timeline
4–6 weeks
A listings and enquiry site for share houses and student rooms near the university, built to fill a vacancy fast in a suburb where 35.9% of residents are under 25.
- Listings with photos and filters
- Enquiry and application forms
- Mobile-first for room hunters
- Fast updates when a room lets
Free · No signup wall · Stay anonymous if you want · 2 minutes
Why FindDevs in Carlton
Local knowledge, without being stuck with one local option.
Three quotes, not one local guess.
Around Carlton the problem isn't finding someone who says they build websites. It's telling who's actually good. We vet so you don't have to, then hand you three written quotes from developers matched to your exact brief, in 24 hours.
All Australian. All vetted.
Every developer holds an ABN, works Australian hours, and passed our vetting: portfolio, communication, and references from Aussie clients. 12% acceptance rate. No offshore hand-offs.
Built for Carlton's actual customers.
The median age in Carlton is 27. Your customers find everything on their phones, usually in a spare minute. We match developers who build mobile-first, fast-loading pages that turn that search into a call or a booking.
Free, with a safety net.
The service costs you nothing. Developers cover our fee from their winning quote, never inflated into your price. And if a matched developer drops the ball mid-project, we step in. Service Guarantee, always.
FAQ
Carlton questions.
It depends on what the site needs to do. A café or restaurant site with table bookings and a live menu runs $3,500 – $9,500. A consultancy or professional services site with case studies and an enquiry form runs $3,000 – $8,000. A rental or room listings portal with filters and applications runs $4,500 – $12,000. FindDevs matches you with three vetted Australian developers who each quote against your brief, so you compare fixed prices before choosing, not after.
Timelines depend on scope. A café or restaurant site typically takes 3–5 weeks, a consultancy or professional site 2–4 weeks, and a rental or room listings portal with applications built in 4–6 weeks. The three developers you're matched with each give you a fixed timeframe alongside their quote, so you know the delivery date before you commit to anyone.
Carlton's population turns over every academic year, with 35.9% of residents under 25 and a fresh wave of students arriving each February with no loyalty to any business yet. Even a Lygon Street shopfront that gets plenty of foot traffic loses jobs to whoever comes up first when someone searches from their phone before they've unpacked. A website that states hours, price and location plainly does the introducing that word of mouth used to do, before word of mouth exists.
Fixed prices
Know the price before you talk to anyone.
These are published fixed-price builds, available to Carlton businesses like any other. No hourly rates, no discovery call before you can see a number.
Starter Business Website
$1,990
1–2 weeks
A sharp five-page website that makes a small business look established, live in a fortnight.
See what's includedProfessional Business Website
$4,950
2–4 weeks
The full small-business build: 8–12 pages, booking or quoting flows, and local SEO that actually ranks.
See what's includedLocal SEO Build-Out
$2,950
2 weeks
The ranking machine bolted onto your existing site: service pages, suburb pages, schema and reviews, done properly once.
See what's includedWebsite Care Plan
$190
Ongoing monthly
Hosting, updates, backups, security and monthly changes, all handled, so your site stays fast and safe without you thinking about it.
See what's included
Your industry
Developers who have built for your trade before.
The biggest employers around Carlton, by registered businesses in Melbourne. Each one has its own page, because a cafe site and a plant-hire site are not the same job.
Professional, scientific & technical services
10,002
local businesses
Web developers for this sector
Rental, hiring & real estate
6,922
local businesses
Web developers for this sector
Construction
3,934
local businesses
Web developers for this sector
Accommodation & food services
2,962
local businesses
Web developers for this sector
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