Westmead, NSW 2145

Westmead, about 26 km west of the Sydney CBD, is dominated by one of Australia's largest health, hospital and medical-research campuses: 975-bed Westmead Hospital (opened 1978, a major teaching hospital of the University of Sydney serving a catchment of about 1.85 million people) sits beside The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Westmead Private Hospital (Ramsay), Cumberland Hospital and the Westmead Centre for Oral Health, and the suburb doubles as the University of Sydney's and Western Sydney University's Western Sydney health-and-research base. Despite the medical towers it is also a genuinely multicultural, family-oriented suburb: at the 2021 census Westmead had 16,555 residents with a young, workforce-heavy profile — median age 33, and the 30–39 age band the biggest cohort at 27% of the population — and roughly 30% of residents were born in India, the largest birthplace after Australia, alongside large South Asian, Filipino, Chinese and other migrant communities (2021 ABS Census data). StMate's suburb profile describes a place that 'runs on shift changes, research grants and a steady stream of students and medical staff', with apartments dominating today's sales mix (83% of current listings) as density grows around the station, light rail and hospital precinct (StMate).

At a Glance

Transport

Westmead railway station (opened 1883; 25.16 km from Central) is served by T1 North Shore & Western, T5 Cumberland and Blue Mountains Line trains, giving direct services to the CBD and through Parramatta. Since 20 December 2024 it has also been the terminus of the L4 Westmead & Carlingford light rail line, whose stop at the corner of Hawkesbury Road and Railway Parade links Westmead via the hospital stops and Parramatta's CBD through Camellia, Rydalmere, Dundas and Telopea to Carlingford. Buses are extensive: the North-West T-way transitway runs from both Parramatta and the Hills district, an interchange is close by on Darcy Road, and NightRide bus routes serve the station overnight. A future Sydney Metro West underground station — the line's western terminus — is under construction at Westmead targeting opening in 2032, and light rail Stage 2 is planned to extend toward Sydney Olympic Park.

Schools

Westmead Public School is the local government primary school, joined by The Children's Hospital School (on the hospital campus) and Palm Avenue School (a government school for specific purposes), while non-government primaries include Mother Teresa Catholic Primary School and Westmead Christian Grammar School (K–6) (StMate). For secondary schooling the suburb has two well-known Catholic colleges in-suburb — Catherine McAuley Westmead (girls, Years 7–12) and Parramatta Marist High School at 2 Darcy Road — while the nearest government high school is Arthur Phillip High School in neighbouring Parramatta's CBD, a co-educational public high school of about 1,460 students whose high-rise tower campus was completed in 2020.

Universities

Two universities have in-suburb Westmead campuses. Western Sydney University's Westmead campus at 158–162 Hawkesbury Road is part of the Westmead Health and Innovation Precinct: it is home to the NICM Health Research Institute, the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development and the Translational Health Research Institute, alongside co-tenants including CSIRO, WentWest, Psych Central and Telstra Health, and sits a five-minute walk from Westmead station (Western Sydney University). The University of Sydney runs its Westmead campus and clinical school from the hospital precinct — its principal clinical teaching base in Western Sydney, with more than 2,500 University of Sydney students based at Westmead and $100M invested by the university in the Westmead Health Precinct.

Shopping & Amenities

Everyday shopping centres on a compact local centre along the Darcy Road/Hawkesbury Road spine, anchored by a full-size Coles at 29–33 Darcy Road near Westmead Private Hospital, with more shops and grocers in neighbouring Wentworthville's strip just across the boundary; cafes and casual eateries cluster around the hospital precinct and the station/light-rail interchange, catering to staff, students and outpatients (Coles; StMate). The health precinct itself adds amenities in the form of the Westmead Centre for Oral Health and a cluster of medical and research buildings, and Parramatta's Westfield and Church Street retail strip is a short trip east in the adjoining city centre.

Parks & Outdoors

The suburb's northern boundary is the Parramatta River, and Parramatta Park — the historic Old Government House domain with open parkland, river frontage, picnic areas and walking/cycling paths — lies immediately across the river in the neighbouring suburb, an easy stroll or ride from the Westmead side (City of Parramatta; Parramatta Park). Shannons Paddock, a district-scale playground on Darcy Road at the Westmead–Wentworthville boundary, was rebuilt with heritage-inspired play equipment under a City of Parramatta landscape masterplan (ParraParents; City of Parramatta). Toongabbie Creek and Finlayson Creek line the north-west edge of the suburb, with creekside corridors and pocket parks and sporting fields among the residential streets.

Property Market

The median house price in Westmead was around Trackers diverge because relatively few freestanding houses trade: Cotality/OnTheHouse puts the median house value at $1,676,679, StMate's median house price is $1.93m (4-bed median $1.93m) and YIP/CoreLogic lists $2.0m on 34 house sales over 12 months — a realistic working range of roughly $1.7m–$2.0m (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. Westmead is an apartment-dominated market — about 83% of current listings are units/apartments reflecting the newer development around the station, light rail and hospital precinct, while detached houses make up only about 12% of listings (StMate). Rental demand is underpinned by hospital shift workers, students and the health precinct. YIP's eye-catching 20.5% one-year house-growth figure reflects a very small, volatile sales sample (34 house sales/12 months) and should be treated with caution; StMate's compound house growth is +6%/yr over 4 years. Figures retrieved Sep 2026; medians vary between trackers by method, sales window and house/unit mix.

New Developments

Westmead is the centrepiece of the NSW Government's Westmead Health and Innovation District vision — planned as 'Australia's premier health and innovation district' — guided by the Westmead Place Strategy adopted in August 2022 to drive new jobs in health, education and innovation (NSW Planning; At Parramatta). More than $1 billion has been invested in redeveloping the health precinct, including the Westmead Redevelopment (Stages 1A and 1B) and The Children's Hospital at Westmead works still being delivered into 2025–26, plus a July 2026 package of over $38 million for additional beds, services and staff at Westmead Hospital. A new Integrated Mental Health Complex at Cumberland Hospital, planned to be the largest in NSW, was slated to open around 2026. Transport investment anchors the growth: Parramatta Light Rail Stage 1 opened in December 2024 and Sydney Metro West's underground Westmead terminus station targets opening in 2032.

Jobs & Local Economy

Health is the suburb's economic engine and one of NSW's biggest single-site employment bases: Westmead Hospital provides more than 1.5 million occasions of outpatient care and about 107,000 inpatient episodes a year (2016/17), with roughly 21,000 operations, almost 5,800 births and over 75,000 emergency presentations annually, on one of the largest health and hospital campuses in Australia. The research and education layer adds white-collar jobs at Western Sydney University's Westmead campus (NICM, MARCS and THRI research institutes plus CSIRO and other tenants) and the University of Sydney's Westmead clinical school, with The Children's Hospital, Westmead Private Hospital and Cumberland Hospital adding thousands more clinical roles. Retail and services jobs in the local centre, plus the adjacent Parramatta CBD, round out the employment base (StMate).

Nearby Suburbs

Parramatta, Wentworthville, Northmead, North Parramatta, Mays Hill

Sources & method

Researched 4 September 2026 from named public sources — census and government records, transport authorities, council and planning documents — plus published sales data. Where sources disagree on a figure, the guide says so rather than picking one.

Sources cited in this guide:

• Wikipedia — Parramatta Light Rail
• Wikipedia — Arthur Phillip High School
• Wikipedia — Parramatta Park
• Wikipedia — Mays Hill
• ABS Census

Corrections are welcome — if something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix it.

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