The suburb is mostly a residential area and is centred on Burwood Hospital, Travis Wetland Nature Heritage Park and Bottle Lake Forest (a 31-acre (130,000 m2) recreation, forested area).

Large areas of Burwood, including the Horseshoe Lake area, suffered severe damage in the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, and were abandoned under government policy that placed them in a residential red zone.

Before the 2023 census, Burwood had a larger boundary, covering 3.76 km2 (1.45 sq mi).

The percentage of people born overseas was 16.1, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 55.4% had no religion, 34.2% were Christian, 0.6% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.7% were Hindu, 0.5% were Muslim, 0.4% were Buddhist and 2.0% had other religions.