The 50 largest Australian cities and towns by population in 2014
**This blog has been updated: Read the 2018 version of Top 50 largest cities and towns in Australia by population here.
A couple of years ago, I did a blog post about Australia’s top 33 cities by population. This was a very popular blog which was a ranking of the biggest cities in Australia and so I’ve updated it here (and expanded it to the top 50 largest Australian cities) with the latest population figures from the ABS as at 2013. For more up to date population and population forecasts for NSW, read our blog on the Top 20 fastest growing suburbs in NSW. Watch this space for other states.
So, without further ado, on to the list!
The 50 largest Australian cities and towns by population
This is based on the top 50 Significant Urban Areas in Australia at June 2013 Estimated Resident Population, and 5 year growth 2008-2013.
Rank | Significant Urban Area | State | 2013 | 5 year growth | 5 year % growth |
1 | Sydney | NSW | 4,373,433 | 326,568 | 8.1% |
2 | Melbourne | Vic | 4,181,021 | 392,675 | 10.4% |
3 | Brisbane | Qld | 2,143,121 | 215,082 | 11.2% |
4 | Perth | WA | 1,901,582 | 269,825 | 16.5% |
5 | Adelaide | SA | 1,263,888 | 71,195 | 6.0% |
6 | Gold Coast – Tweed Heads | Qld/NSW | 605,134 | 60,773 | 11.2% |
7 | Newcastle – Maitland | NSW | 425,895 | 24,459 | 6.1% |
8 | Canberra – Queanbeyan | ACT/NSW | 418,856 | 34,934 | 9.1% |
9 | Central Coast | NSW | 320,266 | 15,643 | 5.1% |
10 | Sunshine Coast | Qld | 292,354 | 26,732 | 10.1% |
11 | Wollongong | NSW | 286,581 | 14,292 | 5.2% |
12 | Hobart | Tas | 206,560 | 8,278 | 4.2% |
13 | Geelong | Vic | 181,853 | 11,117 | 6.5% |
14 | Townsville | Qld | 176,035 | 19,689 | 12.6% |
15 | Cairns | Qld | 145,003 | 14,806 | 11.4% |
16 | Darwin | NT | 119,597 | 11,900 | 11.0% |
17 | Toowoomba | Qld | 112,588 | 6,029 | 5.7% |
18 | Ballarat | Vic | 96,940 | 9,047 | 10.3% |
19 | Bendigo | Vic | 90,280 | 6,967 | 8.4% |
20 | Albury – Wodonga | NSW/Vic | 86,274 | 4,734 | 5.8% |
21 | Launceston | Tas | 86,188 | 2,139 | 2.5% |
22 | Mackay | Qld | 83,924 | 9,234 | 12.4% |
23 | Rockhampton | Qld | 79,298 | 6,208 | 8.5% |
24 | Bunbury | WA | 72,464 | 10,779 | 17.5% |
25 | Bundaberg | Qld | 70,359 | 3,513 | 5.3% |
26 | Coffs Harbour | NSW | 67,519 | 3,301 | 5.1% |
27 | Wagga Wagga | NSW | 54,679 | 1,788 | 3.4% |
28 | Melton | Vic | 54,483 | 13,093 | 31.6% |
29 | Hervey Bay | Qld | 51,168 | 4,632 | 10.0% |
30 | Mildura – Wentworth | Vic/NSW | 49,441 | 1,845 | 3.9% |
31 | Shepparton – Mooroopna | Vic | 48,637 | 3,333 | 7.4% |
32 | Gladstone – Tannum Sands | Qld | 46,377 | 5,599 | 13.7% |
33 | Port Macquarie | NSW | 44,180 | 2,684 | 6.5% |
34 | Tamworth | NSW | 41,304 | 2,641 | 6.8% |
35 | Traralgon – Morwell | Vic | 40,910 | 1,969 | 5.1% |
36 | Orange | NSW | 39,226 | 3,367 | 9.4% |
37 | Geraldton | WA | 38,931 | 3,859 | 11.0% |
38 | Bowral – Mittagong | NSW | 36,994 | 1,855 | 5.3% |
39 | Ellenbrook | WA | 36,207 | 12,778 | 54.5% |
40 | Dubbo | NSW | 36,089 | 1,870 | 5.5% |
41 | Nowra – Bomaderry | NSW | 34,885 | 2,061 | 6.3% |
42 | Bathurst | NSW | 34,870 | 2,856 | 8.9% |
43 | Busselton | WA | 34,241 | 5,921 | 20.9% |
44 | Warrnambool | Vic | 33,625 | 1,615 | 5.0% |
45 | Kalgoorlie – Boulder | WA | 33,484 | 2,796 | 9.1% |
46 | Albany | WA | 33,113 | 2,373 | 7.7% |
47 | Warragul – Drouin | Vic | 31,935 | 4,718 | 17.3% |
48 | Devonport | Tas | 30,431 | 847 | 2.9% |
49 | Lismore | NSW | 29,537 | 558 | 1.9% |
50 | Alice Springs | NT | 28,720 | 1,254 | 4.6% |
Please note that the geographic classification of urban centres has changed since we wrote our previous blog Australia’s top 33 cities by population. Consequently the tables are not directly comparable (see more detail about geography changes below).
Find detailed information for over 500 Australian communities by visiting the .id Demographic Resource Centre.
Some interesting points about this list:
- Sydney remains Australia’s largest urban centre, but it’s now only 5% bigger than Melbourne. The exclusion of Central Coast has an impact, but Melbourne has also had some outlying centres like Melton excluded. Melbourne is growing faster and should overtake Sydney within about 25 years on current trends.
- The fastest growing centres in this list are Ellenbrook (WA) and Melton (Vic) – which is a little misleading as these centres are really part of Greater Perth and Greater Melbourne respectively, but are separated in the new ABS list.
- NSW has 18 centres (including cross-border ones) in the top 50 list, by far the most of any state. South Australia manages only one, Adelaide. Mount Gambier just misses out, in 51st place.
- Despite a population only a quarter the size of South Australia, Tasmania manages 3 entries in the list, Hobart, Launceston and Devonport, due to a more dispersed population. Queensland also “punches above its weight” with 10 entries, more than Victoria with a much larger population. This is for the same reason, a dispersed population.
- All of the top 50 centres increased in population over 5 years. The lowest growth was in Lismore, just 1.9%. In the top 100 centres, only 2 showed decline over that period, Broken Hill and Moe-Newborough.
Further reading
You might like to download our e-book Predicting the Growth Suburbs of the Future to look at where we see population growth occurring in the future.
And our National Demographic Indicators website has the population and other demographic measures for every Local Government Area in Australia.
Notes on geography
Populations are more malleable than people think, and really depend on where you draw the boundaries. For example Central Coast is no longer included as part of Sydney but has its own identity in this list. This means that Sydney’s population appears substantially lower than in the previous list, which used the Greater area and had no listing for Central Coast.
The ABS have come up with new boundaries, called “Significant Urban Areas”, so this article has used these, and ranks the centres by these new boundaries.
According to the ABS, Significant Urban Areas “represent concentrations of urban development with a population of 10,000 or more using whole Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2s). They do not necessarily represent a single Urban Centre, as they can represent a cluster of related Urban Centres with a core urban population over 10,000. They can also include related peri-urban and satellite development and the area into which the urban development is likely to expand.”
What this means is that they represent cities and towns as most people understand them, but in some cases, areas may be subsumed within a larger Significant Urban Area (eg. a contiguous suburb of a major city would generally be included as part of that city). Large satellite centres which are part of the Greater Capital City area, but geographically separated, are now separately identified in many cases (hence Central Coast being separated from Sydney.
So the important thing to remember is that this represents a particular way of drawing boundaries to rank areas but it may not be the only one. If your area isn’t listed, it’s likely included as part of another major centre, due to geographic proximity.
Access the Australian Community Profile to find Census results for each Capital City, State, and Australia on topics including population, age, country of birth, languages spoken, occupations, industries, employment, disability, income, qualifications, transport and much more…
Hi,
what about Ipswich? according to my figures it has had 23% growth since 2007.
regards
Peter
Hello Glen,
Thanks for your work. However, you forgot Logan City situated on the South side of Brisbane, Qld. This is one of the fastest growth ares in South East Qld., with a population of 300,000.
All the best.
Regards,
Peter Clark
Both Ipswich and Logan Cities are part of Greater Brisbane (along with Moreton Bay and Redland) and are included in the Brisbane total shown.
I know a few friends coming into Australia from overseas that might be quite interested in this list. They might have something to say about where they’ve chosen to settle down after looking at the changing demographics. Looks like we may have some last minute changes to where they are sending their moving boxes to!
Having lived in Melbourne and Perth, I am really surprised to see Melton and Ellenbrook included. To me, they are both suburbs rather than cities or towns
Yes, that’s a good point. Under the new ABS definition they are separate urban areas (but as part of the Greater Capital Cities classification they are definitely in Greater Perth and Greater Melbourne). That’s what made doing this version of the list harder than the last one. The new definition relies more on having a clear open space between the urban areas, which Melton and Ellenbrook both do, relative to the built up areas of Melbourne and Perth.
It’s a fine judgment call whether Central Coast, if not a separate entity, should be in greater Sydney or greater Newcastle. In terms of both proximity and geological separators I’d plump for Newcastle. On the other hand, more Central Coast residents would commute to Sydney for employment than to Newcastle.
True – geographically there’s a very logical barrier in the Hawkesbury River, but ABS have always included Central Coast with Sydney. It kind of merges with Lake Macquarie which is generally considered part of Newcastle.
Maybe there’s something to be said for defining a “N-S-W” mega-urban area from Maitland in the north to Kiama in the south – a stretch 300km long where almost all the land which is usable has been built up.
Morning Glen and thanks for these very interesting figures.
For Sydney/Melbourne comparison purposes, how do Melton numbers stack up against Sydney’s Central Coast?
Hi Mike – it’s time to do an update to this again as new population figures came out this week.
There is no comparison between Melton and the Central Coast. Melton’s 2014 population is 56,894, while the Central Coast is 323,079, almost 6 times as big! It’s also further from Sydney – about 70-100km out while Melton is about 40km from Melbourne.
Bathurst is now the largest town in NSW central west at 42,051 which is 8,000 more than this listing.
That’s the Bathurst Regional Council, yes. But the ABS definition of the urban areas only includes the immediate surrounds, so outlying parts of that council aren’t included as part of the population of Bathurst. This means the list is immune to major differences in the geographic extent of local government areas.
I have found this information very useful as it gives me ideas where to search for employment, however i hear back here in the UK that Australia are developing building new town with hope of growing into another new city, is it possible that anyone can tell me any web sites to look for employment within these area’s as I am very keen to move to Australia.
At present I work for a charity as an Employment Consultant/ HR , we assist ex-military to find employment, as well as sign posting guidance for other avenues of civilian life. I am also ex-military and have knowledge of Logistics’, Estate agent and PA.
I would be grateful of any ideas or networking information, web sites anyone could offer to enhance my search.
Kind regards
Sonia Harford
Afternoon Glen,
Great statistics, but would love some info on towns that would fit in say between 5000 to 20000 mark that are sustainable, growing and more suited for people searching for a tree change. Places such as Renmark, Warwick, Armidale and Burnie. I think those are value areas where costs of living provided by cheaper housing and rates and a back to basics living are suited to raising young family. Little hidden gems.
Cheers Brad
Helpful list of largest Australian cities for traveler and new job seekers especially. I really appreciate it.
Living on the Central Coast I would like to confirm that we are in a different place to Sydney. The only time we might admitted that we were something to do with Sydney would be when trying to explain where we live to people interstate or overseas.
Thanks Steve – there is a clear geographic separation between the Central Coast and the rest of the Greater Sydney area, being the Hawkesbury River. However the ABS use a labour force method to determine the boundaries of the Greater Capital City areas, and there is enough of the Central Coast’s resident employment commuting into the Sydney region to classify it as part of the Greater Sydney catchment.
Comparing Australian cities to the USA list, I was surprised to find that both Sydney & Melbourne would be 2 & 3 behind only New York if they were US cities. Brisbane would be 5th most populous if it was a US city.
Hi Spencer, thanks for the comment. You just need to be careful comparing Australian city populations to US, as in the US, they tend to use the “city limits” or effectively local government boundaries to define a city. So San Francisco, for example, has a city population around 800,000, but a broader metropolitan area of 4.6 million, comparable to Sydney. The equivalent in Australia would be using the capital city LGA to define the city population – that would make Sydney’s population only 205,000, which isn’t helpful.
Here is a list of metropolitan areas in the US:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas
These aren’t defined by LGA boundaries, but I’m not sure exactly how comparable they are to our “Greater Capital City” definitions in Australia. They are likely to be a more logical match, however. By this measure, Sydney would come 10th and Melbourne 13th if they were in the US.
Devonport reaching the top 50 is interesting! Also, quite confusing.
Do you happen to have the exact spatially mapped SUA? I have searched through abs and am having trouble locating a definitive area. We have two other cities (Burnie and Ulverstone) which have also been experiencing growth but are unable to locate how these fit into the list.
Hi Glenn – I was looking for a clear definition of what makes a town or city. I may have missed it in this blog but could you direct me to the information. Thanks.
What about Frankston? Population is over 130000!
LIke many of the other queries about this blog, Frankston is part of a larger urban area. In this case, Frankston is part of Greater Melbourne, not a separate centre.
hi glenn- which city is the biggest alone newcastle canberra gosford wollongong in order thanks anthony
Any Idea about Ipswich ? What the overall population size?
Hi,
206,549 is the 2017 Estimated Resident Population for Ipswich. You can find that and much more on the Ipswich Community profile.
Also, that population estimate for Ipswich is part of the Brisbane total – Ipswich is not a separate city but an outlying area of Brisbane.