Latest population figures: Top 50 cities in Australia

Latest population figures: Top 50 largest cities and towns in Australia in 2016

Glenn Capuano - Census Expert 05 May, 2016

This is the latest release of the Top 50 cities and towns in Australia, which we do every year, following the ABS release of their Regional Population Growth publication. As we’ve previously seen, Australia, already an urban nation, is adding more and more people to our capital cities, which accounted for 83% of population growth in the past year, and 77% of the past 5 years’ growth.

This view of the top 50 centres is a little different. There are centres in here (eg. Melton, Central Coast) which are considered part of the Greater Capital Cities, but which also stand alone as discrete centres in their own right. However most suburbs which are contiguously urban within our larger metropolitan areas are included in the population for that larger centre (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane etc.).

For reference, Australia overall has grown 1.4% in the past year, and 7.9% in 5 years.

It’s also worth mentioning that we’re a long way from the last Census at this point, and so the figures coming out of the ABS on population are less certain – they are all subject to review after the 2016 Census results are released.

	Significant urban area	Population June 2015	5 year growth	5 year % growth	1 year growth	1 year % growth
1	Sydney	4,526,479	343,008	8.2%	77,565	1.7%
2	Melbourne	4,353,514	399,575	10.1%	86,796	2.0%
3	Brisbane	2,209,453	190,379	9.4%	33,702	1.5%
4	Perth	1,958,912	235,694	13.7%	26,163	1.4%
5	Adelaide	1,288,681	63,013	5.1%	11,970	0.9%
6	Gold Coast – Tweed Heads	624,918	53,518	9.4%	10,798	1.8%
7	Newcastle – Maitland	434,454	23,938	5.8%	3,964	0.9%
8	Canberra – Queanbeyan	424,666	26,236	6.6%	2,825	0.7%
9	Central Coast	325,082	12,492	4.0%	2,202	0.7%
10	Sunshine Coast	302,122	24,918	9.0%	4,864	1.6%
11	Wollongong	292,388	13,058	4.7%	3,333	1.2%
12	Hobart	209,254	5,808	2.9%	1,594	0.8%
13	Geelong	187,417	12,206	7.0%	3,236	1.8%
14	Townsville	180,333	16,263	9.9%	1,755	1.0%
15	Cairns	147,993	10,842	7.9%	1,359	0.9%
16	Darwin	123,396	10,409	9.2%	1,974	1.6%
17	Toowoomba	114,622	5,926	5.5%	1,044	0.9%
18	Ballarat	99,841	8,206	9.0%	1,332	1.4%
19	Bendigo	92,888	6,910	8.0%	1,122	1.2%
20	Albury – Wodonga	88,949	5,704	6.9%	1,153	1.3%
21	Launceston	86,633	1,049	1.2%	263	0.3%
22	Mackay	85,455	7,425	9.5%	448	0.5%
23	Rockhampton	80,665	5,670	7.6%	353	0.4%
24	Bunbury	75,628	9,593	14.5%	1,563	2.1%
25	Bundaberg	70,588	1,879	2.7%	76	0.1%
26	Coffs Harbour	68,572	2,569	3.9%	561	0.8%
27	Melton	59,500	13,040	28.1%	2,623	4.6%
28	Wagga Wagga	55,820	1,929	3.6%	489	0.9%
29	Hervey Bay	52,288	3,043	6.2%	466	0.9%
30	Mildura – Wentworth	50,011	1,792	3.7%	194	0.4%
31	Shepparton – Mooroopna	49,371	2,303	4.9%	309	0.6%
32	Gladstone – Tannum Sands	49,248	7,226	17.2%	1,232	2.6%
33	Port Macquarie	45,341	2,629	6.2%	493	1.1%
34	Tamworth	42,255	2,626	6.6%	471	1.1%
35	Traralgon – Morwell	40,816	765	1.9%	19	0.0%
36	Orange	40,075	3,087	8.3%	334	0.8%
37	Geraldton	39,825	3,490	9.6%	246	0.6%
38	Bowral – Mittagong	37,897	1,901	5.3%	425	1.1%
39	Dubbo	36,941	1,885	5.4%	342	0.9%
40	Busselton	36,285	5,674	18.5%	997	2.8%
41	Bathurst	36,013	2,685	8.1%	644	1.8%
42	Nowra – Bomaderry	35,920	1,842	5.4%	559	1.6%
43	Warrnambool	33,979	1,288	3.9%	133	0.4%
44	Albany	33,970	2,491	7.9%	356	1.1%
45	Warragul – Drouin	33,386	4,155	14.2%	700	2.1%
46	Kalgoorlie – Boulder	32,797	1,307	4.2%	-139	-0.4%
47	Devonport	30,497	263	0.9%	42	0.1%
48	Lismore	29,413	205	0.7%	43	0.1%
49	Mount Gambier	28,929	737	2.6%	114	0.4%
50	Alice Springs	27,972	– 425	-1.5%	-291	-1.0%

These top 50 centres combined have a population of 19,411,452, or 82% of Australia’s population. So less than 1 in 5 people lives OUTSIDE one of the top 50 centres. And 47% live in just the top two – Sydney and Melbourne.

Based on these numbers, Melbourne would overtake Sydney in only about 8 years – but this version of Sydney excludes the Central Coast, nominally a part of Greater Sydney.

Looking at the growth figures, Melton stands out as the highest growth centre, but it’s really part of Greater Melbourne, being only 40km from the CBD.

Other high growth centres are Melbourne itself (2.0%), Gladstone (2.6%), Busselton (2.8%) and Warragul (Vic, 2.1%).

In the past 5 years, almost all of these centres have increased. Only number 50, Alice Springs, fell in population. Over the past year it is joined by Kalgoorlie, but 48 of the top 50 centres grew.

All our community profile and economy.id sites have been updated with the latest population figures for your area. But don’t forget, these are all subject to review after the next Census results are released.

.id is a team of population experts, who use a unique combination of online tools and consulting to help organisations decide where and when to locate their facilities and services, to meet the needs of changing populations. Access our free demographic resources here.

To find out which age groups are growing fastest in Australia, read our ebook: Three growth markets in Australia

Tags: Population Population trends

Glenn Capuano - Census Expert

Glenn is our resident Census expert. After ten years working at the ABS, Glenn's deep knowledge of the Census has been a crucial input in the development of our community profiles. These tools help everyday people uncover the rich and important stories about our communities that are often hidden deep in the Census data. Glenn is also our most prolific blogger - if you're reading this, you've just finished reading one of his blogs. Take a quick look at the front page of our blog and you'll no doubt find more of Glenn's latest work. As a client manager, Glenn travels the country giving sought-after briefings to councils and communities (these are also great opportunities for Glenn to tend to his rankings in Geolocation games such as Munzee and Geocaching).

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