List of cities in Australia by population

Map of major cities in Australia.

This list of Australian cities by population provides rankings of Australian cities according to various systems defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Firstly, they are ranked by Greater Capital City Statistical Area (for capital cities) and Significant Urban Area (for other cities). They are also ranked by Urban Centre and by Local Government Area (known internationally as 'city proper').

Greater Capital City Statistical Areas/Significant Urban Areas by population

Each capital city forms its own Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA), which according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) represents a broad socioeconomic definition of each of the eight state and territory capital cities.^[1] These correspond to the more common and international usage of metropolitan areas. Significant Urban Areas are similarly defined but include population centres which are not capital cities. In Australia the population of the GCCSA/SUA is the most-often quoted figure for that city's population. The following ranks GCSSAs and SUAs which are not included within the GCCSAs with populations of over 30,000.

Greater Capital City Statistical Areas are in bold, the remainder are Significant Urban Areas.

Sydney

Melbourne

Brisbane

Perth

Adelaide

Gold Coast

Newcastle

Canberra

Notes

50 largest urban centres by population

Urban Centres are defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as being a population cluster of 1,000 or more people. For statistical purposes, people living in Urban Centres are classified as urban. The figures below represent the populations of the contiguous built-up areas of each city; with State and territory capitals in bold. These figures are only updated every census, as the ABS does not render population projections for Urban Centres, and as such can only be as up-to-date as the most recent census year.

			Estimated resident population				Statistical Division/ District (if part of larger SD)	Ranking in state or territory, 2011
Rank		Urban Centre	2011 Census		2006 Census			ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	WA	Vic
	1	Sydney	3,908,642	[2]	3,641,422	[3]			1
	2	Melbourne	3,707,530	[4]	3,371,888	[5]									1
	3	Brisbane	1,874,427	[6]	1,676,389	[7]					1
	4	Perth	1,627,576	[8]	1,256,035	[9]								1
	5	Adelaide	1,103,979	[10]	1,040,719	[11]						1
	6	Gold Coast–Tweed Heads	533,660	[12][13]	454,436	[14][15]			2		2
	7	Canberra–Queanbeyan	391,474	[16][17]	356,120	[18][19]		1	3
	8	Newcastle	308,308	[20]	288,732	[21]	Hunter		4
	9	Central Coast	297,713	[22]	282,726	[23]	Sydney		5
	10	Wollongong	245,942	[24]	234,482	[25]	Illawarra		6
	11	Sunshine Coast	209,263	[26]	184,662	[27]					3
	12	Hobart	170,975	[28]	128,557	[29]							1
	13	Townsville–Thuringowa	157,748	[30]	128,808	[31]					4
	14	Geelong	143,291	[32]	137,220	[33]									2
	15	Cairns	133,893	[34]	98,349	[35]					5
	16	Darwin–Palmerston	103,016	[36]	89,905	[37][38]				1
	17	Toowoomba	96,597	[39]	95,265	[40]					6
	18	Ballarat	85,935	[41]	78,221	[42]									3
	19	Bendigo	82,794	[43]	76,051	[44]									4
	20	Albury–Wodonga	77,232	[45][46]	73,497	[47][48]			7						5
	21	Mackay	74,219	[49]	66,874	[50]					7
	22	Launceston	74,085	[51]	71,395	[52]							2
	23	Mandurah	69,903	[53]	67,813	[54]	Perth (GCCSA only)							2
	24	Maitland	67,132	[55]	61,431	[56]	Newcastle		8
	25	Bunbury	64,385	[57]	54,482	[58]								3
	26	Rockhampton	61,724	[59]	60,827	[60]					8
	27	Bundaberg	49,750	[61]	46,961	[62]					9
	28	Hervey Bay	48,680	[63]	41,225	[64]					10
	29	Wagga Wagga	46,913	[65]	46,735	[66]			9
	30	Melton	45,624	[67]	35,490	[68]	Melbourne								6
	31	Coffs Harbour	45,580	[69]	26,353	[70]			10
	32	Shepparton–Mooroopna	42,741	[71]	38,773	[72]									7
	33	Port Macquarie	41,491	[73]	39,219	[74]			11
	34	Tamworth	36,131	[75]	33,475	[76]			12
	35	Orange	34,992	[77]	31,544	[78]			13
	36	Mildura–Buronga	33,432	[79][80]	30,823	[81][82]			14						8
	37	Sunbury	33,062	[83]	29,566	[84]	Melbourne								9
	38	Pakenham	32,911	[85]	18,808	[86]	Melbourne								10
	39	Dubbo	32,327	[87]	30,574	[88]			15
	40	Gladstone	32,073	[89]	28,808	[90]					11
	41	Geraldton	31,349	[91]	27,420	[92]								4
	42	Bathurst	31,294	[93]	28,992	[94]			16
	43	Kalgoorlie-Boulder	30,840	[95]	28,242	[96]								5
	44	Warrnambool	29,284	[97]	28,150	[98]									11
	45	Nowra–Bomaderry	27,988	[99]	27,478	[100]			17
	46	Lismore	27,474	[101]	27,069	[102]			18
	47	Albany	26,643	[103]	25,196	[104]								6
	48	Mount Gambier	25,199	[105]	23,494	[106]						2
	49	Traralgon	24,590	[107]	21,960	[108]									12
	50	Alice Springs	24,208	[109]	21,622	[110]				2

30 largest local government areas by population

Local government areas are the main units of local government in Australia. They may be termed cities, shires, councils or other names, and all function similarly. Brisbane, which covers multiple LGAs, is the only state capital city with a local government area covering a significant portion of its urban area. Other capital cities are serviced by LGAs which cover a much smaller proportion of their total urban areas. A New South Wales review of local government areas resulted in various amalgamations of local government authorities in the state, reflected below, based on amalgamation of 2015 Australian Bureau of Statistics population figures^[111]

			Estimated resident population			Statistical Division/ District	Ranking in state, 2015
Rank		Local government area	2011 census		2015[111]		Qld	NSW	WA	Vic
	1	City of Brisbane	1,041,839	[112]	1,162,186	Brisbane	1
	2	City of Gold Coast	494,501	[113]	555,608	Gold Coast	2
	3	Moreton Bay Region	378,045	[114]	425,482	Brisbane	3
new	4	Canterbury-Bankstown Council	350,983	[115]	354,948	Sydney		1
	5	City of Blacktown	301,099	[116]	339,328	Sydney		2
new	6	Central Coast Council	331,007	[117]	333,119	Central Coast		3
	7	City of Logan	278,050	[118]	308,681	Brisbane	4
	8	City of Casey	252,382	[119]	292,211	Melbourne				1
	9	Sunshine Coast Region	306,909	[120]	287,539	Sunshine Coast	5
new	10	Northern Beaches Council	263,413	[121]	266,247	Sydney		4
new	11	City of Parramatta Council	215,925	[122]	230,167 [123]	Sydney		5
	12	City of Greater Geelong	210,875	[124]	229,420	Geelong				2
	13	City of Stirling	195,702	[125]	227,566	Perth			1
	14	Sutherland Shire	210,863	[126]	226,220	Sydney		6
new	15	Cumberland Council	219,147	[127]	219,312 [128]	Sydney		7
	16	City of Wyndham	161,575	[129]	209,847	Melbourne				3
	17	City of Wollongong	205,231	[130]	208,875	Illawarra		8
	18	City of Sydney	169,505	[131]	205,339	Sydney		9
	19	City of Liverpool	180,143	[132]	204,594	Sydney		10
	20	City of Fairfield	198,301	[133]	204,442	Sydney		11
	21	City of Lake Macquarie	189,006	[134]	204,166	Newcastle		12
	22	City of Brimbank	182,735	[135]	199,432	Melbourne				4
	23	City of Penrith	178,467	[136]	197,922	Sydney		13
	24	City of Whittlesea	154,880	[137]	195,397	Melbourne				5
	25	City of Hume	167,562	[138]	194,006	Melbourne				6
	26	City of Townsville	174,492	[139]	193,946	Northern	6
	27	City of Ipswich	166,904	[140]	193,015	Brisbane	7
	28	City of Wanneroo	152,077	[141]	188,785	Perth			2
	29	City of Monash	169,280	[142]	187,286	Melbourne				7
	29	City of Boroondara	159,184	[143]	174,787	Melbourne				8

Apart from the City of Brisbane, City of Sydney and City of Melbourne, the populations of the central local government areas in other capitals is relatively small. As at 2015,^[111] Melbourne had 128,980, Darwin 82,912, Hobart 50,714, Adelaide 23,169 and Perth 21,092. Generally speaking, there are many suburban local government areas in most Australian capitals that are significantly larger in population than the central business district local government area.

See also

• Demographics of Australia
• List of towns and cities in Australia by year of settlement
• List of cities in Australia
• List of places in Queensland by population
• List of places in South Australia by population
• List of places in Victoria by population
• World's largest cities

References

External links

• "Table 1: Population growth and turnover in Local Government Areas (LGAs), 2006 to 2011". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 10 August 2015.  — Spreadsheet of population data for local government areas in the 2006 and 2011 Australian census