List of cities in Australia by population facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

This list of Australian cities by population provides rankings of Australian cities and towns according to various systems defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The eight Greater Capital City Statistical Areas are listed for the state and territory capital cities. All Significant Urban Areas, representing urban agglomerations of over 10,000 population, are listed next. The fifty largest Urban Centres (built-up area) are ranked, and lastly the fifty largest Local Government Areas, the units of local government below the states and territories, are also ranked.

Greater Capital City Statistical Areas by population
Significant Urban Areas by population
50 largest Urban Centres by population
50 largest Local Government Areas by population
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Greater Capital City Statistical 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 functional definition of each of the eight state and territory capital cities. In Australia, the population of the GCCSA is the most-often quoted figure for the population of capital cities. These units correspond broadly to the international concept of metropolitan areas.

Rank	Greater Capital City Statistical Area	June 2019 estimated resident population	2018-19 growth	2018-19 % change
1	Greater Sydney	5,312,163	87,065	1.7
2	Greater Melbourne	5,078,193	113,480	2.3
3	Greater Brisbane	2,514,184	52,587	2.1
4	Greater Perth	2,085,973	27,405	1.3
5	Greater Adelaide	1,359,760	13,900	1.0
6	Australian Capital Territory (Canberra)	426,704	6,325	1.5
7	Greater Hobart	236,136	3,445	1.5
8	Greater Darwin	147,255	-1,141	-0.8

Significant Urban Areas by population

The following ranks the SUAs, including those of the capital cities (which are smaller than their respective GCCSAs, except for Canberra's, which includes adjacent Queanbeyan, in New South Wales). Capitals are in bold. Significant Urban Areas are defined to represent significant towns and cities, or agglomerations of smaller towns, that have at least 10,000 total population. Significant Urban Areas may contain more than one distinct Urban Centre.

Rank	SUA	State/territory	Population		Growth	Percentage of national population (June 2018)
Rank	SUA	State/territory	Estimated resident population, June 2019	2011 Census	Growth	Percentage of national population (June 2018)
1	Sydney	New South Wales	4,914,343	4,391,674	+19.10%	20.93%
2	Melbourne	Victoria	4,893,870	3,999,982	+24.08%	19.86%
3	Brisbane	Queensland	2,430,180	2,065,996	+19.20%	9.85%
4	Perth	Western Australia	2,045,479	1,728,867	+19.12%	8.24%
5	Adelaide	South Australia	1,340,794	1,262,940	+6.56%	5.38%
6	Gold Coast–Tweed Heads	Queensland/New South Wales	693,671	557,822	+21.75%	2.72%
7	Newcastle–Maitland	New South Wales	491,474	398,770	+22.05%	1.95%
8	Canberra–Queanbeyan	Australian Capital Territory/New South Wales	462,136	391,645	+16.83%	1.83%
9	Sunshine Coast	Queensland	341,069	270,770	+23.14%	1.33%
10	Central Coast	New South Wales	335,470
11	Wollongong	New South Wales	306,034	268,944	+12.57%	1.21%
12	Geelong	Victoria	275,794	173,454	+54.67%	1.07%
13	Hobart	Tasmania	216,682	211,656	+9.90%	0.93%
14	Townsville	Queensland	181,668	162,292	+11.42%	0.72%
15	Cairns	Queensland	153,951	133,911	+14.05%	0.61%
16	Toowoomba	Queensland	138,223	105,984	+29.13%	0.55%
17	Darwin	Northern Territory	133,331	120,586	+23.20%	0.59%
18	Ballarat	Victoria	107,652	91,801	+14.89%	0.42%
19	Bendigo	Victoria	100,991	86,079	+15.15%	0.40%
20	Albury–Wodonga	New South Wales/Victoria	94,837	82,083	+14.03%	0.37%
21	Launceston	Tasmania	88,178	82,220	+6.21%	0.35%
22	Mackay	Queensland	80,264	77,293	+3.69%	0.32%
23	Rockhampton	Queensland	79,081	73,681	+6.67%	0.31%
24	Bunbury	Western Australia	74,591	65,608	+13.34%	0.30%
25	Coffs Harbour	New South Wales	72,541	64,243	+11.80%	0.29%
26	Melton	Victoria	72,177
27	Bundaberg	Queensland	71,309	67,341	+5.32%	0.28%
28	Wagga Wagga	New South Wales	56,675	52,042	+8.45%	0.23%
29	Hervey Bay	Queensland	55,345	48,680	+12.31%	0.22%
30	Mildura–Wentworth	Victoria/New South Wales	52,176	47,536	+9.19%	0.21%
31	Shepparton–Mooroopna	Victoria	52,104	46,505	+11.02%	0.21%
32	Port Macquarie	New South Wales	48,723	41,723	+14.98%	0.19%
33	Gladstone–Tannum Sands	Queensland	45,631	41,966	+7.54%	0.18%
34	Tamworth	New South Wales	43,188	38,735	+10.68%	0.17%
35	Traralgon–Morwell	Victoria	42,249	39,705	+5.74%	0.17%
36	Orange	New South Wales	40,804	36,468	+11.04%	0.16%
37	Bowral–Mittagong	New South Wales	40,411	34,858	+14.43%	0.16%
38	Busselton	Western Australia	39,618	30,286	+28.51%	0.16%
39	Warragul–Drouin	Victoria	39,217	29,944	+26.66%	0.15%
40	Dubbo	New South Wales	38,767	33,997	+12.93%	0.15%
41	Nowra–Bomaderry	New South Wales	37,838	33,338	+12.24%	0.15%
42	Geraldton	Western Australia	37,255	35,749	+5.31%	0.15%
43	Bathurst	New South Wales	37,191	32,479	+13.31%	0.15%
44	Warrnambool	Victoria	35,523	32,380	+8.75%	0.14%
45	Albany	Western Australia	34,367	30,656	+11.58%	0.14%
46	Devonport	Tasmania	30,629	29,051	+4.29%	0.12%
47	Mount Gambier	South Australia	29,767	27,756	+6.78%	0.12%
48	Kalgoorlie–Boulder	Western Australia	29,326	30,842	−3.22%	0.12%
49	Lismore	New South Wales	28,576	28,285	+1.54%	0.11%
50	Nelson Bay	New South Wales	28,276	25,074	+11.87%	0.11%
51	Burnie–Wynyard	Tasmania	27,343	26,869	+1.15%	0.11%
52	Maryborough	Queensland	27,286	26,214	+4.07%	0.11%
53	Victor Harbor–Goolwa	South Australia	26,921	23,850	+11.25%	0.11%
54	Ballina	New South Wales	26,625	23,509	+12.22%	0.11%
55	Taree	New South Wales	26,394	25,421	+3.78%	0.11%
56	Alice Springs	Northern Territory	26,390	25,186	+5.35%	0.11%
57	Morisset–Cooranbong	New South Wales	25,662	21,774	+16.23%	0.10%
58	Armidale	New South Wales	24,584	22,464	+9.08%	0.10%
59	Goulburn	New South Wales	24,070	21,484	+10.94%	0.10%
60	Bacchus Marsh	Victoria	22,964
61	Gisborne–Macedon	Victoria	22,141
62	Gympie	Queensland	21,868	19,510	+10.71%	0.09%
63	Whyalla	South Australia	21,638	21,991	−1.13%	0.09%
64	Echuca–Moama	Victoria/New South Wales	21,392	19,309	+10.01%	0.08%
65	Forster–Tuncurry	New South Wales	21,221	19,500	+6.51%	0.08%
66	Griffith	New South Wales	20,399	17,900	+13.13%	0.08%
67	St Georges Basin–Sanctuary Point	New South Wales	19,555	12,611	+52.65%	0.08%
68	Wangaratta	Victoria	19,411	17,686	+9.23%	0.08%
69	Yeppoon	Queensland	19,267	16,372	+16.07%	0.08%
70	Murray Bridge	South Australia	19,078	16,708	+12.40%	0.08%
71	Grafton	New South Wales	19,046	18,359	+3.92%	0.08%
72	Mount Isa	Queensland	18,310	20,569	−9.63%	0.07%
73	Camden Haven	New South Wales	18,149	15,741	+13.30%	0.07%
74	Broken Hill	New South Wales	17,479	18,517	−4.23%	0.07%
75	Karratha	Western Australia	17,102	16,476	+1.41%	0.07%
76	Moe–Newborough	Victoria	16,821	16,674	+0.83%	0.07%
77	Horsham	Victoria	16,589	15,894	+3.90%	0.07%
78	Batemans Bay	New South Wales	16,553	15,733	+4.78%	0.07%
79	Ulladulla	New South Wales	16,495	14,149	+14.59%	0.06%
80	Port Lincoln	South Australia	16,418	15,221	+7.26%	0.07%
81	Singleton	New South Wales	16,277	16,135	+1.31%	0.07%
82	Bairnsdale	Victoria	15,565	13,243	+16.37%	0.06%
83	Kempsey	New South Wales	15,378	14,494	+5.62%	0.06%
84	Warwick	Queensland	15,277	14,607	+5.29%	0.06%
85	Sale	Victoria	15,135	14,258	+5.35%	0.06%
86	Yanchep	Western Australia	14,612
87	Ulverstone	Tasmania	14,552	14,109	+2.70%	0.06%
88	Port Hedland	Western Australia	14,476	13,772	+3.98%	0.06%
89	Broome	Western Australia	14,371	12,766	+13.15%	0.06%
90	Emerald	Queensland	14,290	13,219	+6.81%	0.06%
91	Port Pirie	South Australia	14,162	14,043	+1.03%	0.06%
92	Port Augusta	South Australia	13,561	13,658	+1.03%	0.06%
93	Lithgow	New South Wales	12,907	12,249	+5.91%	0.05%
94	Colac	Victoria	12,574	11,778	+6.53%	0.05%
95	Mudgee	New South Wales	12,518	10,483	+18.38%	0.05%
96	Muswellbrook	New South Wales	12,372	11,791	+4.86%	0.05%
97	Esperance	Western Australia	12,130	11,432	+6.24%	0.05%
98	Parkes	New South Wales	11,208	10,941	+2.59%	0.04%
99	Swan Hill	Victoria	11,089	10,430	+6.45%	0.04%
100	Portland	Victoria	10,928	10,715	+1.73%	0.04%
101	Kingaroy	Queensland	10,306	9,808	+6.02%	0.04%

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.

Rank (2016)		Urban Centre	Estimated resident population			GCCSA (if part of larger statistical area)	Ranking in state or territory, 2016
Rank (2016)		Urban Centre	2016 census	2011 census	2006 census	GCCSA (if part of larger statistical area)	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	WA	Vic
	1	Sydney	4,321,535	3,908,642	3,641,422	Sydney		1
	2	Melbourne	4,196,198	3,707,530	3,371,888	Melbourne								1
	3	Brisbane	2,054,614	1,874,427	1,676,389	Brisbane				1
	4	Perth	1,874,578	1,627,576	1,256,035	Perth							1
	5	Adelaide	1,165,632	1,103,979	1,040,719	Adelaide					1
	6	Gold Coast–Tweed Heads	600,335	533,660	454,436			2		2
	7	Canberra–Queanbeyan	431,668	391,474	356,120	Canberra	1	3
	8	Newcastle	322,278	308,308	288,732	Newcastle		4
	9	Central Coast	307,742	297,713	282,726	Sydney		5
	10	Wollongong	261,896	245,942	234,482			6
	11	Sunshine Coast	243,377	209,263	184,662					3
	12	Hobart	178,009	170,975	128,557	Hobart						1
	13	Townsville	168,729	157,748	128,808	Townsville				4
	14	Geelong	157,104	143,291	137,220									2
	15	Cairns	144,730	133,893	98,349	Cairns				5
	16	Darwin	118,456	103,016	89,905	Darwin			1
	17	Toowoomba	100,032	96,597	95,265					6
	18	Ballarat	93,759	85,935	78,221									3
	19	Bendigo	92,379	82,794	76,051									4
	20	Mandurah	83,294	75,306	71,097	Perth							2
	21	Albury–Wodonga	83,104	77,232	73,497			7						5
	22	Maitland	78,015	67,132	61,431	Newcastle		8
	23	Mackay	75,710	74,219	66,874					7
	24	Launceston	75,329	74,085	71,395							2
	25	Bunbury	71,090	64,385	54,482								3
	26	Rockhampton	61,214	61,724	60,827					8
	27	Melton	54,456	45,624	35,490	Melbourne								6
	28	Hervey Bay	52,073	48,680	41,225					9
	29	Bundaberg	50,148	49,750	46,961					10
	30	Wagga Wagga	48,263	46,913	46,735			9
	31	Coffs Harbour	48,225	45,580	26,353			10
	32	Shepparton–Mooroopna	46,199	42,741	38,773									7
	33	Port Macquarie	44,814	41,491	39,219			11
	34	Orange	37,182	34,992	31,544			12
	35	Mildura–Buronga	35,598	33,432	30,823			13						8
	36	Sunbury	34,425	33,062	29,566	Melbourne								9
	37	Dubbo	34,339	32,327	30,574			14
	38	Tamworth	33,885	36,131	33,475			15
	39	Bathurst	33,587	31,294	28,992			16
	40	Gladstone	33,418	32,073	28,808					11
	41	Geraldton	31,982	31,349	27,420								4
	42	Nowra–Bomaderry	30,853	27,988	27,478			17
	43	Warrnambool	30,709	29,284	28,150									10
	44	Kalgoorlie–Boulder	29,875	30,840	28,242								5
	45	Albany	29,373	26,643	25,196								6
	46	Lismore	27,569	27,474	27,069			18
	47	Gawler	26,472	23,957	20,006	Adelaide					2
	48	Mount Gambier	26,148	25,199	23,494						3
	49	Traralgon	25,485	24,590	21,960									11
	50	Busselton	25,329	21,407	15,386								7

50 largest Local Government Areas by population

Local government areas (LGAs) are the main units of local government in Australia. They may be termed cities, shires, councils or other names, and all function similarly. Local Government Areas cover around 90 per cent of the nation. Significant sections of South Australia and New South Wales are unincorporated, that is, have no defined local government, along with the ACT and smaller sections of Northern Territory and Victoria. 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.

The following table lists local government areas ranked by order based on the estimated population as sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics product Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2017-18 (catalog 3218.0).

Rank (2019)		Local government area	Estimated resident population		Ranking in state or territory, 2019
Rank (2019)		Local government area	2019	2018	Qld	NSW	WA	Vic	SA
	1	City of Brisbane	1,253,982	1,230,938	1
	2	City of Gold Coast	620,518	606,528	2
	3	Moreton Bay Region	469,465	459,456	3
	4	City of Canterbury-Bankstown	377,917	373,486		1
	5	City of Blacktown	366,534	357,839		2
	6	City of Casey	353,872	340,443				1
	7	Central Coast Council	343,968	341,693		3
	8	City of Logan	334,358	326,494	4
	9	Sunshine Coast Region	328,428	319,837	5
	10	Northern Beaches Council	273,499	271,027		4
	11	City of Wyndham	270,487	255,367				2
	12	City of Greater Geelong	258,934	252,229				3
	13	City of Parramatta Council	257,197	251,065		5
	14	City of Sydney	246,343	240,102		6
	15	Cumberland Council	241,521	236,599		7
	16	City of Hume	233,471	224,423				4
	17	Sutherland Shire	230,611	228,980		8
	18	City of Whittlesea	230,238	223,347				5
	19	City of Liverpool	227,585	223,025		9
	20	City of Ipswich	222,307	213,568	6
	21	City of Stirling	221,040	220,135			1
	22	City of Wollongong	218,114	215,856		10
	23	City of Penrith	212,977	208,947		11
	24	City of Fairfield	211,695	210,417		12
	25	City of Brimbank	209,523	208,744				6
	26	City of Wanneroo	208,237	203,609			2
	27	City of Lake Macquarie	205,901	204,694		13
	28	City of Monash	202,847	200,212				7
	29	Inner West Council	200,811	197,836		14
	30	City of Townsville	195,032	194,019	7
	31	City of Moreland	185,767	181,780				8
	32	City of Boroondara	183,199	181,376				9
	33	City of Melbourne	178,955	170,317				10
	34	City of Whitehorse	178,739	176,273				11
	35	Bayside Council	178,396	174,218		15
	36	The Hills Shire	177,969	172,339		16
	37	City of Onkaparinga	172,938	171,496					1
	38	City of Campbelltown (New South Wales)	170,943	167,930		17
	39	Toowoomba Region	169,008	167,611	8
	40	City of Greater Dandenong	168,201	166,140				12
	41	Shire of Mornington Peninsula	167,636	165,823				13
	42	Cairns Region	166,862	165,462	9
	43	City of Kingston	165,782	163,452				14
	44	City of Newcastle	165,571	163,943		18
	45	City of Melton	164,895	156,718				15
	46	City of Knox	164,538	163,212				16
	47	City of Darebin	164,184	161,653				17
	48	City of Joondalup	159,806	159,997			3
	49	Georges River Council	159,471	158,283		19
	50	Yarra Ranges Shire	159,462	158,171				18

Apart from the City of Brisbane, the populations of the central local government areas in other capitals are either modest or relatively small. In June 2019, Sydney had 246,343, Melbourne 178,955, Darwin 82,886, Hobart 54,649, Perth 28,832, and Adelaide 25,456. 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.

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Sydney statistical areas