New South Wales

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 6,917,658 people in New South Wales of these 49.3% were male and 50.7% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.5% of the population.

The median age of people in New South Wales was 38 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 19.3% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 14.7% of the population.

Of people in New South Wales aged 15 years and over, 49.4% were married and 11.3% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in New South Wales was 50 years and the median age of people never married was 26 years.

In New South Wales, of people aged 15 years and over, 50.0% of people were in a registered marriage and 8.3% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in New South Wales was 50 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 36 years.

In New South Wales 30.9% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 25.7% were in primary school, 21.2% in secondary school and 22.1% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in New South Wales were Australian 25.0%, English 24.2%, Irish 7.4%, Scottish 6.0% and Chinese 4.3%.

In New South Wales, 68.6% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 3.3%, China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 2.3%, New Zealand 1.7%, India 1.4% and Vietnam 1.0%.

In New South Wales, 51.9% of people had both parents born in Australia and 36.7% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in New South Wales were Catholic 27.5%, Anglican 19.9%, No Religion 17.9%, Uniting Church 3.9% and Islam 3.2%.

In New South Wales 72.5% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 2.7%, Mandarin 2.0%, Cantonese 2.0%, Vietnamese 1.3% and Greek 1.3%.

Employment

There were 3,334,858 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in New South Wales. Of these 60.2% were employed full time, 28.2% were employed part-time and 5.9% were unemployed.

Of employed people in New South Wales, 10.4% worked 1 to 15 hours, 9.7% worked 16 to 24 hours and 45.8% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in New South Wales was 41 years and for people who were employed part-time was 40 years.

The most common occupations in New South Wales included Professionals 22.7%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 15.1%, Managers 13.3%, Technicians and Trades Workers 13.2%, Community and Personal Service Workers 9.5%, Sales Workers 9.3%, Labourers 8.7% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 6.4%.

Of the employed people in New South Wales, the most common responses for industry of employment included School Education 4.4%, Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 4.1%, Hospitals 3.2%, Legal and Accounting Services 2.4% and Supermarket and Grocery Stores 2.2%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in New South Wales was $561.

In New South Wales, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 57.6%, Train 6.2%, Car, as passenger 5.0%, Walked only 4.1% and Bus 3.7%. On the day, 13.8% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 62.8% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In New South Wales, of people aged 15 years and over, 68.7% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 27.5% provided care for children and 11.4% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 16.9% of people did voluntary work through an organisation or a group.

Of people who did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census in New South Wales, 24.9% worked 5 to 14 hours, 11.8% worked 15 to 29 hours and 10.0% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in New South Wales, 45.5% were couple families with children, 36.6% were couple families without children and 16.3% were one parent families.

In New South Wales 17.0% of single parents were male and 83.0% were female.

Weekly incomes

In New South Wales, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,370 and those without children was $2,120.

Employment status of couple families

In New South Wales, of couple families with children, 21.8% had both partners employed full-time, 3.6% had both employed part-time and 20.4% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In New South Wales, 90.3% of private dwellings were occupied and 9.7% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in New South Wales, 69.5% were separate houses, 10.7% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 18.8% were flats, units or apartments and 0.9% were other dwellings.

In New South Wales, of occupied private dwellings 5.6% had 1 bedroom, 22.5% had 2 bedrooms and 39.9% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3. The average household size was 2.6 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in New South Wales, 33.2% were owned outright, 33.4% were owned with a mortgage and 30.1% were rented.

Household composition

In New South Wales, of all households, 71.9% were family households, 24.2% were single person households and 3.8% were group households.

In New South Wales, 24.2% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 12.3% of households had a weekly income of more than $3,000.

Mortgage & rent

Proportions are calculated using all tenure types for occupied private dwellings. This excludes visitor only and other non-classifiable households.

Proportions in this table are calculated by taking the number of households whose rent payments were 30% or more of an imputed income measure and expressing this number as a proportion of the total number of households in an area, including those households which are not renting their dwelling (excluding the small proportion of visitor only and other non-classifiable households). The nature of the income imputation means that the reported proportion may significantly overstate the true proportion. Further information on the method to impute income is available in the income fact sheet.

Proportions in this table are calculated by taking the number of households who own their dwelling, and whose mortgage payments were 30% or more of an imputed income measure and expressing this number as a proportion of the total number of households in an area, including those households which were renting their dwelling (excluding the small proportion of visitor only and other non-classifiable households). The nature of the income imputation means that the reported proportion may significantly overstate the true proportion. Further information on the method to impute income is available in the income fact sheet.

Number of motor vehicles

In New South Wales, 37.8% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 34.0% had two registered motor vehicles and 14.6% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In New South Wales, there were 172,620 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 85,080 (or 49.3%) were male and 87,540 (or 50.7%) were female. The median age was 21 years.

Dwelling characteristics

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households. These tables represent occupied private dwellings where at least one Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait islander person was present.

Average number of people per bedroom includes a miscalculation. For more information see the persons per bedroom correction page.

In New South Wales, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.1, with 1.2 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $941.

In New South Wales, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $200 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,673.