Greater Sydney

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 4,391,674 people in Greater Sydney of these 49.2% were male and 50.8% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.2% of the population.

The median age of people in Greater Sydney was 36 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 19.2% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 12.9% of the population.

Of people in Greater Sydney aged 15 years and over, 49.7% were married and 10.4% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Greater Sydney was 48 years and the median age of people never married was 26 years.

In Greater Sydney, of people aged 15 years and over, 50.1% of people were in a registered marriage and 7.5% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Greater Sydney was 48 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 36 years.

In Greater Sydney 31.7% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 24.6% were in primary school, 20.4% in secondary school and 24.1% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Greater Sydney were English 20.4%, Australian 20.4%, Irish 6.6%, Chinese 6.5% and Scottish 5.0%.

In Greater Sydney, 59.9% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 3.5%, China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 3.4%, India 2.0%, New Zealand 1.9% and Vietnam 1.6%.

In Greater Sydney, 38.7% of people had both parents born in Australia and 49.4% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Greater Sydney were Catholic 28.3%, No Religion 17.6%, Anglican 16.1%, Islam 4.7% and Eastern Orthodox 4.2%.

In Greater Sydney 62.2% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 4.1%, Mandarin 3.0%, Cantonese 3.0%, Vietnamese 1.9% and Greek 1.8%.

Employment

There were 2,188,854 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Greater Sydney. Of these 62.1% were employed full time, 26.7% were employed part-time and 5.7% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Greater Sydney, 9.7% worked 1 to 15 hours, 9.6% worked 16 to 24 hours and 47.4% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Greater Sydney was 40 years and for people who were employed part-time was 39 years.

The most common occupations in Greater Sydney included Professionals 25.5%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 16.2%, Managers 13.3%, Technicians and Trades Workers 12.2%, Sales Workers 9.0%, Community and Personal Service Workers 8.8%, Labourers 7.3% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 5.7%.

Of the employed people in Greater Sydney, the most common responses for industry of employment included Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 4.0%, School Education 4.0%, Hospitals 3.2%, Legal and Accounting Services 2.8% and Depository Financial Intermediation 2.4%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Greater Sydney was $619.

In Greater Sydney, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 53.7%, Train 9.1%, Bus 5.2%, Car, as passenger 4.5% and Walked only 4.1%. On the day, 20.0% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 58.4% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Greater Sydney, of people aged 15 years and over, 67.6% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 27.3% provided care for children and 10.8% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 15.1% 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 Greater Sydney, 24.5% worked 5 to 14 hours, 10.8% worked 15 to 29 hours and 8.9% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Greater Sydney, 48.9% were couple families with children, 33.5% were couple families without children and 15.7% were one parent families.

In Greater Sydney 16.2% of single parents were male and 83.8% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Greater Sydney, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,537 and those without children was $2,302.

Employment status of couple families

In Greater Sydney, of couple families with children, 23.6% had both partners employed full-time, 3.5% had both employed part-time and 20.1% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Greater Sydney, 92.8% of private dwellings were occupied and 7.2% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Greater Sydney, 60.9% were separate houses, 12.8% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 25.8% were flats, units or apartments and 0.5% were other dwellings.

In Greater Sydney, of occupied private dwellings 6.6% had 1 bedroom, 24.9% had 2 bedrooms and 36.8% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3. The average household size was 2.7 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Greater Sydney, 30.4% were owned outright, 34.8% were owned with a mortgage and 31.6% were rented.

Household composition

In Greater Sydney, of all households, 73.1% were family households, 22.6% were single person households and 4.3% were group households.

In Greater Sydney, 20.3% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 15.8% 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 Greater Sydney, 38.4% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 32.9% had two registered motor vehicles and 13.6% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Greater Sydney, there were 54,746 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 26,956 (or 49.2%) were male and 27,790 (or 50.8%) were female. The median age was 22 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 Greater Sydney, 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 $1,148.

In Greater Sydney, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $265 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,020.