Sunshine Coast

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 270,770 people in Sunshine Coast of these 48.4% were male and 51.6% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.5% of the population.

The median age of people in Sunshine Coast was 42 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 18.8% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 18.3% of the population.

Of people in Sunshine Coast aged 15 years and over, 51.0% were married and 14.2% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Sunshine Coast was 54 years and the median age of people never married was 25 years.

In Sunshine Coast, of people aged 15 years and over, 51.5% of people were in a registered marriage and 10.6% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Sunshine Coast was 53 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 38 years.

In Sunshine Coast 27.3% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 31.6% were in primary school, 22.7% in secondary school and 17.3% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Sunshine Coast were English 32.8%, Australian 27.5%, Irish 8.9%, Scottish 8.4% and German 4.6%.

In Sunshine Coast, 75.0% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 6.6%, New Zealand 5.0%, South Africa 0.8%, Germany 0.7% and Scotland 0.7%.

In Sunshine Coast, 62.2% of people had both parents born in Australia and 24.5% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Sunshine Coast were No Religion 26.3%, Anglican 20.8%, Catholic 20.1%, Uniting Church 6.2% and Presbyterian and Reformed 3.7%.

In Sunshine Coast 91.7% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included German 0.6%, Italian 0.3%, French 0.3%, Dutch 0.3% and Spanish 0.2%.

Employment

There were 128,649 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Sunshine Coast. Of these 52.4% were employed full time, 34.9% were employed part-time and 7.1% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Sunshine Coast, 13.2% worked 1 to 15 hours, 10.7% worked 16 to 24 hours and 40.4% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Sunshine Coast was 43 years and for people who were employed part-time was 42 years.

The most common occupations in Sunshine Coast included Professionals 18.3%, Technicians and Trades Workers 16.0%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 13.7%, Managers 12.1%, Sales Workers 12.0%, Community and Personal Service Workers 11.1%, Labourers 10.3% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 5.1%.

Of the employed people in Sunshine Coast, the most common responses for industry of employment included School Education 5.4%, Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 5.1%, Hospitals 3.7%, Accommodation 2.7% and Supermarket and Grocery Stores 2.6%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Sunshine Coast was $523.

In Sunshine Coast, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 65.0%, Car, as passenger 5.7%, Walked only 3.1%, Truck 1.3% and Bus 1.0%. On the day, 2.0% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 70.9% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Sunshine Coast, of people aged 15 years and over, 74.1% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 28.1% 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, 19.8% 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 Sunshine Coast, 27.6% worked 5 to 14 hours, 14.1% worked 15 to 29 hours and 11.3% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Sunshine Coast, 38.4% were couple families with children, 44.8% were couple families without children and 15.6% were one parent families.

In Sunshine Coast 17.4% of single parents were male and 82.6% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Sunshine Coast, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,977 and those without children was $1,754.

Employment status of couple families

In Sunshine Coast, of couple families with children, 16.3% had both partners employed full-time, 5.1% 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 Sunshine Coast, 86.1% of private dwellings were occupied and 13.9% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Sunshine Coast, 74.5% were separate houses, 10.9% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 12.7% were flats, units or apartments and 1.8% were other dwellings.

In Sunshine Coast, of occupied private dwellings 3.6% had 1 bedroom, 18.4% had 2 bedrooms and 41.9% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.1. The average household size was 2.5 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Sunshine Coast, 33.3% were owned outright, 32.3% were owned with a mortgage and 30.4% were rented.

Household composition

In Sunshine Coast, of all households, 72.0% were family households, 23.9% were single person households and 4.1% were group households.

In Sunshine Coast, 27.3% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 6.3% 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 Sunshine Coast, 38.3% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 38.2% had two registered motor vehicles and 14.9% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Sunshine Coast, there were 3,959 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 1,959 (or 49.5%) were male and 2,000 (or 50.5%) were female. The median age was 19 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 Sunshine Coast, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.2, with 1.2 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $1,080.

In Sunshine Coast, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $320 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,000.