Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 22,196 people in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs of these 49.6% were male and 50.4% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 19.2% of the population.

The median age of people in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs was 34 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 19.6% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 11.5% of the population.

Of people in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs aged 15 years and over, 27.8% were married and 17.0% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs was 49 years and the median age of people never married was 29 years.

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, of people aged 15 years and over, 27.8% of people were in a registered marriage and 14.4% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs was 49 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 32 years.

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs 31.3% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 22.1% were in primary school, 14.0% in secondary school and 16.3% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs were Australian 26.0%, English 21.4%, Irish 7.0%, Scottish 5.4% and German 3.3%.

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, 66.5% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were New Zealand 3.3%, England 2.6%, Philippines 2.1%, Papua New Guinea 1.9% and Japan 1.7%.

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, 57.0% of people had both parents born in Australia and 30.3% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs were No Religion 22.3%, Catholic 22.1%, Anglican 17.1%, Uniting Church 4.1% and Presbyterian and Reformed 3.5%.

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs 71.5% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Japanese 2.2%, Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole) 1.3%, Nepali 1.2%, Tagalog 0.9% and Maori (Cook Island) 0.7%.

Employment

There were 10,149 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs. Of these 57.2% were employed full time, 25.9% were employed part-time and 11.0% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, 8.0% worked 1 to 15 hours, 8.3% worked 16 to 24 hours and 41.6% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs was 38 years and for people who were employed part-time was 38 years.

The most common occupations in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs included Technicians and Trades Workers 16.1%, Professionals 14.5%, Community and Personal Service Workers 14.4%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 13.2%, Labourers 13.2%, Sales Workers 10.8%, Managers 8.7% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 6.7%.

Of the employed people in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, the most common responses for industry of employment included Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 5.9%, Accommodation 5.2%, Hospitals 4.0%, School Education 3.9% and Supermarket and Grocery Stores 2.6%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs was $523.

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 59.2%, Car, as passenger 7.6%, Walked only 5.1%, Bicycle 4.4% and Bus 2.5%. On the day, 3.1% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 67.3% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, of people aged 15 years and over, 61.2% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 22.7% provided care for children and 9.3% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 14.5% 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 Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, 23.8% worked 5 to 14 hours, 9.8% worked 15 to 29 hours and 7.5% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, 29.5% were couple families with children, 36.1% were couple families without children and 31.3% were one parent families.

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs 17.3% of single parents were male and 82.7% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,738 and those without children was $1,677.

Employment status of couple families

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, of couple families with children, 21.8% had both partners employed full-time, 3.7% had both employed part-time and 16.6% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, 89.1% of private dwellings were occupied and 10.9% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, 45.2% were separate houses, 13.5% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 39.2% were flats, units or apartments and 2.0% were other dwellings.

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, of occupied private dwellings 14.3% had 1 bedroom, 36.6% had 2 bedrooms and 33.1% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 2.4. The average household size was 2.2 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, 17.7% were owned outright, 21.2% were owned with a mortgage and 56.1% were rented.

Household composition

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, of all households, 54.6% were family households, 39.1% were single person households and 6.4% were group households.

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, 34.3% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 2.4% 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 Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, 45.8% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 22.9% had two registered motor vehicles and 7.3% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, there were 4,255 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 1,959 (or 46.0%) were male and 2,296 (or 54.0%) 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 Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.1, with 1.4 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $760.

In Cairns (R) - Central Suburbs, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $180 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,476.