Lake Macquarie

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 67,317 people in Lake Macquarie of these 49.1% were male and 50.9% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.1% of the population.

The median age of people in Lake Macquarie was 43 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 17.8% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 19.8% of the population.

Of people in Lake Macquarie aged 15 years and over, 50.9% were married and 12.6% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Lake Macquarie was 55 years and the median age of people never married was 24 years.

In Lake Macquarie, of people aged 15 years and over, 51.9% of people were in a registered marriage and 8.6% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Lake Macquarie was 55 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 38 years.

In Lake Macquarie 27.7% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 28.2% were in primary school, 24.0% in secondary school and 20.1% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Lake Macquarie were Australian 33.1%, English 32.3%, Scottish 8.2%, Irish 7.8% and German 3.0%.

In Lake Macquarie, 84.9% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 3.3%, New Zealand 1.7%, Scotland 0.5%, Germany 0.4% and Netherlands 0.4%.

In Lake Macquarie, 73.6% of people had both parents born in Australia and 14.5% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Lake Macquarie were Anglican 26.2%, Catholic 20.9%, No Religion 19.6%, Uniting Church 7.3% and Seventh-day Adventist 4.5%.

In Lake Macquarie 93.0% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 0.3%, German 0.2%, Spanish 0.2%, Dutch 0.2% and Samoan 0.2%.

Employment

There were 30,402 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Lake Macquarie. Of these 56.4% were employed full time, 31.7% were employed part-time and 5.5% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Lake Macquarie, 11.9% worked 1 to 15 hours, 10.6% worked 16 to 24 hours and 42.3% worked 40 hours or more.

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

The most common occupations in Lake Macquarie included Professionals 18.4%, Technicians and Trades Workers 16.9%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 14.2%, Labourers 10.6%, Managers 10.4%, Community and Personal Service Workers 10.1%, Sales Workers 9.7% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 8.1%.

Of the employed people in Lake Macquarie, the most common responses for industry of employment included School Education 4.6%, Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 3.7%, Residential Care Services 3.7%, Hospitals 3.7% and Supermarket and Grocery Stores 2.8%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Lake Macquarie was $501.

In Lake Macquarie, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 68.1%, Car, as passenger 5.1%, Walked only 1.8%, Truck 1.6% and Train 1.4%. On the day, 3.3% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 73.6% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Lake Macquarie, of people aged 15 years and over, 72.0% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 28.8% provided care for children and 13.4% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 17.7% 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 Lake Macquarie, 26.0% worked 5 to 14 hours, 14.2% worked 15 to 29 hours and 12.0% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Lake Macquarie, 39.8% were couple families with children, 42.1% were couple families without children and 17.0% were one parent families.

In Lake Macquarie 17.9% of single parents were male and 82.1% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Lake Macquarie, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,260 and those without children was $1,995.

Employment status of couple families

In Lake Macquarie, of couple families with children, 17.3% had both partners employed full-time, 3.5% had both employed part-time and 20.8% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Lake Macquarie, 89.5% of private dwellings were occupied and 10.5% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Lake Macquarie, 89.8% were separate houses, 5.2% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 3.4% were flats, units or apartments and 1.4% were other dwellings.

In Lake Macquarie, of occupied private dwellings 3.6% had 1 bedroom, 16.5% had 2 bedrooms and 44.6% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.2. The average household size was 2.5 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Lake Macquarie, 38.7% were owned outright, 34.6% were owned with a mortgage and 23.2% were rented.

Household composition

In Lake Macquarie, of all households, 74.0% were family households, 23.6% were single person households and 2.4% were group households.

In Lake Macquarie, 27.4% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 8.9% 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 Lake Macquarie, 34.9% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 36.3% had two registered motor vehicles and 19.7% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Lake Macquarie, there were 2,102 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 1,048 (or 49.9%) were male and 1,054 (or 50.1%) were female. The median age was 20 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 Lake Macquarie, 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 $1,002.

In Lake Macquarie, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $250 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,800.