Sydney

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 107,127 people in Sydney of these 52.9% were male and 47.1% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.6% of the population.

The median age of people in Sydney was 32 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 6.3% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 8.3% of the population.

Of people in Sydney aged 15 years and over, 26.3% were married and 9.8% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Sydney was 41 years and the median age of people never married was 29 years.

In Sydney, of people aged 15 years and over, 24.8% of people were in a registered marriage and 18.3% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Sydney was 41 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 32 years.

In Sydney 35.2% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 5.0% were in primary school, 4.1% in secondary school and 38.0% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Sydney were English 19.6%, Australian 12.5%, Chinese 10.3%, Irish 8.1% and Scottish 5.7%.

In Sydney, 40.0% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 5.6%, England 5.5%, New Zealand 3.3%, Thailand 2.9% and Indonesia 2.6%.

In Sydney, 29.9% of people had both parents born in Australia and 59.4% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Sydney were No Religion 31.9%, Catholic 18.6%, Anglican 9.9%, Buddhism 7.5% and Eastern Orthodox 1.8%.

In Sydney 54.9% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 5.4%, Cantonese 3.4%, Thai 2.8%, Indonesian 2.2% and Korean 1.9%.

Employment

There were 64,808 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Sydney. Of these 68.1% were employed full time, 22.0% were employed part-time and 5.7% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Sydney, 6.6% worked 1 to 15 hours, 9.9% worked 16 to 24 hours and 57.8% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Sydney was 33 years and for people who were employed part-time was 31 years.

The most common occupations in Sydney included Professionals 39.3%, Managers 17.5%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 12.3%, Community and Personal Service Workers 9.1%, Sales Workers 7.5%, Technicians and Trades Workers 7.2%, Labourers 4.0% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 1.1%.

Of the employed people in Sydney, the most common responses for industry of employment included Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 7.3%, Legal and Accounting Services 5.6%, Auxiliary Finance and Investment Services 4.3%, Depository Financial Intermediation 3.8% and Computer System Design and Related Services 3.6%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Sydney was $931.

In Sydney, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Walked only 32.6%, Car, as driver 18.9%, Bus 12.6%, Train 11.6% and Car, as passenger 2.2%. On the day, 28.4% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 21.2% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Sydney, of people aged 15 years and over, 60.2% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 10.8% provided care for children and 5.9% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 14.3% 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 Sydney, 21.6% worked 5 to 14 hours, 5.0% worked 15 to 29 hours and 2.9% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Sydney, 20.8% were couple families with children, 64.7% were couple families without children and 9.4% were one parent families.

In Sydney 17.1% of single parents were male and 82.9% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Sydney, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $3,233 and those without children was $2,985.

Employment status of couple families

In Sydney, of couple families with children, 37.9% had both partners employed full-time, 4.5% had both employed part-time and 15.3% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Sydney, 86.6% of private dwellings were occupied and 13.4% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Sydney, 2.4% were separate houses, 18.4% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 78.5% were flats, units or apartments and 0.3% were other dwellings.

In Sydney, of occupied private dwellings 33.1% had 1 bedroom, 37.9% had 2 bedrooms and 15.1% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 1.8. The average household size was 1.9 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Sydney, 16.2% were owned outright, 20.9% were owned with a mortgage and 60.1% were rented.

Household composition

In Sydney, of all households, 44.1% were family households, 42.4% were single person households and 13.5% were group households.

In Sydney, 19.2% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 19.3% 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 Sydney, 42.1% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 10.3% had two registered motor vehicles and 1.6% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Sydney, there were 688 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 377 (or 54.8%) were male and 311 (or 45.2%) were female. The median age was 34 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 Sydney, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 2, with 1.2 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $984.

In Sydney, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $340 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,600.