Surfers Paradise

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 51,637 people in Surfers Paradise of these 50.3% were male and 49.7% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.8% of the population.

The median age of people in Surfers Paradise was 39 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 13.0% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 16.3% of the population.

Of people in Surfers Paradise aged 15 years and over, 41.2% were married and 14.7% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Surfers Paradise was 53 years and the median age of people never married was 26 years.

In Surfers Paradise, of people aged 15 years and over, 41.5% of people were in a registered marriage and 12.0% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Surfers Paradise was 53 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 33 years.

In Surfers Paradise 30.3% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 18.1% were in primary school, 14.0% in secondary school and 23.9% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Surfers Paradise were English 27.4%, Australian 20.0%, Irish 8.0%, Scottish 7.1% and German 3.3%.

In Surfers Paradise, 57.5% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were New Zealand 8.4%, England 4.7%, India 1.8%, Japan 1.7% and South Africa 0.8%.

In Surfers Paradise, 45.9% of people had both parents born in Australia and 41.2% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Surfers Paradise were Catholic 23.9%, No Religion 20.4%, Anglican 19.6%, Uniting Church 4.1% and Presbyterian and Reformed 3.4%.

In Surfers Paradise 74.8% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Japanese 2.1%, Mandarin 1.0%, Italian 0.9%, Korean 0.8% and Cantonese 0.7%.

Employment

There were 27,030 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Surfers Paradise. Of these 56.1% were employed full time, 31.3% were employed part-time and 7.7% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Surfers Paradise, 10.8% worked 1 to 15 hours, 10.4% worked 16 to 24 hours and 44.3% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Surfers Paradise was 40 years and for people who were employed part-time was 37 years.

The most common occupations in Surfers Paradise included Professionals 19.0%, Managers 14.2%, Sales Workers 13.8%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 13.4%, Technicians and Trades Workers 12.7%, Community and Personal Service Workers 11.6%, Labourers 9.2% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 3.9%.

Of the employed people in Surfers Paradise, the most common responses for industry of employment included Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 6.9%, Accommodation 5.6%, Hospitals 3.0%, School Education 3.0% and Real Estate Services 2.6%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Surfers Paradise was $608.

In Surfers Paradise, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 60.4%, Walked only 7.1%, Car, as passenger 5.3%, Bus 3.3% and Bicycle 1.5%. On the day, 5.2% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 66.1% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Surfers Paradise, of people aged 15 years and over, 65.5% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 19.9% provided care for children and 8.5% 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 Surfers Paradise, 24.5% worked 5 to 14 hours, 9.8% worked 15 to 29 hours and 6.8% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Surfers Paradise, 33.0% were couple families with children, 49.2% were couple families without children and 15.4% were one parent families.

In Surfers Paradise 19.2% of single parents were male and 80.8% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Surfers Paradise, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,357 and those without children was $1,857.

Employment status of couple families

In Surfers Paradise, of couple families with children, 21.2% had both partners employed full-time, 5.8% had both employed part-time and 18.9% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Surfers Paradise, 74.7% of private dwellings were occupied and 25.3% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Surfers Paradise, 37.0% were separate houses, 14.6% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 48.0% were flats, units or apartments and 0.2% were other dwellings.

In Surfers Paradise, of occupied private dwellings 12.9% had 1 bedroom, 33.4% had 2 bedrooms and 29.6% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 2.7. The average household size was 2.2 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Surfers Paradise, 28.5% were owned outright, 26.7% were owned with a mortgage and 41.3% were rented.

Household composition

In Surfers Paradise, of all households, 61.0% were family households, 30.0% were single person households and 9.0% were group households.

In Surfers Paradise, 24.3% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 9.4% 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 Surfers Paradise, 41.6% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 33.0% had two registered motor vehicles and 11.8% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Surfers Paradise, there were 409 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 202 (or 49.4%) were male and 207 (or 50.6%) were female. The median age was 26 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 Surfers Paradise, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 2.7, with 1.2 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $1,201.

In Surfers Paradise, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $350 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,167.