Surry Hills

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 15,342 people in Surry Hills of these 57.8% were male and 42.2% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.0% of the population.

The median age of people in Surry Hills was 33 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 5.0% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 8.4% of the population.

Of people in Surry Hills aged 15 years and over, 20.1% were married and 9.4% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Surry Hills was 38 years and the median age of people never married was 31 years.

In Surry Hills, of people aged 15 years and over, 19.2% of people were in a registered marriage and 24.1% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Surry Hills was 38 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 32 years.

In Surry Hills 30.2% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 4.0% were in primary school, 3.5% in secondary school and 36.8% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Surry Hills were English 20.6%, Australian 13.9%, Irish 9.1%, Chinese 6.5% and Scottish 6.0%.

In Surry Hills, 44.8% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 6.1%, New Zealand 3.9%, China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 3.2%, Thailand 2.3% and United States of America 1.4%.

In Surry Hills, 33.5% of people had both parents born in Australia and 55.1% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Surry Hills were No Religion 36.4%, Catholic 18.9%, Anglican 8.3%, Buddhism 6.1% and Eastern Orthodox 2.4%.

In Surry Hills 61.2% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Cantonese 2.9%, Mandarin 2.3%, Thai 2.2%, Greek 1.4% and French 1.3%.

Employment

There were 9,854 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Surry Hills. Of these 72.3% were employed full time, 19.1% were employed part-time and 4.8% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Surry Hills, 5.5% worked 1 to 15 hours, 7.9% worked 16 to 24 hours and 59.8% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Surry Hills was 33 years and for people who were employed part-time was 32 years.

The most common occupations in Surry Hills included Professionals 41.6%, Managers 17.6%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 11.8%, Community and Personal Service Workers 8.7%, Technicians and Trades Workers 7.2%, Sales Workers 7.1%, Labourers 3.3% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 1.1%.

Of the employed people in Surry Hills, the most common responses for industry of employment included Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 6.2%, Legal and Accounting Services 4.5%, Computer System Design and Related Services 3.9%, Auxiliary Finance and Investment Services 3.7% and Depository Financial Intermediation 3.5%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Surry Hills was $986.

In Surry Hills, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Walked only 32.9%, Car, as driver 17.4%, Train 13.7%, Bus 12.8% and Bicycle 3.2%. On the day, 30.2% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 19.1% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Surry Hills, of people aged 15 years and over, 64.9% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 9.0% provided care for children and 5.7% 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 Surry Hills, 23.3% worked 5 to 14 hours, 4.5% worked 15 to 29 hours and 2.4% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Surry Hills, 16.8% were couple families with children, 71.3% were couple families without children and 7.6% were one parent families.

In Surry Hills 18.9% of single parents were male and 81.1% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Surry Hills, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $3,005 and those without children was $2,994.

Employment status of couple families

In Surry Hills, of couple families with children, 45.4% had both partners employed full-time, 4.2% had both employed part-time and 15.6% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Surry Hills, 89.2% of private dwellings were occupied and 10.8% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Surry Hills, 1.4% were separate houses, 27.7% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 69.7% were flats, units or apartments and 0.9% were other dwellings.

In Surry Hills, of occupied private dwellings 36.1% had 1 bedroom, 37.6% had 2 bedrooms and 13.1% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 1.8. The average household size was 1.8 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Surry Hills, 11.4% were owned outright, 23.5% were owned with a mortgage and 62.0% were rented.

Household composition

In Surry Hills, of all households, 42.0% were family households, 42.7% were single person households and 15.3% were group households.

In Surry Hills, 20.1% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 20.8% 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 Surry Hills, 40.6% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 8.5% had two registered motor vehicles and 0.9% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Surry Hills, there were 147 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 83 (or 56.5%) were male and 64 (or 43.5%) 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 Surry Hills, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 1.7, with 1.2 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $559.

In Surry Hills, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $165 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,000.