Cairns City

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 2,180 people in Cairns City of these 53.8% were male and 46.2% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.4% of the population.

The median age of people in Cairns City was 40 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 7.4% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 12.6% of the population.

Of people in Cairns City aged 15 years and over, 36.9% were married and 15.2% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Cairns City was 51 years and the median age of people never married was 29 years.

In Cairns City, of people aged 15 years and over, 38.2% of people were in a registered marriage and 13.4% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Cairns City was 52 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 38 years.

In Cairns City 29.2% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 7.2% were in primary school, 9.9% in secondary school and 17.8% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Cairns City were English 23.5%, Australian 15.9%, Irish 8.4%, Scottish 6.9% and German 3.7%.

In Cairns City, 47.7% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 6.3%, New Zealand 4.5%, Japan 3.1%, Korea, Republic of (South) 2.8% and India 1.4%.

In Cairns City, 43.0% of people had both parents born in Australia and 47.5% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Cairns City were No Religion 25.7%, Catholic 21.6%, Anglican 12.9%, Buddhism 3.3% and Uniting Church 3.0%.

In Cairns City 63.5% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Korean 3.1%, Japanese 3.0%, Mandarin 1.7%, Italian 1.5% and German 0.9%.

Employment

There were 1,202 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Cairns City. Of these 62.6% were employed full time, 21.9% were employed part-time and 9.8% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Cairns City, 8.4% worked 1 to 15 hours, 6.5% worked 16 to 24 hours and 53.6% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Cairns City was 41 years and for people who were employed part-time was 41 years.

The most common occupations in Cairns City included Professionals 21.1%, Managers 19.9%, Sales Workers 11.9%, Community and Personal Service Workers 11.0%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 11.0%, Technicians and Trades Workers 9.0%, Labourers 9.0% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 4.9%.

Of the employed people in Cairns City, the most common responses for industry of employment included Accommodation 10.6%, Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 7.3%, Hospitals 5.3%, Building Cleaning, Pest Control and Gardening Services 2.5% and Real Estate Services 2.3%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Cairns City was $718.

In Cairns City, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 39.9%, Walked only 27.6%, Car, as passenger 5.3%, Other 2.8% and Bicycle 2.4%. On the day, 2.1% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 45.4% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Cairns City, of people aged 15 years and over, 54.6% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 10.9% provided care for children and 5.3% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 13.7% 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 Cairns City, 23.5% worked 5 to 14 hours, 6.1% worked 15 to 29 hours and 4.1% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Cairns City, 24.1% were couple families with children, 63.9% were couple families without children and 11.0% were one parent families.

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

Weekly incomes

In Cairns City, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,299 and those without children was $2,259.

Employment status of couple families

In Cairns City, of couple families with children, 29.8% had both partners employed full-time, 3.9% had both employed part-time and 15.5% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Cairns City, 76.3% of private dwellings were occupied and 23.7% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Cairns City, 5.4% were separate houses, 1.4% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 89.0% were flats, units or apartments and 3.4% were other dwellings.

In Cairns City, of occupied private dwellings 14.8% had 1 bedroom, 43.2% had 2 bedrooms and 30.6% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 2.3. The average household size was 1.9 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Cairns City, 25.9% were owned outright, 19.7% were owned with a mortgage and 49.7% were rented.

Household composition

In Cairns City, of all households, 51.7% were family households, 39.6% were single person households and 8.7% were group households.

In Cairns City, 23.5% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 10.5% 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 City, 49.8% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 23.3% had two registered motor vehicles and 6.7% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Cairns City, there were 52 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 30 (or 57.7%) were male and 22 (or 42.3%) were female. The median age was 32 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 City, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 2.3, with 1.3 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $2,250.

In Cairns City, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $275 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,059.