Sunshine Beach

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 2,288 people in Sunshine Beach of these 48.6% were male and 51.4% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.5% of the population.

The median age of people in Sunshine Beach was 44 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 16.6% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 15.1% of the population.

Of people in Sunshine Beach aged 15 years and over, 43.5% were married and 18.8% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Sunshine Beach was 54 years and the median age of people never married was 30 years.

In Sunshine Beach, of people aged 15 years and over, 42.6% of people were in a registered marriage and 12.9% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Sunshine Beach was 54 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 41 years.

In Sunshine Beach 27.5% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 26.8% were in primary school, 16.6% in secondary school and 16.7% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Sunshine Beach were English 30.6%, Australian 23.2%, Irish 10.2%, Scottish 9.2% and German 4.9%.

In Sunshine Beach, 68.3% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 7.1%, New Zealand 5.6%, United States of America 1.3%, Germany 0.8% and Scotland 0.6%.

In Sunshine Beach, 57.4% of people had both parents born in Australia and 26.6% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Sunshine Beach were No Religion 30.3%, Anglican 20.9%, Catholic 18.8%, Presbyterian and Reformed 3.9% and Uniting Church 3.3%.

In Sunshine Beach 86.8% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included German 0.8%, French 0.7%, Italian 0.6%, Portuguese 0.4% and Korean 0.4%.

Employment

There were 1,169 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Sunshine Beach. Of these 49.9% were employed full time, 36.9% were employed part-time and 8.2% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Sunshine Beach, 13.0% worked 1 to 15 hours, 13.5% worked 16 to 24 hours and 40.9% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Sunshine Beach was 44 years and for people who were employed part-time was 46 years.

The most common occupations in Sunshine Beach included Professionals 24.5%, Managers 17.4%, Sales Workers 13.3%, Community and Personal Service Workers 12.4%, Technicians and Trades Workers 11.4%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 9.4%, Labourers 6.7% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 2.5%.

Of the employed people in Sunshine Beach, the most common responses for industry of employment included Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 8.7%, Accommodation 5.6%, School Education 4.4%, Residential Building Construction 3.2% and Clothing, Footwear and Personal Accessory Retailing 3.2%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Sunshine Beach was $638.

In Sunshine Beach, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 60.7%, Walked only 4.3%, Car, as passenger 3.7%, Motorbike/scooter 1.4% and Bicycle 1.4%. On the day, 1.8% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 64.1% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Sunshine Beach, of people aged 15 years and over, 73.7% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 26.3% provided care for children and 9.8% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 20.1% 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 Sunshine Beach, 29.0% worked 5 to 14 hours, 12.2% worked 15 to 29 hours and 9.2% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Sunshine Beach, 33.9% were couple families with children, 46.7% were couple families without children and 18.5% were one parent families.

In Sunshine Beach 20.4% of single parents were male and 79.6% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Sunshine Beach, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,899 and those without children was $1,732.

Employment status of couple families

In Sunshine Beach, of couple families with children, 14.2% had both partners employed full-time, 6.2% had both employed part-time and 20.6% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Sunshine Beach, 58.9% of private dwellings were occupied and 41.1% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Sunshine Beach, 60.3% were separate houses, 8.2% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 31.5% were flats, units or apartments and 0.0% were other dwellings.

In Sunshine Beach, of occupied private dwellings 3.8% had 1 bedroom, 30.6% had 2 bedrooms and 39.9% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 2.9. The average household size was 2.2 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Sunshine Beach, 30.9% were owned outright, 24.6% were owned with a mortgage and 42.1% were rented.

Household composition

In Sunshine Beach, of all households, 61.6% were family households, 31.0% were single person households and 7.4% were group households.

In Sunshine Beach, 27.1% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 7.4% 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 Sunshine Beach, 45.2% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 36.2% had two registered motor vehicles and 9.7% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Sunshine Beach, there were 13 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 6 (or 46.2%) were male and 7 (or 53.8%) were female. The median age was 51 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 Sunshine Beach, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 2.5, with 1 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $1,233.

In Sunshine Beach, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $360 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $986.