Cairns - Far North Coast

Latest release
2021 Census Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people QuickStats
Geography type Indigenous Areas
Area code IARE309003
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people 979
Male 48.1%
Female 51.9%
Median age 24
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander families 291
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander households 369
Average number of people per household 3.1
Median weekly household income $1,117
Median monthly mortgage repayments $1,517
Median weekly rent (a) $250

(a) For 2021, median weekly rent calculations exclude dwellings being occupied rent-free.

Search QuickStats for another area

Map is loading.
Other 2021 Census products available for this area:
To view more QuickStats or Community Profiles for a different area, see Search Census data.

All tables refer to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander persons in Cairns - Far North Coast, unless otherwise stated.
Small random changes have been made to all cell values for privacy reasons. These changes may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from the table totals.

People and population

Indigenous status
All people 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander total 979 8.5 237,303 4.6 812,728 3.2
Aboriginal 681 5.9 193,405 3.8 742,882 2.9
Torres Strait Islander 98 0.9 21,772 0.4 33,765 0.1
Both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 201 1.7 22,122 0.4 36,083 0.1
Non-Indigenous 9,260 80.5 4,635,042 89.9 23,375,949 91.9
Not stated 1,254 10.9 283,793 5.5 1,234,112 4.9

More information on Place of Usual Residence (PURP), Indigenous status (INGP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Age
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Median age 24 N/A 23 N/A 24 N/A
0-4 years 110 11.2 25,731 10.8 85,941 10.6
5-14 years 230 23.5 54,439 22.9 179,604 22.1
15-24 years 159 16.2 44,204 18.6 150,057 18.5
25-34 years 107 10.9 33,612 14.2 117,969 14.5
35-44 years 109 11.1 25,219 10.6 87,910 10.8
45-54 years 94 9.6 23,680 10.0 81,802 10.1
55-64 years 83 8.5 17,354 7.3 61,759 7.6
65 years and over 78 8.0 13,065 5.5 47,677 5.9

More information on Age (AGEP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Registered marital status
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Married 82 12.8 33,341 21.2 127,525 23.3
Separated 21 3.3 6,967 4.4 23,982 4.4
Divorced 37 5.8 10,657 6.8 37,473 6.8
Widowed 24 3.8 4,181 2.7 16,329 3.0
Never married 470 73.6 101,985 64.9 341,871 62.5

Note: In December 2017, amendments to the Marriage Act 1961 came into effect enabling marriage equality for all couples. For 2021, registered marriages include all couples.

More information on Registered marital status (MSTP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Social marital status
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over, usually resident and present in the household on Census night 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Registered marriage (a) 75 13.1 30,074 21.4 112,643 23.0
De facto marriage (b) 124 21.7 25,417 18.0 81,295 16.6
Not married 373 65.3 85,357 60.6 296,032 60.4

(a) In December 2017, amendments to the Marriage Act 1961 came into effect enabling marriage equality for all couples. For 2021, registered marriages include all couples.
(b) De facto marriage is when two people live together as partners who are not in a registered marriage. It includes people who report de facto, partner, common law husband/wife/spouse, lover, girlfriend or boyfriend.

More information on Social marital status (MDCP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Education

Type of educational institution attending
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people attending an educational institution 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Preschool 19 5.7 6,070 6.6 25,485 8.0
Primary 161 48.6 35,874 38.9 120,864 37.9
Secondary 102 30.8 26,207 28.4 83,631 26.2
Tertiary - Vocational education (including TAFE and private training providers) 15 4.5 4,967 5.4 21,273 6.7
Tertiary - University or higher education 8 2.4 6,362 6.9 21,149 6.6
Other 9 2.7 2,803 3.0 7,310 2.3
Not stated 23 6.9 9,970 10.8 38,814 12.2

More information Type of educational institution attending (TYPP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Level of highest educational attainment
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Bachelor Degree level and above 30 4.7 11,028 7.0 40,554 7.4
Advanced Diploma and Diploma level 30 4.7 10,614 6.8 34,681 6.3
Certificate level IV 24 3.8 6,227 4.0 23,374 4.3
Certificate level III 112 17.5 27,557 17.5 84,821 15.5
Year 12 101 15.8 28,526 18.2 82,998 15.2
Year 11 52 8.1 11,349 7.2 43,335 7.9
Year 10 113 17.7 28,737 18.3 102,707 18.8
Certificate level II 3 0.5 344 0.2 1,262 0.2
Certificate level I 0 0.0 52 0.0 241 0.0
Year 9 or below 88 13.8 18,908 12.0 75,326 13.8
Inadequately described 10 1.6 3,131 2.0 11,038 2.0
No educational attainment 18 2.8 1,193 0.8 5,242 1.0
Not stated 55 8.6 9,409 6.0 41,467 7.6

More information on Level of highest educational attainment (HEAP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Cultural diversity

Australian Indigenous language, top responses
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Kuku Yalanji 96 9.8 347 0.1 370 0.0
Australian Indigenous Languages, nfd 9 0.9 1,407 0.6 4,197 0.5
Aboriginal English, so described 9 0.9 585 0.2 1,371 0.2
Wik Mungkan 6 0.6 947 0.4 953 0.1
Anindilyakwa 4 0.4 38 0.0 1,510 0.2
 null  null  null  null  null  null  null
Australian Indigenous languages used at home 140 14.3 19,018 8.0 76,978 9.5
English only used at home 767 78.3 202,342 85.3 683,122 84.1

More information on Language used at home (LANP), Whether reported using an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander language at home (LNGP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Ancestry, top responses
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Australian Aboriginal 845 86.3 194,063 81.8 695,359 85.6
Torres Strait Islander 263 26.9 38,500 16.2 57,353 7.1
Australian 228 23.3 78,079 32.9 277,467 34.1
English 119 12.2 35,211 14.8 131,618 16.2
Italian 21 2.1 2,757 1.2 10,621 1.3

Note 1: Respondents had the option of reporting up to two ancestries on their Census form, and this is captured by the Ancestry multi response (ANCP) variable used in this table. Therefore, the sum of all ancestry responses for an area will not equal the total number of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in the area.
Note 2: Calculated percentages represent a proportion of the number of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in the area (including those who did not state an ancestry). In 2016 QuickStats percentages were based on total number of responses and will not be comparable to this table.

More information on Ancestry multi response (ANCP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Income and work

Participation in the labour force
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
In the labour force 333 52.1 88,971 56.6 296,172 54.1
Not in the labour force 282 44.1 64,129 40.8 234,314 42.8
Not stated 26 4.1 4,029 2.6 16,695 3.1

Note 1: Calculated percentages represent a proportion of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 and over in the area.
Note 2: The ABS Labour Force Survey provides the official estimates of Australia's labour force. More information is provided in Comparing 2021 Census and Labour Force Survey.
Note 3: For information on Community Development Program participation (CDPP), please refer to the Census Dictionary. CDPP data is available in TableBuilder.

More information on Labour force status (LFSP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Employment status
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people who reported being in the labour force, aged 15 years and over 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Employed  null  null  null  null  null  null
Worked full-time 143 42.9 42,934 48.3 144,659 48.8
Worked part-time 112 33.6 25,926 29.1 87,019 29.4
Away from work (a) 30 9.0 8,254 9.3 28,075 9.5
Total employed 292 87.7 77,118 86.7 259,754 87.7
Unemployed 44 13.2 11,853 13.3 36,419 12.3

Note 1: Calculated percentages represent a proportion of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 and over, who reported being in the labour force in the area.
Note 2: The ABS Labour Force Survey provides the official estimates of Australia's labour force. More information is provided in Comparing 2021 Census and Labour Force Survey.
Note 3: For information on Community Development Program participation (CDPP), please refer to the Census Dictionary. CDPP data is available in TableBuilder.

(a) Counts employed people who reported 0 hours of work the week before the Census or did not state their hours of work.

More information on Labour force status (LFSP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Occupation, top responses
Employed Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Labourers 63 21.6 12,156 15.8 37,003 14.2
Community and Personal Service Workers 56 19.2 13,289 17.2 45,221 17.4
Technicians and Trades Workers 37 12.7 10,330 13.4 35,333 13.6
Professionals 35 12.0 9,392 12.2 36,013 13.9
Clerical and Administrative Workers 34 11.6 9,217 12.0 30,731 11.8
Machinery Operators and Drivers 29 9.9 7,488 9.7 23,291 9.0
Managers 22 7.5 5,606 7.3 21,218 8.2
Sales Workers 15 5.1 7,120 9.2 22,365 8.6

More information on Occupation (OCCP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Industry of employment, top responses
Employed Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Accommodation 27 9.2 1,038 1.3 2,787 1.1
Primary Education 16 5.5 1,737 2.3 6,313 2.4
Cafes and Restaurants 13 4.5 1,328 1.7 3,973 1.5
Building and Other Industrial Cleaning Services 11 3.8 1,196 1.6 3,925 1.5
Other Social Assistance Services 11 3.8 3,030 3.9 10,154 3.9

More information on Industry of employment (INDP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Median weekly incomes (a)
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Personal (b) 496 N/A 563 N/A 540 N/A
Family (c) 1,231 N/A 1,510 N/A 1,527 N/A
Household (d) 1,117 N/A 1,517 N/A 1,507 N/A

(a) Incomes are collected in ranges. The medians are then calculated using information from the Survey of Income and Housing.
(b) Excludes people aged 15 years and over who did not state their income.
(c) Excludes families where at least one family member aged 15 years and over did not state their income.
(d) Excludes households where at least one household member aged 15 years and over did not state their income.

More information on Total personal income (weekly) (INCP), Total family income (weekly) (FINF), Total household income (weekly) (HIND), Indigenous household indicator (INGDWTD), Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander family indicator (INGF)
Personal income data is based on place of usual residence
Family and household income data is based on place of enumeration

Unpaid work and care

Unpaid work and care
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Did unpaid domestic work (week before Census Night) 362 57.1 93,340 59.4 328,022 59.9
Provided unpaid care for child/children (during two weeks before Census Night) 181 28.3 46,884 29.8 166,628 30.5
Provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability, health condition or due to old age (during two weeks before Census Night) 73 11.4 20,506 13.1 76,568 14.0
Did voluntary work through an organisation or group (last 12 months) 61 9.5 16,824 10.7 58,029 10.6

More information on Unpaid domestic work: number of hours (DOMP), Unpaid child care (CHCAREP), Unpaid assistance to a person with a disability, health condition, or due to old age (UNCAREP), Voluntary work for an organisation or group (VOLWP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Health

Type of long-term health condition
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Arthritis 24 2.5 13,964 5.9 50,807 6.3
Asthma 79 8.1 30,328 12.8 107,162 13.2
Cancer (including remission) 20 2.0 3,684 1.6 12,927 1.6
Dementia (including Alzheimer's) 9 0.9 1,084 0.5 3,610 0.4
Diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes) 84 8.6 14,227 6.0 47,688 5.9
Heart disease (including heart attack or angina) 56 5.7 8,644 3.6 30,160 3.7
Kidney disease 24 2.5 2,678 1.1 10,053 1.2
Lung condition (including COPD or emphysema) 8 0.8 4,813 2.0 17,552 2.2
Mental health condition (including depression or anxiety) 70 7.2 29,713 12.5 107,776 13.3
Stroke 8 0.8 2,004 0.8 7,059 0.9
Any other long-term health condition(s) 63 6.4 20,408 8.6 70,592 8.7
No long-term health condition(s) 653 66.7 138,929 58.5 462,348 56.9
Not stated 53 5.4 17,857 7.5 65,539 8.1

Note 1: Measures the number of people who reported that they have been told by a doctor or nurse that they have any of these long-term health conditions.
Note 2: Respondents had the option of reporting multiple long-term health conditions. Therefore, the sum of all long-term health condition responses for an area will not equal the total number of people in the area.
Note 3: Calculated percentages represent a proportion of the number of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in the area (including those who did not answer the long-term health conditions question).

More information on Type of long-term health condition (LTHP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Count of selected long-term health conditions
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
None of the selected conditions 683 69.8 147,859 62.3 493,110 60.7
One condition 165 16.9 47,176 19.9 167,204 20.6
Two conditions 46 4.7 15,219 6.4 54,174 6.7
Three or more conditions 33 3.4 9,182 3.9 32,701 4.0
Not stated 53 5.4 17,857 7.5 65,539 8.1

Note: Selected long-term health conditions include arthritis, asthma, cancer (including remission), dementia (including Alzheimer's), diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes), heart disease (including heart attack or angina), kidney disease, lung condition (including COPD or emphysema), mental health condition (including depression or anxiety) and stroke. Other long-term health conditions are not included in this count.

More information on Count of selected long-term health conditions (CLTHP)
Table based on place of usual residence

Housing

Dwelling characteristics
Occupied private dwellings (excl. visitor only households and other non-classifiable households) where at least one person was Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Number of dwellings requiring one or more extra bedroom(s) (a) 54 14.6 9,479 9.3 31,268 8.9
Average number of people per household 3.1 N/A 3.2 N/A 3.1 N/A
Average number of persons per bedroom 1.1 N/A 1 N/A 1 N/A
Average number of registered motor vehicles per dwelling 1.6 N/A 1.9 N/A 1.9 N/A

(a) The Canadian National Occupancy Standard for Housing Appropriateness is used to determine whether there are enough bedrooms in the dwelling for the usual residents. See Housing suitability information below for more details.

More information on Number of bedrooms in private dwelling (BEDD), Household composition (HHCD), Indigenous household indicator (INGDWTD), Housing suitability (HOSD)
Table based on place of enumeration

Mortgage and Rent
Occupied private dwellings (excl. visitor only households and other non-classifiable households) where at least one person was Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Median weekly rent (a) $250 N/A $305 N/A $300 N/A
Median monthly mortgage repayments $1,517 N/A $1,670 N/A $1,721 N/A

(a) Median rent calculations exclude dwellings being occupied rent-free, this is not comparable to 2016 QuickStats data.

More information on Rent (weekly) dollar values (RNTD), Mortgage repayments (monthly) dollar values (MRED), Indigenous household indicator (INGDWTD)
Table based on place of enumeration

Family household composition
Occupied private dwellings (excl. visitor only households and other non-classifiable households) where at least one person was Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
One family household: Couple family with no children 53 14.4 18,041 17.8 62,751 17.8
One family household: Couple family with children 106 28.7 30,193 29.7 104,435 29.7
One family household: One parent family 95 25.7 25,214 24.8 86,135 24.5
One family household: Other family 18 4.9 2,079 2.0 7,040 2.0
Multiple family household: Couple family with no children 0 0.0 570 0.6 2,130 0.6
Multiple family household: Couple family with children 6 1.6 2,042 2.0 6,813 1.9
Multiple family household: One parent family 6 1.6 2,678 2.6 8,606 2.4
Multiple family household: Other family 0 0.0 108 0.1 412 0.1
Other household 84 22.8 20,562 20.3 73,717 20.9

Note: This table counts the types of families within family households at the dwelling level. In multiple family households, only the family composition of the primary family is recorded. Other household includes lone person households and group households.

More information on Family household composition (dwelling) (HCFMD)
Table based on place of enumeration

Dwelling structure
Occupied private dwellings where at least one person was Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Separate house 263 71.3 80,529 79.3 281,729 80.0
Semi-detached, row or terrace house, townhouse etc. 46 12.5 11,082 10.9 38,396 10.9
Flat or apartment 56 15.2 8,530 8.4 27,919 7.9
Other dwelling 0 0.0 1,003 1.0 2,861 0.8

More information on Dwelling structure (STRD)
Table based on place of enumeration

Tenure type
Occupied private dwellings (excl. visitor only households and other non-classifiable households) where at least one person was Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 		Cairns - Far North Coast % Cairns - Far North Coast Queensland % Queensland Australia % Australia
Owned outright 44 11.9 12,395 12.2 48,452 13.8
Owned with a mortgage (a) 81 22.0 26,096 25.7 96,647 27.5
Rented (b) 221 59.9 59,211 58.3 192,703 54.7
Other (c) 7 1.9 1,295 1.3 5,582 1.6
Not stated 19 5.1 2,502 2.5 8,652 2.5

(a) Includes dwellings purchased under a shared equity scheme.
(b) Excludes dwellings being occupied rent-free, this is not comparable to 2016 QuickStats data.
(c) Comprises dwellings occupied rent-free, occupied under a life tenure scheme and other tenure type

More information on Tenure type (TEND)
Table based on place of enumeration

Please note that there are small random adjustments made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals.