Significant Urban Areas, Urban Centres and Localities, Section of State

The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) classifies urban areas in several different ways to make a wide range of statistical data available for Australian towns and cities. All classifications of urban areas created by the ABS are for the purpose of statistical analysis and do not match official legal or administrative boundaries.

• Each Significant Urban Area (SUA) represents an individual Urban Centre or cluster of related Urban Centres with a core urban population over 10,000 people.
• The Urban Centre and Locality (UCL) classification is aggregated from Statistical Areas Level 1 (SA1) which meet population density criteria or contain urban infrastructure.
• Section of State (SOS) groups the UCLs into classes of urban areas based on population size, and the remainder is considered to be rural.
• Section of State Range (SOSR) provides a more detailed classification than SOS. This enables statistical comparison of differently sized Urban Centres and rural areas.

The ASGS Edition 3 Significant Urban Areas, Urban Centres and Localities and Section of State were developed using population and dwelling data from the 2021 Census of Population and Housing. The next update will be after the 2026 Census of Population and Housing.