2021 Census product release guide

The Census provides a valuable snapshot of information about Australians that reflects our community at the time the Census was undertaken. The most recent Census of Population and Housing was conducted on 10 August 2021. For more information see About the 2021 Census. 

The ABS will release 2021 Census data in a staged approach. There will be three key release phases.

1. 28 June 2022 – most topics will be released for almost all geographic outputs for place of usual residence and for place of enumeration on Census night.
2. 12 October 2022 – a smaller number of topics including employment and location-based variables will be released.
3. Early to mid-2023 – complex topics that require additional processing such as distance to work, socio-economic indexes for areas (SEIFA) will be released.

Expand the section below to see which Census topics will be included in each release. Each topic may have several variables associated with it.

Once released, Census data can be accessed using a number of Census data tools. We have outlined which data you can access through which product, and when it will be available.

The products include:

• QuickStats
• Community Profiles
• Census TableBuilder
• DataPacks
• GeoPackages

Visit Which data tool is best for you or see Census data tools and products to get more information about these tools or how to access Census data. 

Census data can also be accessed through several other products, such as API's and Census data stories. More information on other data products can be found here.

QuickStats are a simple way to understand an area at a glance. They provide a summary of an area including demographics and tables on key characteristics of the people living in the area, their families, and their dwellings.

There are three types of QuickStats:

• All persons
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Country of Birth

Expand the sections below to see release dates and what data will be available in QuickStats. 

Community Profiles are tools for researching, planning, and analysing geographic areas for a number of social, economic and demographic characteristics. Community Profiles provide a comprehensive statistical picture of an area in Excel spreadsheets, delivering data relating to people, families, and dwellings.

There are four types of Community profiles:

• General community profile
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples profile
• Time series profile
• Working population profile

Download Community Profile templates here as they become available.

Expand the sections below to see release dates and what data will be available in Community Profiles.

Census TableBuilder allows you to build and customise tables to your own specifications. For further information on this product see TableBuilder.

Download the Census TableBuilder data item list.

Expand the section below to see dataset release information. 

DataPacks contain comprehensive data about people, families and dwellings for all Census geographies ranging from Australia down to Statistical Area Level 1. They are containers of data based on Census Community Profiles and include:

• digital boundary files,
• metadata and
• reference documents to enable you to read the data.

DataPacks are suitable for experienced Census data users who have their own databases or analysis systems. The data provided in DataPacks is based on the four Community Profiles with the addition of the Place of enumeration profile, and are available at more levels of geography. 

Download DataPacks templates here as they become available.

Expand the sections below to see release dates and what data will be available in DataPacks. 

GeoPackages contain comprehensive data about people, families and dwellings for Census geographical areas ranging from Statistical Areas Level 1 to the whole of Australia. GeoPackages are Census data linked to geographical boundary data from the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) in a database container.

GeoPackages are suitable for experienced Census data users who want Community Profile data for numerous locations and have their own databases or Geographic Information System (GIS) software. GeoPackages do not include software.

GeoPackages are based on the General community profile.

Expand the sections below to see release dates and what data will be available in GeoPackages.

Census data will also be released in several other tools. These tools are outlined below with the 2021 Census data availability.

Data Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) enable fast access to ABS statistics by using machine to machine 'API calls'. These calls return statistics in a machine friendly format so that you can integrate data into your own systems as they are released. APIs will be available for first data release.

Stories, articles and visualisations that relate to Census data on topics of interest can be found at Census data by topic. Spreadsheets containing summary data on the topics are also included. Topics and articles will be progressively updated and released from 28 June 2022.  

Mesh blocks are identified with a unique 11 digit code and are the smallest geographical unit in the Australian Statistical Geography Standard for which Census data is output. These datasets contain counts of the total usual resident population and the total dwelling count from the 2021 Census of Population and Housing. 2021 Census Mesh block counts will be released with first data release in 2022.

Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) ranks areas in Australia according to relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage. The indexes are based on information from the five-yearly Census. 2021 Census data will be available from third data release in 2023.

Basic and Detailed microdata files contain a small random sample of unidentified private households, associated persons, and a small random sample of persons in non-private dwellings. 2021 Census data will be available from third data release in 2023.

The ABS will release the 2021 Census Estimates of Homelessness in early to mid-2023.