2021 Census data release timeline

Census data will be released in a staged approach from June 2022.

2021 Census data will be released in a staged approach, over three key releases:

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.
October 2022 – a smaller number of topics including employment and location-based variables will be released.
Early to mid-2023 – complex topics that require additional processing such as distance to work, socio-economic indexes for areas (SEIFA) will be released.

The table below shows which Census topics will be included in each release. Each topic may have several variables associated with it.

First release – June 2022	Second release – October 2022	Third release – early to mid-2023
Sex	Internal migration (address of usual residence 1 year ago and 5 years ago)	Socio-economic indexes for areas (SEIFA)
Age	Non-school qualification	Distance to work
Registered marital status	Status in employment	Census Microdata
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin	Occupation	Estimates of homelessness
Usual residence at Census time	Public or private employer indicator
Australian citizenship	Workplace address (Journey to work)
Country of birth	Industry of employment
Year of arrival in Australia	Hours worked
Country of birth of parents	Method of travel to work
Main language other than English spoken at home
Proficiency in spoken English
Ancestry
Religious affiliation
Need for assistance
Attendance at an educational institution
Highest year of schooling completed
Number of children given birth to
Income
Unpaid care, help or assistance of another person due to disability, long term illness or old age
Unpaid work - domestic activities
Unpaid care of children
Unpaid work - voluntary work for an organisation or group
Address on Census night
Family relationship (and Social marital status)
Number of motor vehicles garaged
Number of bedrooms
Tenure type
Landlord type
Housing costs
Dwelling structure
Location of private dwelling
Type of non-private dwelling
Residential status in non-private dwelling
Long-term health conditions (new topic)
Australian Defence Force Service (new topic)

Geography outputs that will be used for 2021 Census data

2021 Census data will be published using the Australian Statistical Geography Standard – Edition 3 (ASGS Ed 3). The ASGS is a collection of geographic boundaries that are used to analyse data.

The ASGS is split into two parts, ABS Structures and the Non-ABS Structures. ABS Structures are areas that the ABS design specifically for releasing statistics. Non-ABS structures are areas that have been defined and maintained by other organisations and against which the ABS is committed to providing a range of statistics (for example, Local Government Areas).

The geography outputs that will be used for 2021 Census data are presented below. Details on what geographies will be available for each of the data products will be released in early 2022. For more information, see ABS statistical geography.

ABS structures

Mesh Block (MB)
Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1)
Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2)
Statistical Area Level 3 (SA3)
Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4)
State/Territory (STE)
Australia (AUS)
Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA)
Urban Centre/Locality (UC/L)
Section of State Range (SOSR)
Section of State (SOS)
Indigenous Location (ILOC)
Indigenous Area (IARE)
Indigenous Region (IREG)
Significant Urban Areas (SUA)
Remoteness Area (RA)

Non-ABS structures

Local Government Area (LGA)
Postal Areas (POA)
Commonwealth Electoral Division (CED)
State Electoral Division (SED)
Suburbs and Localities (SAL)
Destination Zones (DZN)
Australian Drainage Divisions (ADD)
Tourism Regions (TR)
Primary Health Networks (PHN)

For more information about the release of 2021 Census data, see 2021 Census topics and data release plan.