Broken Hill

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 18,517 people in Broken Hill of these 48.7% were male and 51.3% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 7.5% of the population.

The median age of people in Broken Hill was 43 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 18.0% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 19.8% of the population.

Of people in Broken Hill aged 15 years and over, 44.0% were married and 13.8% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Broken Hill was 56 years and the median age of people never married was 27 years.

In Broken Hill, of people aged 15 years and over, 44.6% of people were in a registered marriage and 10.9% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Broken Hill was 56 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 36 years.

In Broken Hill 29.3% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 24.3% were in primary school, 20.2% in secondary school and 14.6% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Broken Hill were Australian 36.7%, English 30.6%, Irish 7.0%, Scottish 6.1% and German 3.7%.

In Broken Hill, 88.3% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 1.0%, New Zealand 0.6%, Italy 0.3%, Philippines 0.3% and India 0.2%.

In Broken Hill, 86.8% of people had both parents born in Australia and 6.6% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Broken Hill were No Religion 26.7%, Catholic 25.2%, Anglican 13.3%, Uniting Church 12.5% and Christian, nfd 1.4%.

In Broken Hill 91.3% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 0.4%, Greek 0.2%, Filipino 0.1%, Maltese 0.1% and Hindi 0.1%.

Employment

There were 7,641 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Broken Hill. Of these 57.2% were employed full time, 27.2% were employed part-time and 8.3% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Broken Hill, 10.5% worked 1 to 15 hours, 8.1% worked 16 to 24 hours and 43.9% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Broken Hill was 43 years and for people who were employed part-time was 42 years.

The most common occupations in Broken Hill included Technicians and Trades Workers 15.8%, Professionals 15.0%, Community and Personal Service Workers 14.1%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 11.8%, Labourers 11.2%, Machinery Operators And Drivers 11.0%, Managers 9.8% and Sales Workers 9.5%.

Of the employed people in Broken Hill, the most common responses for industry of employment included Metal Ore Mining 7.1%, School Education 5.7%, Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 4.3%, Hospitals 3.9% and Residential Care Services 3.8%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Broken Hill was $414.

In Broken Hill, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 65.9%, Car, as passenger 7.6%, Walked only 5.5%, Truck 1.0% and Bicycle 0.9%. On the day, 0.6% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 73.8% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Broken Hill, of people aged 15 years and over, 61.2% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 24.8% provided care for children and 12.4% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 17.4% 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 Broken Hill, 22.5% worked 5 to 14 hours, 12.2% worked 15 to 29 hours and 11.7% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Broken Hill, 33.8% were couple families with children, 43.3% were couple families without children and 21.6% were one parent families.

In Broken Hill 17.2% of single parents were male and 82.8% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Broken Hill, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,150 and those without children was $1,827.

Employment status of couple families

In Broken Hill, of couple families with children, 17.5% had both partners employed full-time, 2.6% had both employed part-time and 17.2% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Broken Hill, 83.1% of private dwellings were occupied and 16.9% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Broken Hill, 94.4% were separate houses, 1.0% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 4.2% were flats, units or apartments and 0.3% were other dwellings.

In Broken Hill, of occupied private dwellings 2.2% had 1 bedroom, 21.7% had 2 bedrooms and 55.1% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3. The average household size was 2.2 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Broken Hill, 45.0% were owned outright, 29.1% were owned with a mortgage and 20.9% were rented.

Household composition

In Broken Hill, of all households, 64.3% were family households, 33.7% were single person households and 2.0% were group households.

In Broken Hill, 38.3% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 5.1% 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 Broken Hill, 42.3% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 30.3% had two registered motor vehicles and 11.4% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Broken Hill, there were 1,392 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 660 (or 47.4%) were male and 732 (or 52.6%) were female. The median age was 20 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 Broken Hill, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.1, with 1.2 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $751.

In Broken Hill, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $150 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $845.