Great Lakes

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 29,848 people in Great Lakes of these 48.8% were male and 51.2% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.9% of the population.

The median age of people in Great Lakes was 51 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 15.6% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 29.6% of the population.

Of people in Great Lakes aged 15 years and over, 51.1% were married and 15.5% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Great Lakes was 61 years and the median age of people never married was 27 years.

In Great Lakes, of people aged 15 years and over, 51.4% of people were in a registered marriage and 8.9% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Great Lakes was 61 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 44 years.

In Great Lakes 25.3% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 26.9% were in primary school, 22.8% in secondary school and 11.9% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Great Lakes were English 34.1%, Australian 32.9%, Irish 8.5%, Scottish 7.5% and German 2.7%.

In Great Lakes, 83.7% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 3.7%, New Zealand 1.1%, Germany 0.5%, Scotland 0.5% and Netherlands 0.4%.

In Great Lakes, 76.4% of people had both parents born in Australia and 12.9% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Great Lakes were Anglican 33.5%, Catholic 22.2%, No Religion 17.1%, Uniting Church 5.9% and Presbyterian and Reformed 3.9%.

In Great Lakes 92.7% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included German 0.4%, Italian 0.3%, Cantonese 0.1%, Dutch 0.1% and French 0.1%.

Employment

There were 10,620 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Great Lakes. Of these 47.6% were employed full time, 37.4% were employed part-time and 8.4% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Great Lakes, 15.0% worked 1 to 15 hours, 11.4% worked 16 to 24 hours and 36.1% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Great Lakes was 46 years and for people who were employed part-time was 46 years.

The most common occupations in Great Lakes included Professionals 14.9%, Technicians and Trades Workers 14.7%, Labourers 13.5%, Managers 12.9%, Sales Workers 12.3%, Community and Personal Service Workers 12.2%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 11.4% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 6.3%.

Of the employed people in Great Lakes, the most common responses for industry of employment included Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 5.3%, School Education 5.1%, Residential Care Services 4.9%, Accommodation 3.3% and Supermarket and Grocery Stores 2.9%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Great Lakes was $393.

In Great Lakes, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 61.5%, Car, as passenger 6.4%, Walked only 5.3%, Truck 2.0% and Bicycle 1.0%. On the day, 0.7% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 68.2% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Great Lakes, of people aged 15 years and over, 67.6% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 21.2% provided care for children and 13.6% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 19.5% 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 Great Lakes, 23.9% worked 5 to 14 hours, 14.9% worked 15 to 29 hours and 13.3% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Great Lakes, 29.1% were couple families with children, 52.9% were couple families without children and 16.8% were one parent families.

In Great Lakes 19.0% of single parents were male and 81.0% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Great Lakes, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,697 and those without children was $1,531.

Employment status of couple families

In Great Lakes, of couple families with children, 10.6% had both partners employed full-time, 4.5% had both employed part-time and 14.9% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Great Lakes, 74.6% of private dwellings were occupied and 25.4% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Great Lakes, 73.2% were separate houses, 13.5% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 10.0% were flats, units or apartments and 3.3% were other dwellings.

In Great Lakes, of occupied private dwellings 3.9% had 1 bedroom, 22.5% had 2 bedrooms and 47.0% 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 Great Lakes, 46.7% were owned outright, 23.1% were owned with a mortgage and 25.8% were rented.

Household composition

In Great Lakes, of all households, 66.5% were family households, 30.8% were single person households and 2.7% were group households.

In Great Lakes, 40.2% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 3.0% 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 Great Lakes, 46.6% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 31.1% had two registered motor vehicles and 11.0% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Great Lakes, there were 1,167 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 578 (or 49.5%) were male and 589 (or 50.5%) were female. The median age was 23 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 Great Lakes, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 2.9, with 1.2 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $752.

In Great Lakes, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $200 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,465.