Gold Coast

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 507,642 people in Gold Coast of these 48.9% were male and 51.1% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.3% of the population.

The median age of people in Gold Coast was 38 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 18.6% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 14.5% of the population.

Of people in Gold Coast aged 15 years and over, 46.5% were married and 13.9% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Gold Coast was 51 years and the median age of people never married was 25 years.

In Gold Coast, of people aged 15 years and over, 47.1% of people were in a registered marriage and 11.4% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Gold Coast was 50 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 35 years.

In Gold Coast 29.8% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 27.1% were in primary school, 19.1% in secondary school and 20.7% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Gold Coast were English 30.1%, Australian 24.1%, Irish 7.8%, Scottish 7.3% and German 3.6%.

In Gold Coast, 65.4% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were New Zealand 8.5%, England 5.7%, South Africa 1.2%, Japan 0.7% and Scotland 0.7%.

In Gold Coast, 51.3% of people had both parents born in Australia and 35.2% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Gold Coast were Catholic 23.2%, No Religion 22.4%, Anglican 20.9%, Uniting Church 4.9% and Presbyterian and Reformed 3.6%.

In Gold Coast 83.7% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Japanese 0.9%, Mandarin 0.8%, Korean 0.5%, Italian 0.5% and Cantonese 0.5%.

Employment

There were 256,666 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Gold Coast. Of these 56.1% were employed full time, 31.3% were employed part-time and 7.4% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Gold Coast, 11.5% worked 1 to 15 hours, 9.8% worked 16 to 24 hours and 43.5% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Gold Coast was 41 years and for people who were employed part-time was 39 years.

The most common occupations in Gold Coast included Professionals 17.5%, Technicians and Trades Workers 15.5%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 14.5%, Sales Workers 12.6%, Managers 12.4%, Community and Personal Service Workers 10.9%, Labourers 9.8% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 5.1%.

Of the employed people in Gold Coast, the most common responses for industry of employment included Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 5.2%, School Education 4.3%, Hospitals 3.2%, Accommodation 2.9% and Supermarket and Grocery Stores 2.4%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Gold Coast was $570.

In Gold Coast, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 67.0%, Car, as passenger 5.5%, Walked only 2.8%, Bus 1.7% and Truck 1.1%. On the day, 3.9% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 72.8% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Gold Coast, of people aged 15 years and over, 70.1% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 27.2% provided care for children and 9.5% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 15.2% 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 Gold Coast, 26.3% worked 5 to 14 hours, 11.7% worked 15 to 29 hours and 9.0% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Gold Coast, 41.1% were couple families with children, 40.5% were couple families without children and 16.9% were one parent families.

In Gold Coast 16.8% of single parents were male and 83.2% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Gold Coast, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,124 and those without children was $1,892.

Employment status of couple families

In Gold Coast, of couple families with children, 21.1% had both partners employed full-time, 4.7% had both employed part-time and 21.3% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Gold Coast, 87.8% of private dwellings were occupied and 12.2% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Gold Coast, 61.3% were separate houses, 18.4% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 19.1% were flats, units or apartments and 1.1% were other dwellings.

In Gold Coast, of occupied private dwellings 4.9% had 1 bedroom, 21.0% had 2 bedrooms and 38.7% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.1. The average household size was 2.5 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Gold Coast, 26.5% were owned outright, 34.8% were owned with a mortgage and 35.4% were rented.

Household composition

In Gold Coast, of all households, 71.2% were family households, 22.9% were single person households and 5.9% were group households.

In Gold Coast, 23.2% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 8.3% 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 Gold Coast, 35.9% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 38.8% had two registered motor vehicles and 16.1% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Gold Coast, there were 6,351 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 3,147 (or 49.6%) were male and 3,204 (or 50.4%) were female. The median age was 21 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 Gold Coast, 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 $1,181.

In Gold Coast, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $350 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,167.