Hervey Bay

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 52,838 people in Hervey Bay of these 47.9% were male and 52.1% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.4% of the population.

The median age of people in Hervey Bay was 45 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 19.2% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 22.7% of the population.

Of people in Hervey Bay aged 15 years and over, 52.2% were married and 14.6% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Hervey Bay was 58 years and the median age of people never married was 25 years.

In Hervey Bay, of people aged 15 years and over, 52.2% of people were in a registered marriage and 9.9% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Hervey Bay was 58 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 39 years.

In Hervey Bay 26.6% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 32.5% were in primary school, 22.6% in secondary school and 13.7% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Hervey Bay were English 32.1%, Australian 30.6%, Irish 7.7%, Scottish 7.6% and German 5.4%.

In Hervey Bay, 78.0% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 6.1%, New Zealand 3.4%, Germany 0.8%, Scotland 0.7% and Netherlands 0.6%.

In Hervey Bay, 67.4% of people had both parents born in Australia and 21.2% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Hervey Bay were Anglican 24.0%, No Religion 21.7%, Catholic 20.3%, Uniting Church 7.2% and Presbyterian and Reformed 4.5%.

In Hervey Bay 92.0% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included German 0.5%, Dutch 0.3%, Italian 0.2%, French 0.2% and Afrikaans 0.2%.

Employment

There were 19,818 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Hervey Bay. Of these 50.1% were employed full time, 32.3% were employed part-time and 11.4% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Hervey Bay, 12.3% worked 1 to 15 hours, 10.3% worked 16 to 24 hours and 38.1% worked 40 hours or more.

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

The most common occupations in Hervey Bay included Professionals 17.1%, Technicians and Trades Workers 15.2%, Community and Personal Service Workers 13.9%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 12.8%, Labourers 11.7%, Sales Workers 11.7%, Managers 9.8% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 6.2%.

Of the employed people in Hervey Bay, the most common responses for industry of employment included School Education 7.1%, Hospitals 4.9%, Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 4.5%, Residential Care Services 3.5% and Supermarket and Grocery Stores 3.4%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Hervey Bay was $397.

In Hervey Bay, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 65.4%, Car, as passenger 7.0%, Walked only 2.9%, Truck 1.4% and Bicycle 1.3%. On the day, 1.2% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 72.7% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Hervey Bay, of people aged 15 years and over, 69.2% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 24.5% provided care for children and 12.9% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 17.2% 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 Hervey Bay, 24.4% worked 5 to 14 hours, 14.1% worked 15 to 29 hours and 13.5% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Hervey Bay, 32.8% were couple families with children, 48.5% were couple families without children and 17.8% were one parent families.

In Hervey Bay 14.3% of single parents were male and 85.7% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Hervey Bay, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,915 and those without children was $1,619.

Employment status of couple families

In Hervey Bay, of couple families with children, 12.9% had both partners employed full-time, 3.8% had both employed part-time and 13.5% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Hervey Bay, 88.3% of private dwellings were occupied and 11.7% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Hervey Bay, 84.7% were separate houses, 4.4% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 8.5% were flats, units or apartments and 2.3% were other dwellings.

In Hervey Bay, of occupied private dwellings 3.1% had 1 bedroom, 16.2% had 2 bedrooms and 42.9% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.2. The average household size was 2.4 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Hervey Bay, 37.7% were owned outright, 25.3% were owned with a mortgage and 32.7% were rented.

Household composition

In Hervey Bay, of all households, 72.2% were family households, 24.5% were single person households and 3.3% were group households.

In Hervey Bay, 36.8% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 3.3% 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 Hervey Bay, 44.7% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 32.1% had two registered motor vehicles and 12.3% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Hervey Bay, there were 1,807 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 868 (or 48.0%) were male and 939 (or 52.0%) were female. The median age was 17 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 Hervey Bay, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.3, with 1.2 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $769.

In Hervey Bay, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $240 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,733.