Bega

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 67,013 people in Bega of these 49.1% were male and 50.9% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 4.0% of the population.

The median age of people in Bega was 49 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 16.9% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 23.8% of the population.

Of people in Bega aged 15 years and over, 51.7% were married and 14.3% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Bega was 59 years and the median age of people never married was 28 years.

In Bega, of people aged 15 years and over, 51.9% 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 Bega was 59 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 44 years.

In Bega 26.1% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 27.6% were in primary school, 25.0% in secondary school and 13.2% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Bega were English 32.3%, Australian 30.7%, Irish 9.4%, Scottish 8.2% and German 3.6%.

In Bega, 81.5% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 4.9%, New Zealand 1.2%, Germany 0.9%, Scotland 0.7% and Netherlands 0.6%.

In Bega, 71.9% of people had both parents born in Australia and 16.7% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Bega were Anglican 27.6%, No Religion 24.6%, Catholic 21.7%, Uniting Church 4.4% and Presbyterian and Reformed 3.6%.

In Bega 92.1% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included German 0.6%, Italian 0.3%, Dutch 0.3%, Croatian 0.2% and Greek 0.2%.

Employment

There were 27,128 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Bega. Of these 48.9% were employed full time, 37.6% were employed part-time and 6.7% were unemployed.

View the labour force fact sheet

Of employed people in Bega, 14.9% worked 1 to 15 hours, 11.9% worked 16 to 24 hours and 36.4% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Bega was 46 years and for people who were employed part-time was 47 years.

The most common occupations in Bega included Professionals 15.9%, Technicians and Trades Workers 15.8%, Managers 13.2%, Labourers 12.6%, Community and Personal Service Workers 12.1%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 11.9%, Sales Workers 11.1% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 5.9%.

Of the employed people in Bega, the most common responses for industry of employment included School Education 5.5%, Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 4.8%, Accommodation 3.9%, Supermarket and Grocery Stores 3.6% and Residential Care Services 3.3%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Bega was $438.

View the income fact sheet

In Bega, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 62.7%, Car, as passenger 5.7%, Walked only 4.9%, Truck 1.9% and Other 0.7%. On the day, 0.9% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 68.7% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Bega, of people aged 15 years and over, 72.2% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 23.6% provided care for children and 13.0% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 23.9% 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 Bega, 26.3% worked 5 to 14 hours, 15.6% worked 15 to 29 hours and 13.5% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Bega, 31.8% were couple families with children, 51.9% were couple families without children and 15.4% were one parent families.

In Bega 19.6% of single parents were male and 80.4% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Bega, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,726 and those without children was $1,446.

View the income fact sheet

Employment status of couple families

In Bega, of couple families with children, 12.6% had both partners employed full-time, 5.7% had both employed part-time and 16.7% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Bega, 72.3% of private dwellings were occupied and 27.7% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Bega, 83.5% were separate houses, 7.1% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 7.3% were flats, units or apartments and 2.1% were other dwellings.

In Bega, of occupied private dwellings 4.1% had 1 bedroom, 19.8% had 2 bedrooms and 46.2% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3. The average household size was 2.3 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Bega, 45.3% were owned outright, 25.9% were owned with a mortgage and 25.0% were rented.

Household composition

In Bega, of all households, 69.3% were family households, 28.2% were single person households and 2.5% were group households.

In Bega, 35.4% 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.

View the income fact sheet

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.

View 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.

View the income fact sheet

Number of motor vehicles

In Bega, 41.4% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 36.0% had two registered motor vehicles and 13.3% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Bega, there were 2,694 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 1,326 (or 49.2%) were male and 1,368 (or 50.8%) 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 Bega, 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 $748.

In Bega, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $185 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,517.