Blue Mountains

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 67,639 people in Blue Mountains of these 48.2% were male and 51.8% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.8% of the population.

The median age of people in Blue Mountains was 42 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 19.2% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 16.1% of the population.

Of people in Blue Mountains aged 15 years and over, 49.1% were married and 13.8% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Blue Mountains was 53 years and the median age of people never married was 27 years.

In Blue Mountains, of people aged 15 years and over, 50.3% of people were in a registered marriage and 10.0% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Blue Mountains was 52 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 41 years.

In Blue Mountains 31.0% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 26.7% were in primary school, 21.9% in secondary school and 22.2% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Blue Mountains were English 30.1%, Australian 28.3%, Irish 10.2%, Scottish 8.3% and German 3.2%.

In Blue Mountains, 77.2% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 6.2%, New Zealand 1.6%, Scotland 0.8%, Germany 0.8% and United States of America 0.6%.

In Blue Mountains, 59.9% of people had both parents born in Australia and 23.3% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Blue Mountains were No Religion 27.2%, Catholic 21.0%, Anglican 20.7%, Uniting Church 3.6% and Presbyterian and Reformed 3.5%.

In Blue Mountains 89.9% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included German 0.6%, Spanish 0.4%, Italian 0.3%, Greek 0.3% and Dutch 0.3%.

Employment

There were 32,985 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Blue Mountains. Of these 55.7% were employed full time, 33.5% were employed part-time and 5.2% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Blue Mountains, 12.7% worked 1 to 15 hours, 10.9% worked 16 to 24 hours and 42.1% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Blue Mountains was 45 years and for people who were employed part-time was 44 years.

The most common occupations in Blue Mountains included Professionals 28.3%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 14.1%, Technicians and Trades Workers 13.3%, Managers 11.8%, Community and Personal Service Workers 11.7%, Sales Workers 7.8%, Labourers 7.1% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 4.5%.

Of the employed people in Blue Mountains, the most common responses for industry of employment included School Education 8.2%, Hospitals 3.8%, Tertiary Education 3.7%, Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 3.5% and Residential Care Services 2.6%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Blue Mountains was $578.

In Blue Mountains, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 58.2%, Train 7.2%, Car, as passenger 4.1%, Walked only 2.7% and Train, car as driver 1.6%. On the day, 11.2% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 62.6% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Blue Mountains, of people aged 15 years and over, 77.7% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 30.2% provided care for children and 12.8% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 23.2% 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 Blue Mountains, 29.6% worked 5 to 14 hours, 15.1% worked 15 to 29 hours and 11.7% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Blue Mountains, 44.1% were couple families with children, 39.0% were couple families without children and 16.0% were one parent families.

In Blue Mountains 16.6% of single parents were male and 83.4% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Blue Mountains, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,347 and those without children was $2,094.

Employment status of couple families

In Blue Mountains, of couple families with children, 19.1% had both partners employed full-time, 5.1% had both employed part-time and 24.4% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Blue Mountains, 87.0% of private dwellings were occupied and 13.0% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Blue Mountains, 92.4% were separate houses, 5.2% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 2.2% were flats, units or apartments and 0.2% were other dwellings.

In Blue Mountains, of occupied private dwellings 3.2% had 1 bedroom, 15.4% had 2 bedrooms and 45.8% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.2. The average household size was 2.5 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Blue Mountains, 37.0% were owned outright, 40.4% were owned with a mortgage and 19.7% were rented.

Household composition

In Blue Mountains, of all households, 70.6% were family households, 26.5% were single person households and 2.9% were group households.

In Blue Mountains, 23.6% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 10.4% 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 Blue Mountains, 39.6% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 35.3% had two registered motor vehicles and 14.3% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Blue Mountains, there were 1,244 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 620 (or 49.8%) were male and 624 (or 50.2%) were female. The median age was 22 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 Blue Mountains, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.2, with 1.1 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $1,230.

In Blue Mountains, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $285 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,946.