Fairfield

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 84,224 people in Fairfield of these 49.3% were male and 50.7% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.8% of the population.

The median age of people in Fairfield was 34 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 21.4% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 13.1% of the population.

Of people in Fairfield aged 15 years and over, 47.7% were married and 12.6% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Fairfield was 48 years and the median age of people never married was 24 years.

In Fairfield, of people aged 15 years and over, 47.4% of people were in a registered marriage and 3.6% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Fairfield was 48 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 39 years.

In Fairfield 32.7% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 24.3% were in primary school, 22.2% in secondary school and 20.3% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Fairfield were Australian 11.1%, Vietnamese 9.5%, English 9.4%, Lebanese 8.8% and Chinese 8.0%.

In Fairfield, 44.8% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were Vietnam 9.5%, Iraq 9.3%, Lebanon 4.2%, China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 2.4% and Cambodia 1.7%.

In Fairfield, 16.3% of people had both parents born in Australia and 76.0% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Fairfield were Catholic 31.7%, Islam 13.9%, Buddhism 13.1%, No Religion 7.7% and Anglican 7.1%.

In Fairfield 29.6% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 16.8%, Vietnamese 12.2%, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic 5.5%, Cantonese 3.7% and Spanish 3.1%.

Employment

There were 30,900 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Fairfield. Of these 57.8% were employed full time, 24.9% were employed part-time and 10.4% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Fairfield, 9.8% worked 1 to 15 hours, 8.8% worked 16 to 24 hours and 39.2% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Fairfield was 39 years and for people who were employed part-time was 37 years.

The most common occupations in Fairfield included Clerical and Administrative Workers 16.3%, Technicians and Trades Workers 15.9%, Labourers 14.1%, Professionals 13.3%, Machinery Operators And Drivers 12.5%, Community and Personal Service Workers 8.9%, Sales Workers 8.9% and Managers 7.0%.

Of the employed people in Fairfield, the most common responses for industry of employment included Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 4.0%, Road Freight Transport 3.0%, School Education 2.5%, Supermarket and Grocery Stores 2.3% and Residential Building Construction 2.2%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Fairfield was $362.

In Fairfield, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 59.7%, Train 10.3%, Car, as passenger 6.8%, Train, bus 2.1% and Walked only 1.8%. On the day, 17.0% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 66.8% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Fairfield, of people aged 15 years and over, 51.8% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 23.6% provided care for children and 12.1% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 7.6% 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 Fairfield, 17.6% worked 5 to 14 hours, 8.0% worked 15 to 29 hours and 8.6% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Fairfield, 49.9% were couple families with children, 24.3% were couple families without children and 23.4% were one parent families.

In Fairfield 14.2% of single parents were male and 85.8% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Fairfield, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,992 and those without children was $1,784.

Employment status of couple families

In Fairfield, of couple families with children, 14.8% had both partners employed full-time, 2.2% had both employed part-time and 10.3% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Fairfield, 94.9% of private dwellings were occupied and 5.1% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Fairfield, 67.5% were separate houses, 13.9% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 18.3% were flats, units or apartments and 0.3% were other dwellings.

In Fairfield, of occupied private dwellings 5.5% had 1 bedroom, 24.4% had 2 bedrooms and 44.3% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 2.9. The average household size was 3 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Fairfield, 27.3% were owned outright, 29.0% were owned with a mortgage and 39.3% were rented.

Household composition

In Fairfield, of all households, 76.3% were family households, 21.4% were single person households and 2.2% were group households.

In Fairfield, 32.8% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 5.4% 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 Fairfield, 37.7% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 28.7% had two registered motor vehicles and 13.1% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Fairfield, there were 675 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 314 (or 46.5%) were male and 361 (or 53.5%) were female. The median age was 24 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 Fairfield, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3, with 1.2 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $775.

In Fairfield, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $218 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,950.