VIC Rural Balance

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 398,717 people in VIC Rural Balance of these 51.8% were male and 48.2% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.9% of the population.

The median age of people in VIC Rural Balance was 43 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 19.3% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 14.4% of the population.

Of people in VIC Rural Balance aged 15 years and over, 57.7% were married and 10.4% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in VIC Rural Balance was 54 years and the median age of people never married was 24 years.

In VIC Rural Balance, of people aged 15 years and over, 58.6% of people were in a registered marriage and 9.2% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in VIC Rural Balance was 53 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 43 years.

In VIC Rural Balance 29.2% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 29.8% were in primary school, 27.5% in secondary school and 13.5% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in VIC Rural Balance were Australian 30.9%, English 30.2%, Irish 9.4%, Scottish 8.5% and German 3.6%.

In VIC Rural Balance, 84.8% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 3.2%, New Zealand 1.2%, Italy 0.7%, Netherlands 0.6% and Germany 0.5%.

In VIC Rural Balance, 74.1% of people had both parents born in Australia and 15.5% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in VIC Rural Balance were No Religion 26.4%, Catholic 23.8%, Anglican 17.1%, Uniting Church 9.1% and Presbyterian and Reformed 4.1%.

In VIC Rural Balance 91.2% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 1.2%, German 0.3%, Greek 0.3%, Dutch 0.2% and Maltese 0.2%.

Employment

There were 206,709 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in VIC Rural Balance. Of these 57.7% were employed full time, 31.9% were employed part-time and 3.7% were unemployed.

Of employed people in VIC Rural Balance, 12.4% worked 1 to 15 hours, 10.0% worked 16 to 24 hours and 47.6% worked 40 hours or more.

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

The most common occupations in VIC Rural Balance included Managers 25.2%, Professionals 14.8%, Technicians and Trades Workers 14.5%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 11.0%, Labourers 10.8%, Community and Personal Service Workers 8.0%, Sales Workers 7.2% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 6.6%.

Of the employed people in VIC Rural Balance, the most common responses for industry of employment included Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain Farming 9.6%, Dairy Cattle Farming 4.7%, School Education 4.5%, Hospitals 3.7% and Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 2.5%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in VIC Rural Balance was $521.

In VIC Rural Balance, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 59.2%, Walked only 4.4%, Car, as passenger 4.1%, Truck 1.7% and Other 1.0%. On the day, 1.9% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 63.5% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In VIC Rural Balance, of people aged 15 years and over, 74.2% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 28.8% 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, 27.5% 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 VIC Rural Balance, 25.6% worked 5 to 14 hours, 14.7% worked 15 to 29 hours and 14.3% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in VIC Rural Balance, 45.8% were couple families with children, 43.8% were couple families without children and 9.6% were one parent families.

In VIC Rural Balance 26.2% of single parents were male and 73.8% were female.

Weekly incomes

In VIC Rural Balance, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,932 and those without children was $1,571.

Employment status of couple families

In VIC Rural Balance, of couple families with children, 20.8% had both partners employed full-time, 5.2% had both employed part-time and 25.1% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In VIC Rural Balance, 81.1% of private dwellings were occupied and 18.9% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in VIC Rural Balance, 97.5% were separate houses, 0.6% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 0.3% were flats, units or apartments and 1.6% were other dwellings.

In VIC Rural Balance, of occupied private dwellings 2.8% had 1 bedroom, 10.9% had 2 bedrooms and 46.3% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.3. The average household size was 2.7 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in VIC Rural Balance, 45.6% were owned outright, 37.5% were owned with a mortgage and 13.6% were rented.

Household composition

In VIC Rural Balance, of all households, 78.5% were family households, 19.7% were single person households and 1.8% were group households.

In VIC Rural Balance, 24.4% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 8.0% 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 VIC Rural Balance, 19.6% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 40.1% had two registered motor vehicles and 35.9% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In VIC Rural Balance, there were 3,728 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 1,946 (or 52.2%) were male and 1,782 (or 47.8%) were female. The median age was 23 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 VIC Rural Balance, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.2, with 1.2 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $969.

In VIC Rural Balance, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $150 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,300.