Sydney

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 14,308 people in Sydney of these 51.4% were male and 48.6% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.1% of the population.

The median age of people in Sydney was 29 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 4.1% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 4.8% of the population.

Of people in Sydney aged 15 years and over, 30.8% were married and 7.0% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Sydney was 35 years and the median age of people never married was 26 years.

In Sydney, of people aged 15 years and over, 25.7% of people were in a registered marriage and 12.0% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Sydney was 35 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 29 years.

In Sydney 47.4% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 1.9% were in primary school, 2.4% in secondary school and 40.8% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Sydney were Chinese 24.7%, English 9.9%, Thai 5.9%, Korean 5.5% and Australian 5.1%.

In Sydney, 17.2% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 11.7%, Indonesia 9.3%, Thailand 7.1%, Korea, Republic of (South) 6.1% and England 2.8%.

In Sydney, 11.6% of people had both parents born in Australia and 84.1% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Sydney were No Religion 26.6%, Buddhism 16.2%, Catholic 14.6%, Anglican 4.7% and Hinduism 2.4%.

In Sydney 26.4% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 12.5%, Indonesian 7.9%, Thai 6.9%, Cantonese 6.3% and Korean 5.6%.

Employment

There were 7,852 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Sydney. Of these 59.5% were employed full time, 28.5% were employed part-time and 7.1% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Sydney, 7.4% worked 1 to 15 hours, 17.5% worked 16 to 24 hours and 48.5% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Sydney was 32 years and for people who were employed part-time was 28 years.

The most common occupations in Sydney included Professionals 32.9%, Managers 14.8%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 12.0%, Community and Personal Service Workers 11.7%, Sales Workers 8.8%, Technicians and Trades Workers 8.4%, Labourers 7.4% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 1.0%.

Of the employed people in Sydney, the most common responses for industry of employment included Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 15.5%, Legal and Accounting Services 5.6%, Depository Financial Intermediation 4.7%, Computer System Design and Related Services 4.7% and Auxiliary Finance and Investment Services 4.4%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Sydney was $639.

In Sydney, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Walked only 49.3%, Train 12.9%, Bus 10.5%, Car, as driver 9.5% and Train, bus 1.7%. On the day, 26.6% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 11.0% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Sydney, of people aged 15 years and over, 44.5% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 7.3% provided care for children and 4.1% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 9.2% 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 Sydney, 15.2% worked 5 to 14 hours, 3.9% worked 15 to 29 hours and 2.3% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Sydney, 16.8% were couple families with children, 63.8% were couple families without children and 8.3% were one parent families.

In Sydney 18.7% of single parents were male and 81.3% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Sydney, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,299 and those without children was $2,454.

Employment status of couple families

In Sydney, of couple families with children, 30.8% had both partners employed full-time, 7.6% had both employed part-time and 13.0% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Sydney, 81.9% of private dwellings were occupied and 18.1% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Sydney, 2.4% were separate houses, 0.1% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 97.3% were flats, units or apartments and 0.0% were other dwellings.

In Sydney, of occupied private dwellings 36.4% had 1 bedroom, 45.8% had 2 bedrooms and 9.4% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 1.7. The average household size was 2.1 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Sydney, 16.0% were owned outright, 17.7% were owned with a mortgage and 63.4% were rented.

Household composition

In Sydney, of all households, 46.4% were family households, 36.2% were single person households and 17.5% were group households.

In Sydney, 21.9% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 14.0% 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 Sydney, 32.7% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 4.8% had two registered motor vehicles and 0.5% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Sydney, there were 13 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 9 (or 69.2%) were male and 4 (or 30.8%) were female. The median age was 30 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 Sydney, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 2, with 1.4 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $2,643.

In Sydney, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $369 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $3,467.