West Melbourne

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 3,744 people in West Melbourne of these 56.6% were male and 43.4% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.5% of the population.

The median age of people in West Melbourne was 30 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 7.3% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 4.3% of the population.

Of people in West Melbourne aged 15 years and over, 25.3% were married and 7.7% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in West Melbourne was 41 years and the median age of people never married was 27 years.

In West Melbourne, of people aged 15 years and over, 25.4% of people were in a registered marriage and 18.9% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in West Melbourne was 40 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 31 years.

In West Melbourne 42.6% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 5.0% were in primary school, 4.9% in secondary school and 37.6% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in West Melbourne were English 16.4%, Australian 13.2%, Chinese 11.8%, Irish 8.0% and Scottish 6.0%.

In West Melbourne, 49.2% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 5.4%, Korea, Republic of (South) 3.8%, Malaysia 3.6%, England 2.7% and New Zealand 2.6%.

In West Melbourne, 35.3% of people had both parents born in Australia and 53.2% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in West Melbourne were No Religion 35.7%, Catholic 16.1%, Buddhism 5.5%, Anglican 5.4% and Islam 2.6%.

In West Melbourne 50.3% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 6.8%, Cantonese 3.9%, Korean 3.6%, Italian 1.5% and Arabic 1.4%.

Employment

There were 2,126 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in West Melbourne. Of these 65.9% were employed full time, 24.4% were employed part-time and 6.1% were unemployed.

Of employed people in West Melbourne, 7.7% worked 1 to 15 hours, 9.2% worked 16 to 24 hours and 53.9% worked 40 hours or more.

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

The most common occupations in West Melbourne included Professionals 38.9%, Managers 16.7%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 13.4%, Technicians and Trades Workers 8.5%, Community and Personal Service Workers 7.9%, Sales Workers 7.6%, Labourers 4.0% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 0.8%.

Of the employed people in West Melbourne, the most common responses for industry of employment included Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 7.3%, Legal and Accounting Services 5.1%, Computer System Design and Related Services 4.4%, Tertiary Education 4.0% and Hospitals 4.0%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in West Melbourne was $798.

In West Melbourne, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Walked only 29.7%, Car, as driver 26.2%, Tram 9.4%, Train 8.4% and Bicycle 4.6%. On the day, 22.6% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 28.4% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In West Melbourne, of people aged 15 years and over, 59.5% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 10.8% provided care for children and 4.6% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 15.9% 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 West Melbourne, 22.1% worked 5 to 14 hours, 5.5% worked 15 to 29 hours and 2.5% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in West Melbourne, 24.2% were couple families with children, 58.0% were couple families without children and 9.5% were one parent families.

In West Melbourne 13.2% of single parents were male and 86.8% were female.

Weekly incomes

In West Melbourne, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $3,068 and those without children was $2,558.

Employment status of couple families

In West Melbourne, of couple families with children, 38.4% had both partners employed full-time, 4.9% had both employed part-time and 16.6% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In West Melbourne, 90.3% of private dwellings were occupied and 9.7% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in West Melbourne, 3.0% were separate houses, 33.8% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 62.6% were flats, units or apartments and 0.3% were other dwellings.

In West Melbourne, of occupied private dwellings 15.7% had 1 bedroom, 47.3% had 2 bedrooms and 28.0% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 2.3. The average household size was 2.2 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in West Melbourne, 15.8% were owned outright, 23.0% were owned with a mortgage and 58.8% were rented.

Household composition

In West Melbourne, of all households, 53.4% were family households, 26.4% were single person households and 20.2% were group households.

In West Melbourne, 17.3% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 19.0% 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 West Melbourne, 53.2% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 16.8% had two registered motor vehicles and 2.8% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In West Melbourne, there were 14 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 14 (or 100.0%) were male and 0 (or 0.0%) were female. The median age was 35 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 West Melbourne, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 2, with 0 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $0.

In West Melbourne, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $0 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $0.