Forest Lake

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 22,426 people in Forest Lake of these 48.1% were male and 51.9% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.7% of the population.

The median age of people in Forest Lake was 33 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 24.0% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 7.5% of the population.

Of people in Forest Lake aged 15 years and over, 51.9% were married and 12.1% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Forest Lake was 45 years and the median age of people never married was 23 years.

In Forest Lake, of people aged 15 years and over, 51.8% of people were in a registered marriage and 10.9% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Forest Lake was 44 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 33 years.

In Forest Lake 31.4% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 33.3% were in primary school, 23.6% in secondary school and 21.4% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Forest Lake were English 25.2%, Australian 22.1%, Scottish 6.5%, Irish 6.5% and German 3.7%.

In Forest Lake, 61.0% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were New Zealand 7.9%, England 4.7%, Vietnam 3.1%, India 1.8% and South Africa 1.6%.

In Forest Lake, 41.3% of people had both parents born in Australia and 46.3% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Forest Lake were No Religion 22.9%, Catholic 22.0%, Anglican 16.1%, Uniting Church 6.0% and Buddhism 5.1%.

In Forest Lake 73.6% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Vietnamese 5.0%, Samoan 1.6%, Sinhalese 1.4%, Mandarin 1.3% and Hindi 1.2%.

Employment

There were 12,302 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Forest Lake. Of these 65.4% were employed full time, 24.2% were employed part-time and 5.6% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Forest Lake, 8.7% worked 1 to 15 hours, 7.8% worked 16 to 24 hours and 46.2% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Forest Lake was 40 years and for people who were employed part-time was 37 years.

The most common occupations in Forest Lake included Professionals 19.5%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 18.0%, Technicians and Trades Workers 13.3%, Managers 11.1%, Community and Personal Service Workers 10.2%, Sales Workers 10.0%, Labourers 8.3% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 7.8%.

Of the employed people in Forest Lake, the most common responses for industry of employment included School Education 4.5%, Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 4.3%, Hospitals 4.2%, Supermarket and Grocery Stores 3.4% and State Government Administration 2.8%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Forest Lake was $712.

In Forest Lake, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 65.0%, Car, as passenger 5.8%, Bus 4.0%, Train 2.9% and Train, car as driver 2.2%. On the day, 11.6% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 71.0% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Forest Lake, of people aged 15 years and over, 75.8% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 36.0% provided care for children and 9.9% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 16.9% 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 Forest Lake, 29.4% worked 5 to 14 hours, 11.7% worked 15 to 29 hours and 9.2% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Forest Lake, 52.0% were couple families with children, 30.3% were couple families without children and 16.4% were one parent families.

In Forest Lake 13.3% of single parents were male and 86.7% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Forest Lake, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $2,271 and those without children was $2,112.

Employment status of couple families

In Forest Lake, of couple families with children, 30.9% had both partners employed full-time, 2.1% had both employed part-time and 22.1% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Forest Lake, 94.8% of private dwellings were occupied and 5.2% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Forest Lake, 96.2% were separate houses, 1.9% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 1.9% were flats, units or apartments and 0.0% were other dwellings.

In Forest Lake, of occupied private dwellings 0.4% had 1 bedroom, 3.6% had 2 bedrooms and 45.5% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.5. The average household size was 2.9 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Forest Lake, 18.1% were owned outright, 47.3% were owned with a mortgage and 33.2% were rented.

Household composition

In Forest Lake, of all households, 81.7% were family households, 15.1% were single person households and 3.2% were group households.

In Forest Lake, 11.8% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 11.2% 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 Forest Lake, 35.9% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 43.6% had two registered motor vehicles and 15.8% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Forest Lake, there were 371 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 182 (or 49.1%) were male and 189 (or 50.9%) were female. The median age was 16 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 Forest Lake, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.4, with 1.1 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $1,691.

In Forest Lake, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $352 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,253.