South Hedland

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 9,375 people in South Hedland of these 54.1% were male and 45.9% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 18.8% of the population.

The median age of people in South Hedland was 29 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 24.1% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 2.3% of the population.

Of people in South Hedland aged 15 years and over, 39.8% were married and 9.7% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in South Hedland was 41 years and the median age of people never married was 26 years.

In South Hedland, of people aged 15 years and over, 38.9% of people were in a registered marriage and 22.4% were in a de facto marriage.

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

In South Hedland 37.3% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 21.2% were in primary school, 9.3% in secondary school and 9.0% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in South Hedland were Australian 29.5%, English 21.2%, Irish 5.0%, Scottish 4.6% and German 2.4%.

In South Hedland, 62.9% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were New Zealand 4.9%, England 2.4%, South Africa 1.1%, Philippines 1.0% and India 0.7%.

In South Hedland, 60.2% of people had both parents born in Australia and 26.9% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in South Hedland were No Religion 25.5%, Catholic 21.7%, Anglican 10.6%, Islam 3.8% and Christian, nfd 2.5%.

In South Hedland 69.1% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Malay 2.6%, Afrikaans 0.7%, Indonesian 0.6%, Tagalog 0.4% and Filipino 0.4%.

Employment

There were 4,638 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in South Hedland. Of these 73.9% were employed full time, 14.1% were employed part-time and 4.3% were unemployed.

Of employed people in South Hedland, 4.4% worked 1 to 15 hours, 4.4% worked 16 to 24 hours and 65.3% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in South Hedland was 36 years and for people who were employed part-time was 34 years.

The most common occupations in South Hedland included Technicians and Trades Workers 26.0%, Machinery Operators And Drivers 14.9%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 13.7%, Professionals 12.3%, Labourers 11.5%, Managers 7.1%, Community and Personal Service Workers 7.0% and Sales Workers 5.5%.

Of the employed people in South Hedland, the most common responses for industry of employment included Metal Ore Mining 22.7%, School Education 5.0%, Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction 3.4%, Road Freight Transport 2.9% and Building Installation Services 2.5%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in South Hedland was $1,268.

In South Hedland, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 65.5%, Car, as passenger 10.7%, Bus 3.2%, Walked only 2.8% and Other 1.0%. On the day, 3.9% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 76.6% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In South Hedland, of people aged 15 years and over, 56.4% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 24.7% provided care for children and 5.0% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 13.1% 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 South Hedland, 21.6% worked 5 to 14 hours, 7.1% worked 15 to 29 hours and 7.0% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in South Hedland, 48.8% were couple families with children, 35.0% were couple families without children and 13.7% were one parent families.

In South Hedland 20.2% of single parents were male and 79.8% were female.

Weekly incomes

In South Hedland, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $3,397 and those without children was $3,437.

Employment status of couple families

In South Hedland, of couple families with children, 37.9% had both partners employed full-time, 1.6% had both employed part-time and 16.7% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In South Hedland, 83.4% of private dwellings were occupied and 16.6% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in South Hedland, 70.7% were separate houses, 16.4% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 7.5% were flats, units or apartments and 5.1% were other dwellings.

In South Hedland, of occupied private dwellings 5.3% had 1 bedroom, 11.2% had 2 bedrooms and 51.4% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3. The average household size was 2.9 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in South Hedland, 9.4% were owned outright, 19.0% were owned with a mortgage and 66.4% were rented.

Household composition

In South Hedland, of all households, 76.5% were family households, 17.6% were single person households and 5.9% were group households.

In South Hedland, 7.2% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 41.4% 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 South Hedland, 23.9% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 38.0% had two registered motor vehicles and 26.5% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In South Hedland, there were 1,762 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 857 (or 48.6%) were male and 905 (or 51.4%) 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 South Hedland, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.3, with 1.3 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $2,125.

In South Hedland, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $120 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,600.