Desert Springs

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 1,499 people in Desert Springs of these 50.0% were male and 50.0% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.5% of the population.

The median age of people in Desert Springs was 39 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 21.7% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 5.9% of the population.

Of people in Desert Springs aged 15 years and over, 57.0% were married and 11.1% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Desert Springs was 49 years and the median age of people never married was 25 years.

In Desert Springs, of people aged 15 years and over, 56.0% of people were in a registered marriage and 11.7% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Desert Springs was 49 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 37 years.

In Desert Springs 31.7% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 32.4% were in primary school, 19.5% in secondary school and 16.7% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Desert Springs were Australian 29.1%, English 23.9%, Irish 8.3%, Scottish 7.1% and German 4.2%.

In Desert Springs, 67.3% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were United States of America 6.5%, England 4.8%, Philippines 1.5%, New Zealand 1.3% and India 1.0%.

In Desert Springs, 55.3% of people had both parents born in Australia and 33.3% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Desert Springs were Catholic 28.1%, No Religion 25.2%, Anglican 14.1%, Uniting Church 5.9% and Lutheran 3.7%.

In Desert Springs 84.6% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 0.8%, Cantonese 0.7%, Malayalam 0.6%, German 0.5% and Arabic 0.5%.

Employment

There were 932 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Desert Springs. Of these 73.0% were employed full time, 20.2% were employed part-time and 1.1% were unemployed.

View the labour force fact sheet

Of employed people in Desert Springs, 5.3% worked 1 to 15 hours, 4.9% worked 16 to 24 hours and 57.6% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Desert Springs was 44 years and for people who were employed part-time was 43 years.

The most common occupations in Desert Springs included Professionals 21.1%, Managers 19.7%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 16.4%, Community and Personal Service Workers 14.3%, Technicians and Trades Workers 11.6%, Sales Workers 9.0%, Labourers 3.8% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 2.5%.

Of the employed people in Desert Springs, the most common responses for industry of employment included State Government Administration 5.5%, School Education 5.4%, Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services 5.3%, Defence 5.2% and Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 5.0%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Desert Springs was $1,085.

View the income fact sheet

In Desert Springs, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 66.0%, Car, as passenger 6.0%, Bus 5.4%, Walked only 3.6% and Bicycle 2.4%. On the day, 5.6% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 72.5% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Desert Springs, of people aged 15 years and over, 75.6% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 27.2% 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, 26.4% 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 Desert Springs, 31.9% worked 5 to 14 hours, 12.6% worked 15 to 29 hours and 7.4% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Desert Springs, 47.5% were couple families with children, 42.8% were couple families without children and 9.0% were one parent families.

In Desert Springs 36.1% of single parents were male and 63.9% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Desert Springs, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $3,146 and those without children was $2,597.

View the income fact sheet

Employment status of couple families

In Desert Springs, of couple families with children, 37.8% had both partners employed full-time, 1.9% had both employed part-time and 24.1% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Desert Springs, 89.0% of private dwellings were occupied and 11.0% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Desert Springs, 62.8% were separate houses, 16.9% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 20.3% were flats, units or apartments and 0.0% were other dwellings.

In Desert Springs, of occupied private dwellings 0.6% had 1 bedroom, 27.0% had 2 bedrooms and 30.7% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.1. The average household size was 2.7 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Desert Springs, 23.6% were owned outright, 32.6% were owned with a mortgage and 39.7% were rented.

Household composition

In Desert Springs, of all households, 76.0% were family households, 20.8% were single person households and 3.3% were group households.

In Desert Springs, 5.8% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 29.4% of households had a weekly income of more than $3,000.

View the income fact sheet

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.

View 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.

View the income fact sheet

Number of motor vehicles

In Desert Springs, 33.4% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 42.6% had two registered motor vehicles and 20.7% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Desert Springs, there were 39 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 14 (or 35.9%) were male and 25 (or 64.1%) were female. The median age was 36 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 Desert Springs, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 2.4, with 1.2 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $2,750.

In Desert Springs, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $650 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,210.