Foster

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 1,089 people in Foster of these 45.5% were male and 54.5% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.6% of the population.

The median age of people in Foster was 55 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 12.6% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 35.2% of the population.

Of people in Foster aged 15 years and over, 46.4% were married and 13.7% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Foster was 63 years and the median age of people never married was 26 years.

In Foster, of people aged 15 years and over, 47.4% of people were in a registered marriage and 8.5% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Foster was 62 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 32 years.

In Foster 20.4% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 31.5% were in primary school, 29.7% in secondary school and 9.5% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Foster were Australian 34.9%, English 33.2%, Scottish 9.8%, Irish 6.4% and Italian 2.5%.

In Foster, 82.3% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 5.1%, Italy 1.0%, Netherlands 1.0%, New Zealand 1.0% and Scotland 0.8%.

In Foster, 71.7% of people had both parents born in Australia and 17.5% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Foster were No Religion 30.7%, Anglican 23.0%, Catholic 16.9%, Uniting Church 8.3% and Presbyterian and Reformed 5.6%.

In Foster 93.3% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 0.9%, German 0.6%, Dutch 0.5%, Vietnamese 0.4% and Tamil 0.3%.

Employment

There were 445 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Foster. Of these 46.3% were employed full time, 42.5% were employed part-time and 3.8% were unemployed.

View the labour force fact sheet

Of employed people in Foster, 16.8% worked 1 to 15 hours, 13.5% worked 16 to 24 hours and 34.4% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Foster was 44 years and for people who were employed part-time was 46 years.

The most common occupations in Foster included Technicians and Trades Workers 16.3%, Labourers 15.6%, Professionals 13.2%, Managers 12.0%, Community and Personal Service Workers 12.0%, Sales Workers 11.8%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 10.4% and Machinery Operators And Drivers 7.1%.

Of the employed people in Foster, the most common responses for industry of employment included Supermarket and Grocery Stores 7.8%, School Education 6.4%, Hospitals 3.8%, Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services 3.6% and Building Installation Services 3.1%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Foster was $394.

View the income fact sheet

In Foster, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 55.4%, Walked only 13.9%, Bicycle 1.4%, Car, as passenger 1.2% and Bus 0.7%. On the day, 0.7% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 58.3% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Foster, of people aged 15 years and over, 71.0% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 20.6% provided care for children and 10.4% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 31.5% 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 Foster, 24.1% worked 5 to 14 hours, 16.4% worked 15 to 29 hours and 12.4% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Foster, 31.9% were couple families with children, 54.2% were couple families without children and 13.9% were one parent families.

In Foster 10.8% of single parents were male and 89.2% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Foster, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,339 and those without children was $1,281.

View the income fact sheet

Employment status of couple families

In Foster, of couple families with children, 9.8% had both partners employed full-time, 6.4% had both employed part-time and 22.2% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Foster, 82.6% of private dwellings were occupied and 17.4% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Foster, 81.3% were separate houses, 0.0% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 15.3% were flats, units or apartments and 3.4% were other dwellings.

In Foster, of occupied private dwellings 8.5% had 1 bedroom, 21.7% had 2 bedrooms and 53.3% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 2.8. The average household size was 2 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Foster, 47.5% were owned outright, 20.9% were owned with a mortgage and 26.6% were rented.

Household composition

In Foster, of all households, 55.6% were family households, 42.2% were single person households and 2.2% were group households.

In Foster, 44.6% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 1.1% 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 Foster, 45.1% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 32.6% had two registered motor vehicles and 11.5% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Foster, there were 15 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 7 (or 46.7%) were male and 8 (or 53.3%) were female. The median age was 20 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 Foster, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.5, with 1 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $1,125.

In Foster, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $180 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $837.