Port Hedland

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 13,772 people in Port Hedland of these 55.4% were male and 44.6% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 14.8% of the population.

The median age of people in Port Hedland was 30 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 22.4% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 2.6% of the population.

Of people in Port Hedland aged 15 years and over, 42.3% were married and 10.3% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Port Hedland was 41 years and the median age of people never married was 27 years.

In Port Hedland, of people aged 15 years and over, 41.9% of people were in a registered marriage and 21.1% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Port Hedland was 41 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 31 years.

In Port Hedland 36.8% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 21.6% were in primary school, 8.5% in secondary school and 9.4% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Port Hedland were Australian 28.3%, English 21.9%, Irish 5.5%, Scottish 5.0% and German 2.3%.

In Port Hedland, 61.7% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were New Zealand 5.1%, England 2.7%, South Africa 1.2%, Philippines 1.0% and India 0.7%.

In Port Hedland, 58.4% of people had both parents born in Australia and 28.5% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Port Hedland were No Religion 24.7%, Catholic 21.8%, Anglican 12.1%, Islam 2.8% and Uniting Church 2.7%.

In Port Hedland 69.9% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Malay 1.9%, Afrikaans 0.6%, Tagalog 0.5%, Indonesian 0.4% and Filipino 0.4%.

Employment

There were 7,079 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Port Hedland. Of these 75.3% were employed full time, 13.3% were employed part-time and 3.9% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Port Hedland, 4.2% worked 1 to 15 hours, 4.2% worked 16 to 24 hours and 67.0% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Port Hedland was 37 years and for people who were employed part-time was 36 years.

The most common occupations in Port Hedland included Technicians and Trades Workers 25.1%, Professionals 14.0%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 13.8%, Machinery Operators And Drivers 12.8%, Labourers 11.1%, Managers 9.8%, Community and Personal Service Workers 6.5% and Sales Workers 5.0%.

Of the employed people in Port Hedland, the most common responses for industry of employment included Metal Ore Mining 21.0%, School Education 4.3%, Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction 3.6%, Road Freight Transport 3.1% and Hospitals 2.6%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Port Hedland was $1,368.

In Port Hedland, on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Car, as driver 64.4%, Car, as passenger 9.7%, Walked only 4.6%, Bus 3.2% and Truck 1.2%. 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 74.6% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Port Hedland, of people aged 15 years and over, 57.1% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 24.1% 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, 14.6% 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 Port Hedland, 22.0% worked 5 to 14 hours, 7.1% worked 15 to 29 hours and 6.9% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Port Hedland, 49.3% were couple families with children, 37.2% were couple families without children and 11.3% were one parent families.

In Port Hedland 21.5% of single parents were male and 78.5% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Port Hedland, for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $3,428 and those without children was $3,429.

Employment status of couple families

In Port Hedland, of couple families with children, 38.3% had both partners employed full-time, 1.5% had both employed part-time and 17.8% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Port Hedland, 81.4% of private dwellings were occupied and 18.6% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Port Hedland, 68.6% were separate houses, 15.3% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 8.5% were flats, units or apartments and 7.2% were other dwellings.

In Port Hedland, of occupied private dwellings 5.8% had 1 bedroom, 12.4% had 2 bedrooms and 47.0% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.1. The average household size was 2.8 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Port Hedland, 9.5% were owned outright, 16.9% were owned with a mortgage and 67.8% were rented.

Household composition

In Port Hedland, of all households, 74.5% were family households, 20.0% were single person households and 5.5% were group households.

In Port Hedland, 7.0% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 41.0% 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 Port Hedland, 23.5% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 38.6% had two registered motor vehicles and 26.1% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Port Hedland, there were 2,035 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 992 (or 48.7%) were male and 1,043 (or 51.3%) were female. The median age was 25 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 Port Hedland, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.2, with 1.3 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $2,092.

In Port 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 $2,000.