Local Government Areas
Local Government Areas (LGA) are Mesh Block approximations of gazetted local government boundaries as defined by each state and territory. Local Government Areas are based on the version of local government boundaries current at the time of creation and may not reflect subsequent changes until the next annual update. Mesh Block approximations of local government boundaries do not match official local government boundaries and should only be used for statistical purposes.
There are 567 Local Government Areas, including unincorporated areas, covering the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. This includes 19 non-spatial special purpose codes. More information is available in the LGA coding structure section below.
LGA design criteria
The ABS updates Local Government Areas (LGA) annually after reviewing changes to the gazetted boundaries. Local Government Area boundaries are approximated by including or excluding whole Mesh Blocks. Each Mesh Block is generally allocated to the Local Government Area where the largest proportion of population is located.
Local Government Areas cover legally designated parts of a state or territory for which incorporated local governing bodies have responsibility. In ABS Local Government Areas, parts of Australia not administered by incorporated bodies are identified as Unincorporated, followed by a state or territory suffix, for example, Unincorporated ACT. Unincorporated areas include the Australian Capital Territory, northern parts of South Australia, and some Other Territories. Since ASGS Edition 3, the territories of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island are included as Western Australian Local Government Areas, reflecting their administration at the local government level.
LGA name criteria
Local Government Area (LGA) names are shortened to standardise their formatting across states and territories. Examples include:
- City of Albury becomes Albury
- District Council of Copper Coast becomes Copper Coast.
Where the same Local Government Area name occurs in more than one state or territory, the state or territory abbreviation is added in brackets after the name. This ensures that each Local Government Area name is unique.
LGA coding structure
Local Government Areas (LGA) are identified by unique 5-digit codes consisting of a 1-digit State or Territory identifier and a 4-digit Local Government Area identifier, as shown below.
| S/T | LGA | LGA name |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 4830 | Kwinana |
Local Government Area identifiers are unique within each state and territory. Changes to codes occur when a Local Government Area is abolished or has changed significantly. When a Local Government Area is removed, its identifier is retired. When a new Local Government Area is created, the next available identifier is allocated alphabetically by name. All Local Government Area codes end with the digit zero excluding Unincorporated and special purpose codes.
Where significant boundary changes have occurred, codes used may not match those used in previous years. Therefore, when interpreting change, Local Government Area codes and names should be used together. Geographic correspondence files for converting data from ASGS Edition 3 (2021) to ASGS Edition 4 (2026) are available in the access and downloads section of this publication.
Non-spatial special purpose codes are included as balancing items. Mesh Blocks allocated to these codes are not part of legally designated Local Government Areas:
- 9799 for people coded to Migratory, Offshore, and Shipping Mesh Blocks.
- 9499 for people coded to No usual address Mesh Blocks.
- ZZZZZ for people coded to Outside Australia.
Special purpose codes are described in more detail in the Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas section of this publication.