Suburbs and Localities
Suburbs and Localities (SAL) are Mesh Block approximations of official boundaries of suburbs (within cities and larger towns) and localities (outside cities and larger towns) as defined by Australian state and territory governments. Suburbs and Localities are current at the time of creation and will not reflect subsequent changes until ASGS Edition 5 (2031).
Suburb and Locality boundaries enable the release, comparison, and analysis of ABS data with other data. Suburbs and Localities do not match officially defined boundaries and should only be used for statistical purposes.
There are 15,377 Suburbs and Localities covering the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. This includes 19 non-spatial special purpose codes. More information is available in the SAL coding structure section below.
SAL design criteria
ASGS Edition 4 Suburbs and Localities (SAL) are based on officially defined boundaries of suburbs and localities.
There are areas of rural South Australia and rural Australian Capital Territory that are undefined in the officially defined boundaries. Various islands offshore from New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania and some inshore water areas and islands are also undefined.
Each Mesh Block is generally allocated to an officially defined suburb or locality boundary where the largest proportion of population is located. As a result, some officially defined boundaries do not appear in the Suburbs and Localities Structure. This occurs in cases where:
- a Mesh Block covers more than one whole officially defined boundary, and the Mesh Block can only be allocated to one boundary
- more than one Mesh Block partly covers an officially defined boundary, but all the Mesh Blocks are allocated to neighbouring boundaries, based on population
All islands defined within the ASGS have been assigned to a suburb or locality. Where an island is located outside the officially defined suburb or locality, the island is assigned to the nearest mainland suburb or locality.
In ASGS Edition 4, locations within South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory that are not covered by officially defined boundaries have been allocated to the category SA Remainder or ACT Remainder respectively.
ACT Remainder is made up of 16 Suburbs and Localities approximating officially defined ACT district boundaries which are listed below.
| SAL code | SAL name |
|---|---|
| 80001 | ACT Remainder - Belconnen |
| 80002 | ACT Remainder - Booth |
| 80003 | ACT Remainder - Canberra Central |
| 80004 | ACT Remainder - Coree |
| 80005 | ACT Remainder - Cotter River |
| 80006 | ACT Remainder - Gungahlin |
| 80007 | ACT Remainder - Hall |
| 80008 | ACT Remainder - Jerrabomberra |
| 80009 | ACT Remainder - Kowen |
| 80010 | ACT Remainder - Majura |
| 80011 | ACT Remainder - Molonglo Valley |
| 80012 | ACT Remainder - Paddys River |
| 80013 | ACT Remainder - Rendezvous Creek |
| 80014 | ACT Remainder - Stromlo |
| 80015 | ACT Remainder - Tuggeranong |
| 80016 | ACT Remainder - Weston Creek |
The Other Territories of Christmas Island, Norfolk Island, and Jervis Bay are each represented by individual Suburbs and Localities. The territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands is represented by two Suburbs and Localities - Home Island and West Island.
SAL name criteria
Officially defined suburb and locality names are not unique across Australia, or within a state or territory. When the same name appears in different states or territories, the state or territory abbreviation appears in brackets after the name. Spelling and capitalisation follow the latest information published by the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) Permanent Committee on Place Names (PCPN) when official data sources differ.
In instances where an officially defined suburb or locality name is duplicated within a state or territory, an identifying name based on the local government area name plus the state or territory abbreviation is used, as shown below. This ensures Suburb and Locality (SAL) names are unique.
| SAL code | SAL name |
|---|---|
| 31239 | Greenmount (Mackay - Qld) |
| 31240 | Greenmount (Toowoomba - Qld) |
| 50586 | Greenmount (WA) |
There is no connection between Suburbs and Localities and Local Government Areas (LGA). The local government area name is used only to differentiate between duplicate names within a state or territory.
SAL coding structure
Suburbs and Localities (SAL) are identified by unique 5-digit codes consisting of a 1-digit state or territory identifier and a 4-digit code starting from 0001.
| S/T | SAL | SAL name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0001 | Aarons Pass |
| 1 | 0002 | Abbotsbury |
| 1 | 0003 | Abbotsford (NSW) |
| 1 | 0004 | Abercrombie |
| 1 | 0005 | Abercrombie River |
| 1 | 0006 | Aberdare |
| 1 | 9494 | No usual address (NSW) |
| 1 | 9797 | Migratory - Offshore - Shipping (NSW) |
| Z | ZZZZ | Outside Australia |
Suburbs and Localities may not match those used in past editions of the ASGS, as codes are assigned alphabetically within each state and territory, and some suburb and locality names have changed over time.
A geographic correspondence file for converting data from ASGS Edition 3 (2021) to ASGS Edition 4 (2026) is available in the access and downloads section of this publication.
Special purpose codes are included as balancing items. Mesh Blocks allocated to these codes are not part of any officially defined suburbs and localities.
- 9797 for people coded to Migratory, Offshore, and Shipping Mesh Blocks.
- 9494 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.