List of cities in Australia by population

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

These lists of Australian cities by population provide rankings of Australian cities and towns according to various systems defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The eight Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs) are listed for the state and territorial capital cities. All Significant Urban Areas (SUAs) over 10,000 people are listed next followed by the 50 largest urban centres by population. Lastly, the 50 largest local government areas (the third tier of government below the federal and state/territorial governments) are also ranked.

Definitions

Sydney statistical areas

Illustrated are the various statistical areas defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for Sydney and its surrounds. The extent of the Greater Sydney Greater Capital City Statistical Area is designated by thick grey line and black text. The greater capital city statistical areas are the eight unique statistical divisions delineating the broadest possible concept of each state or territory capital city, constructed from one or more whole labour market areas (designated SA4 in the Australian Statistical Geography Standard). The rest of NSW area includes the entire remainder of the state, as each state or territory has only one GCCSA.

The Significant Urban Areas are designated by solid orange lines with stippled fill and red text. Significant urban areas are statistical divisions designed to represent significant towns and cities or associated collections of smaller towns, with total populations of 10,000 people or more. They consist of single, or clusters of, urban centres/localities (see below), and are constructed from one or more SA2 units, which are collations of suburbs and localities designed for consistent statistical output between censuses.

The urban centres/localities are designated by dashed red lines with pink fill. Urban centres/localities are statistical divisions delineating the contiguous built up, or urban areas of cities, towns and most small settlements. They are constructed from the smallest statistical output areas (SA1). The population of urban centres is only updated every five years during the Census and is not estimated yearly by the ABS.

Also represented are 31 outlined coloured areas. These are the 31 local government areas that are commonly understood as comprising Sydney, albeit unofficially.

Greater Capital City Statistical Areas by population

Each capital city forms its own Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA), which according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) represents a broad functional definition of each of the eight state and territorial capital cities.[1] In Australia, the population of the GCCSA is the most-often quoted figure for the population of capital cities. These units correspond broadly to the international concept of metropolitan areas.

More information Rank, Greater Capital City Statistical Area ...
Rank Greater Capital City Statistical Area State or territory Estimated resident population Ten-year
growth rate		 Included SUA(s)
June 2025[2] June 2015[2]
1 Greater Sydney New South Wales 5,638,8304,921,000+14.59% Sydney
Central Coast
2 Greater Melbourne Victoria 5,435,5904,529,500+20.00% Melbourne
Bacchus Marsh
Gisborne
3 Greater Brisbane Queensland 2,833,5242,308,700+22.73% Brisbane
4 Greater Perth Western Australia 2,452,7652,039,200+20.28% Perth
5 Greater Adelaide South Australia 1,491,0151,316,800+13.23% Adelaide
6 Australian Capital Territory[a] Australian Capital Territory 484,630390,700+24.04% Canberra–Queanbeyan
(ACT part only)
7 Greater Hobart Tasmania 255,250221,000+15.50% Hobart
8 Greater Darwin Northern Territory 159,284142,300+11.94% Darwin
Close

Greater Capital City Statistical Areas by population density

More information Rank, Greater Capital City Statistical Area ...
Rank Greater Capital City Statistical Area State or territory Density
(/km2)		 Population (2024)[3] Land
area
(km2)[4]
1 Greater Melbourne Victoria 535.5 5,350,705 9,993
2 Greater Adelaide South Australia 450.7 1,469,163 3,260
3 Greater Sydney New South Wales 449.3 5,557,233 12,369
4 Greater Perth Western Australia 371.6 2,384,371 6,417
5 Australian Capital Territory[a] Australian Capital Territory 201.0 473,855 2,358
6 Greater Brisbane Queensland 170.9 2,706,966 15,842
7 Greater Hobart Tasmania 150.4 254,930 1,695
8 Greater Darwin Northern Territory 48.1 152,489 3,168
Close

Significant Urban Areas by population

The following table ranks all the Significant Urban Areas (SUAs) with a population greater than 10,000 people in 2025, including those of the capital cities (which are smaller than their respective GCCSAs, except for Canberra's, which includes adjacent Queanbeyan, in New South Wales). Capitals are in bold. Significant Urban Areas are defined to represent significant towns and cities, or agglomerations of smaller towns, that have at least 10,000 total population. Significant Urban Areas may contain more than one distinct urban centre. There are urban areas of greater than 10,000 people that the ABS does not currently classify as Significant Urban Areas.

70% of the Australian population live in the top eight most populous cities.

Melbourne
Sydney
Brisbane
Perth
Adelaide
Gold Coast
Newcastle
Canberra
More information Rank, Significant Urban Area ...
Rank Significant
Urban Area		 State or territory Estimated resident population Ten-year
growth rate
June 2025[5] June 2015[5]
1 Melbourne Victoria 5,328,2744,496,141+18.51%
2 Sydney New South Wales 5,219,6744,547,327+14.79%
3 Brisbane Queensland 2,745,0862,244,530+22.30%
4 Perth Western Australia 2,430,7571,980,960+22.71%
5 Adelaide South Australia 1,470,9381,294,981+13.59%
6 Gold Coast–Tweed Heads Queensland 761,634627,217+21.43%
7 Newcastle–Maitland New South Wales 541,634471,483+14.88%
8 Canberra–Queanbeyan Australian Capital Territory 521,049432,759+20.40%
9 Sunshine Coast Queensland 424,741333,833+27.23%
10 Central Coast New South Wales 354,189329,895+7.36%
11 Wollongong New South Wales 322,343291,687+10.51%
12 Geelong Victoria 314,381247,166+27.19%
13 Hobart Tasmania 233,736205,171+13.92%
14 Townsville Queensland 190,551176,906+7.71%
15 Cairns Queensland 164,149147,603+11.21%
16 Toowoomba Queensland 153,781132,532+16.03%
17 Darwin Northern Territory 145,019131,097+10.62%
18 Ballarat Victoria 120,93999,662+21.35%
19 Bendigo Victoria 106,49394,035+13.25%
20 Albury–Wodonga New South Wales
Victoria		 102,43589,306+14.70%
21 Launceston Tasmania 92,99385,557+8.69%
22 Mackay Queensland 89,76181,110+10.67%
23 Bunbury Western Australia 84,33273,476+14.77%
24 Rockhampton Queensland 83,50879,109+5.56%
25 Bundaberg Queensland 79,28370,156+13.01%
26 Coffs Harbour New South Wales 77,24469,239+11.56%
27 Hervey Bay Queensland 63,31252,429+20.76%
28 Wagga Wagga New South Wales 58,11755,359+4.98%
29 Shepparton–Mooroopna Victoria 55,33250,161+10.31%
30 Mildura–Buronga Victoria
New South Wales		 54,37950,580+7.51%
31 Port Macquarie New South Wales 53,36945,798+16.53%
32 Gladstone Queensland 48,50545,632+6.30%
33 Ballina New South Wales 48,46542,231+14.76%
34 Warragul-Drouin Victoria 47,51034,253+38.70%
35 Tamworth New South Wales 46,02441,582+10.68%
36 Busselton Western Australia 46,02336,866+24.84%
37 Traralgon-Morwell Victoria 44,08541,125+7.20%
38 Orange New South Wales 43,21339,222+10.18%
39 Bowral-Mittagong New South Wales 42,52937,927+12.13%
40 Dubbo New South Wales 42,45236,715+15.63%
41 Geraldton Western Australia 42,10438,705+8.78%
42 Nowra-Bomaderry New South Wales 40,26436,200+11.23%
43 Bathurst New South Wales 39,01335,374+10.29%
44 Albany Western Australia 38,28733,767+13.39%
45 Warrnambool Victoria 36,68934,367+6.76%
46 Devonport Tasmania 32,93829,875+10.25%
47 Morisset-Cooranbong New South Wales 31,33323,877+31.23%
48 Kalgoorlie-Boulder Western Australia 31,01631,519−1.60%
49 Victor Harbor–Goolwa South Australia 30,90025,851+19.53%
50 Mount Gambier South Australia 30,87529,405+5.00%
51 Alice Springs Northern Territory 30,87526,843+15.02%
52 Nelson Bay New South Wales 29,02427,137+6.95%
53 Maryborough Queensland 28,65827,219+5.29%
54 Burnie-Somerset Tasmania 28,64327,170+5.42%
55 Lismore New South Wales 27,85629,111−4.31%
56 Bacchus Marsh Victoria 27,18220,207+34.52%
57 Taree New South Wales 26,85826,375+1.83%
58 Goulburn New South Wales 25,64723,138+10.84%
59 Gympie Queensland 24,59121,024+16.97%
60 Armidale New South Wales 24,43623,979+1.91%
61 Gisborne Victoria 24,16320,439+18.22%
62 Echuca-Moama Victoria
New South Wales		 23,39320,625+13.42%
63 Moe-Newborough Victoria 22,61221,400+5.66%
64 Yeppoon Queensland 22,52218,355+22.70%
65 Whyalla South Australia 21,64122,591−4.21%
66 Forster-Tuncurry New South Wales 21,27220,635+3.09%
67 Griffith New South Wales 20,77419,499+6.54%
68 St Georges Basin-Sanctuary Point New South Wales 20,49218,224+12.45%
69 Wangaratta Victoria 20,01918,624+7.49%
70 Camden Haven New South Wales 19,99516,751+19.37%
71 Murray Bridge South Australia 19,93817,963+10.99%
72 Grafton New South Wales 19,90519,037+4.56%
73 Karratha Western Australia 19,65917,073+15.15%
74 Mount Isa Queensland 18,16220,227−10.21%
75 Batemans Bay New South Wales 17,84916,348+9.18%
76 Ulladulla New South Wales 17,56715,383+14.20%
77 Broken Hill New South Wales 17,51518,360−4.60%
78 Singleton New South Wales 17,39616,570+4.98%
79 Port Hedland Western Australia 17,30014,587+18.60%
80 Medowie New South Wales 17,17813,780+24.66%
81 Port Lincoln South Australia 17,06416,157+5.61%
82 Horsham Victoria 16,88216,363+3.17%
83 Airlie Beach-Cannonvale Queensland 16,59712,996+27.71%
84 Broome Western Australia 16,50614,613+12.95%
85 Kempsey New South Wales 16,27215,055+8.08%
86 Warwick Queensland 16,19715,417+5.06%
87 Bairnsdale Victoria 15,91714,524+9.59%
88 Ulverstone Tasmania 15,47114,453+7.04%
89 Emerald Queensland 15,23813,951+9.23%
90 Sale Victoria 15,23214,781+3.05%
91 Port Pirie South Australia 14,19514,425−1.59%
92 Port Augusta South Australia 14,13414,130+0.03%
93 Mudgee New South Wales 12,96511,880+9.13%
94 Muswellbrook New South Wales 12,59512,333+2.12%
95 Esperance Western Australia 12,58012,519+0.49%
96 Colac Victoria 12,55812,337+1.79%
97 Lithgow New South Wales 12,12413,032−6.97%
98 Castlemaine Victoria 11,64010,545+10.38%
99 Byron Bay New South Wales 11,48210,018+14.61%
100 Portland Victoria 11,12410,919+1.88%
101 Kingaroy Queensland 11,05910,516+5.16%
102 Swan Hill Victoria 10,74711,022−2.50%
Close

Map of the 20 largest Significant Urban Areas by population

20 largest Significant Urban Areas (state and territorial capitals bolded) by population

Central business district populations

Below is a table of the capital city central business districts in Australia, defined as the suburb after which the city is named, or the core suburb in the case of Civic in Canberra. Melbourne has the highest population living in its CBD, a result of the high density of tall apartment buildings in the city centre,[6] while the Adelaide CBD is the second most populated city centre in Australia despite being the fifth-most populous in urban area. This metric is affected by the definition of the central suburb vs CBD; for example, the suburb of Sydney does not include adjacent Barangaroo or Haymarket, which are often considered to be part of the Sydney CBD.[7][8]

More information Rank, Capital City Central Business District ...
Rank Capital City Central Business District State/territory CBD Population (2021) Area
(km2)		 Density
(/km2)
1 Melbourne Victoria 54,941[9] 6.5 8452.5
2 Adelaide South Australia 18,202[10] 10.5 1733.5
3 Sydney New South Wales 16,667[11] 2.94 5669.04
4 Perth Western Australia 13,670[12] 4.6 2971.7
5 Brisbane Queensland 12,587[13] 2.5 5034.8
6 Darwin Northern Territory 7,149[14] 1.9 3762.6
7 Canberra Australian Capital Territory 4,835[15] 1.5 3453.6
8 Hobart Tasmania 3,390[16] 1.9 1784.2
Close

50 largest urban centres by population

Urban centres are defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as being a population cluster of 1,000 or more people. For statistical purposes, people living in urban centres are classified as urban. The figures below represent the populations of the contiguous built-up areas of each city; with state and territory capitals in bold. These figures are only updated every census, as the ABS does not render population projections for urban centres, and as such can only be as up-to-date as the most recent census year. Unlike significant urban areas, urban centres that cross state boundaries are split into separate parts for each state.[17]

More information Rank (2021), Urban centre ...
Rank
(2021)		 Urban centre Estimated resident population SUA
(if a part of a larger SUA)		 Ranking in state or territory, 2021
2021 census 2016 census [18][19] 2011 census 2006 census ACT NSW NT Qld SA Tas WA Vic
1 Sydney 4,698,656 [20] 4,321,535 3,908,642 [21] 3,641,422 [22] 1
2 Melbourne 4,585,537 [23] 4,196,198 3,707,530 [24] 3,371,888 [25] 1
3 Brisbane 2,287,896 [26] 2,054,614 1,874,427 [27] 1,676,389 [28] 1
4 Perth 2,043,762 [29] 1,874,578 1,627,576 [30] 1,256,035 [31] 1
5 Adelaide 1,245,011 [32] 1,165,632 1,103,979 [33] 1,040,719 [34] 1
6 Gold Coast–Tweed Heads (Gold Coast part) 607,665 [35] 540,559 478,107 [36] Gold Coast–Tweed Heads 2
7 Canberra–Queanbeyan (Canberra part) 452,670 [37] 395,790 355,596 [38] Canberra–Queanbeyan 1
8 Newcastle 348,539 [39] 322,278 308,308 [40] 288,732 [41] Newcastle–Maitland 2
9 Central Coast 325,255 [42] 307,742 297,713 [43] 282,726 [44] 3
10 Sunshine Coast 284,131 [45] 243,377 209,263 [46] 184,662 [47] 3
11 Wollongong 280,153 [48] 261,896 245,942 [49] 234,482 [50] 4
12 Hobart 197,451 [51] 178,009 170,975 [52] 128,557 [53] 1
13 Geelong 180,239 [54] 157,104 143,291 [55] 137,220 [56] 2
14 Townsville 173,724 [57] 168,729 157,748 [58] 128,808 [59] 4
15 Cairns 153,181 [60] 144,730 133,893 [61] 98,349 [62] 5
16 Darwin 122,207 [63] 118,456 103,016 [64] 89,905 [65][66] 1
17 Toowoomba 108,398 [67] 100,032 96,597 [68] 95,265 [69] 6
18 Ballarat 105,348 [70] 93,759 85,935 [71] 78,221 [72] 3
19 Bendigo 100,649 [73] 92,379 82,794 [74] 76,051 [75] 4
20 Maitland 89,597 [76] 78,015 67,132 [77] 61,431 [78] Newcastle–Maitland 5
21 Launceston 80,943 [79] 75,329 74,085 [80] 71,395 [81] 2
22 Mackay 80,455 [82] 75,710 74,219 [83] 66,874 [84] 7
23 Melton 76,346 [85] 54,456 45,624 [86] 35,490 [87] Melbourne 5
24 Bunbury 75,196 [88] 71,090 64,385 [89] 54,482 [90] 2
25 Gold Coast–Tweed Heads (Tweed Heads part) 63,721 [91] 59,776 55,553 [92] Gold Coast–Tweed Heads 6
26 Rockhampton 63,151 [93] 61,214 61,724 [94] 60,827 [95] 8
27 Hervey Bay 57,722 [96] 52,073 48,680 [97] 41,225 [98] 9
28 Albury–Wodonga (Albury part) 53,677 [99] 47,974 45,627 [100] Albury–Wodonga 7
29 Bundaberg 52,370 [101] 50,148 49,750 [102] 46,961 [103] 10
30 Coffs Harbour 51,069 [104] 48,225 45,580 [105] 26,353 [106] 8
31 Shepparton–Mooroopna 49,862 [107] 46,199 42,741 [108] 38,773 [109] 6
32 Wagga Wagga 49,686 [110] 48,263 46,913 [111] 46,735 [112] 9
33 Port Macquarie 47,793 [113] 44,814 41,491 [114] 39,219 [115] 10
34 Orange 40,127 [116] 37,182 34,992 [117] 31,544 [118] 11
35 Dubbo 38,783 [119] 34,339 32,327 [120] 30,574 [121] 12
36 Sunbury 38,010 [122] 34,425 33,062 [123] 29,566 [124] Melbourne 7
37 Albury–Wodonga (Wodonga part) 37,839 [125] 35,130 31,605 [126] Albury–Wodonga 8
38 Canberra–Queanbeyan (Queanbeyan part) 37,511 [127] 36,248 35,878 [128] Canberra–Queanbeyan 13
39 Bathurst 36,230 [129] 33,587 31,294 [130] 28,992 [131] 14
40 Mildura–Buronga (Mildura part) 35,652 [132] 33,444 31,361 [133] Mildura–Wentworth 9
41 Tamworth 35,415 [134] 33,885 36,131 [135] 33,475 [136] 15
42 Gladstone 34,703 [137] 33,418 32,073 [138] 28,808 [139] Gladstone–Tannum Sands 11
43 Nowra–Bomaderry 33,583 [140] 30,853 27,988 [141] 27,478 [142] 16
44 Warrnambool 32,894 [143] 30,709 29,284 [144] 10
45 Geraldton 32,717 [145] 31,982 31,349 [146] 27,420 [147] 3
46 Albany 31,128 [148] 29,373 26,643 [149] 25,196 [150] 4
47 Blue Mountains 30,049 [151] 29,319 28,769 [152] Sydney 17
48 Kalgoorlie–Boulder 29,068 [153] 29,875 30,840 [154] 28,242 [155] 5
49 Gawler 28,562 [156] 26,472 23,957 [157] 20,006 [158] Adelaide 2
50 Lismore 27,916 [159] 27,569 27,474 [160] 27,069 [161] 18
Close

Urban areas by population

Main urban areas in Australia, according to the Demographia:[162]

More information Urban area, Population ...
Urban area Population Area Density
Sydney 4,836,000 2,194 km² 2,204 /km²
Melbourne 4,709,000 2,880 km² 1,635 /km²
Brisbane-Gold Coast 3,039,000 2,647 km² 1,148 /km²
Perth 2,101,000 1,720 km² 1,222 /km²
Adelaide 1,271,000 855 km² 1,488 /km²
Close

50 largest local government areas by population

Local government areas (LGAs) are the main units of local government in Australia. They may be termed cities, councils, regions, shires, towns, or other names, and all function similarly. Local government areas cover approx. 90% of the country. Significant sections of New South Wales and South Australia are unincorporated, that is, have no defined local government, along with the ACT and smaller sections of Northern Territory and Victoria. Brisbane is the only state capital city with its respective LGA (City of Brisbane) covering a significant portion of its urban area. In other capital cities, the central LGA covers a much smaller proportion of the total urban area. Most Australian capital cities have suburban local government areas significantly larger in population than the central local government area.

More information Rank, Local government area ...
Rank Local government area Estimated resident population[163] Ranking in state, 2024
2024 Qld NSW WA Vic SA
1 City of Brisbane 1,355,640 1
2 City of Gold Coast 681,389 2
3 City of Moreton Bay 522,494 3
4 City of Blacktown 438,843 1
5 City of Casey 405,415 1
6 City of Logan 392,339 4
7 City of Canterbury-Bankstown 385,242 2
8 Sunshine Coast Region 375,328 5
9 Central Coast Council 354,803 3
10 City of Wyndham 337,009 2
11 City of Greater Geelong 289,565 3
12 City of Parramatta 274,956 4
13 City of Hume 271,709 4
14 Northern Beaches Council 270,772 5
15 City of Ipswich 259,886 6
16 City of Liverpool 254,905 6
17 City of Whittlesea 253,204 5
18 Cumberland Council 252,399 7
19 City of Stirling 249,872 1
20 Sutherland Shire 238,614 8
21 City of Wanneroo 237,628 2
22 City of Sydney 237,278 9
23 City of Penrith 228,661 10
24 City of Wollongong 221,894 11
25 City of Lake Macquarie 221,859 12
26 City of Melton 219,697 6
27 The Hills Shire 215,612 13
28 City of Fairfield 212,210 14
29 City of Monash 209,268 7
30 City of Townsville 204,541 7
31 City of Brimbank 198,152 8
32 Inner West Council 190,939 15
33 City of Melbourne 189,381 9
34 City of Campbelltown 188,303 16
35 City of Merri-bek 186,534 10
36 Bayside Council 185,880 17
37 Toowoomba Region 184,377 8
38 City of Whitehorse 183,462 11
39 City of Onkaparinga 182,821 1
40 City of Swan 179,207 3
41 Cairns Region 178,104 9
42 City of Boroondara 178,008 12
43 City of Newcastle 176,860 18
44 City of Joondalup 173,469 4
45 Shire of Mornington Peninsula 171,450 13
46 Redland City 170,225 10
47 City of Greater Dandenong 167,298 14
48 City of Kingston 166,521 15
49 City of Knox 163,302 16
50 Georges River Council 161,593 19
Close

See also

Notes

  1. [a]
    The GCCSA for Canberra covers the entire ACT, and is formally titled as such.

References

External links

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI