New data covering the 2016 Census, home building, businesses and more has been included in the latest update of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Data by Region online tool.
“Data users and communities more generally want to understand how their region is faring in all aspects of life – such as local business growth and the wellbeing of communities. The ABS provides safe public access to statistics from a range of government data sources,” said Lisa Conolly, Director of ABS Regional Statistics National Centre.
The Data by Region mapping tool has been updated with Census 2016 data and recent data from other government sources, including: Counts of Business, Building Approvals, Pensions and Allowances, and Income tax data.
“Communities also want the facts to show what is special about their region and a national data set like this one helps users to make robust comparisons across Australia,” Ms Conolly said.
Users can select or type in a regional location and retrieve its socio-economic data online at: Data by Region
The different ways that regions can be analysed is illustrated below with one or two key findings for Statistical Area Level 2 regions in each State and Territory:
The region of Kulin on the southern edge of the WA wheat belt had the highest proportion of their population deriving their main source of income from an own unincorporated business (40 per cent).
Median own unincorporated business income in 2014/15 for this region was $73,411.
This was the highest median income from this source for any region of Australia. Gnowangerup, an adjacent region to the south of Kulin, had the next highest proportion of income derived from their own unincorporated businesses at 36 per cent of earners (with a median of $58,699).
The highest median income from Capital Gains reported to the tax office in 2014/15 were found in regions clustered around the planned Sydney airport at Badgery’s Creek – including Edensor Park ($17,716 median capital gains), West Hoxton-Middleton Grange ($16,575), Warragamba-Silverdale ($15,958), Austral-Greendale ($15,171) and Cobbitty-Leppington ($13,290).
Outside of Sydney, the highest median capital gains in 2014/15 were reported for the regions of Robertson-Fitzroy Falls ($10,692) which is a region east of Moss Vale, and Byron Bay ($10,417) on the north coast of NSW.
Cranbourne East (which is in the Casey LGA in the north of Melbourne) had 6,487 new houses approved over the last six years, growing from 410 a year in 2011 to 1,923 a year in 2016.
This was the largest number of new house approvals for all SA2 regions in Australia.
The SA2 of Melbourne had the largest net increase in the number of businesses for Victoria, with a net increase of 833 businesses in 2015/16.
This was followed by the regions of Richmond (267), Tarneit (262), Dandenong (224) and Albert Park (217), which all had a net growth of around 200 businesses.
Outside of greater Melbourne, Ballarat had the largest net growth in businesses, with a net growth of 66 businesses.
Bribie Island had 5,323 aged pensioners in 2015/16, the largest number for a SA2 region of Queensland, and also had the highest median age – at 59 years.
Outside of greater Brisbane, Pialba-Eli Waters had the largest number of aged pensioners, with 3,521 – and a median age of 48 years.
Caboolture had the highest number of persons on a disability pension for Queensland, with 1,645 pensioners.
The Maryborough region, north of Noosa on the QLD coast, had the highest number of disability pensioners outside Brisbane, with 1,633 disability pensioners.
Around one third of income earners in Le Hunte – Elliston (33 per cent) and Kimba – Cleve – Franklin Harbour (30 per cent) on the Eyre Peninsula derived their main source of income from their own unincorporated business.
These regions earned a median income of $33,508 and $31,960 respectively in 2014/15 from their own unincoporated businesses.
Residents of Virginia – Waterloo Corner earned a median income of $20,522 from their own unincorporated business, where 23% of the population reported this as their main source of income – the highest proportion for the Adelaide capital city area.
South Hobart – Fern Tree and West Hobart were among the top four most secular regions in Australia, with 55 per cent of the population stating they had no religious affiliation in 2016.
There were 27 regions around Australia where over 50 per cent of the population had no religious affiliation.
Several regions of Northern Territory had among the highest household size in Australia – including East Arnhem, Thamarrurr, and West Arnhem, all with an average of five persons per household.
Acton in Canberra is a region of predominantly young students living in and around the Australian National University campus – 75 per cent of its 2,140 residents are aged 15-24 years in 2016.
The median age of Acton is 21 years, the youngest region in Australia, alongside Duntroon in Canberra.
Acton also had 271 people receiving Youth Allowance, and 28 per cent of the population reporting no weekly income.