List of cities in Australia by population

This list of Australian cities by population briefly explains the three different population figures given for Australian cities, and provides rankings for each.

Capital city Statistical Divisions and Statistical Districts by population

Statistical Divisions (SDs) are defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as areas under the unifying influence of one or more major towns or cities. Each capital city forms its own Statistical Division, and in Australia the population of the SD is the most-often quoted figure for that city's population. Statistical Districts are defined as non-capital but predominantly urban areas. The Australian Government treats divisions and districts with more than 100,000 people as metropolitan.

Statistical Divisions are in bold, the rest are Statistical Districts.

Sydney

Melbourne

Brisbane

Perth

Adelaide

Gold Coast

Newcastle

Canberra

Rank	Statistical Division/District	State	June 2008 Estimated Resident Population
1	Sydney	New South Wales	4,399,722
2	Melbourne	Victoria	3,892,419
3	Brisbane	Queensland	1,945,639
4	Perth	Western Australia	1,602,559
5	Adelaide	South Australia	1,172,105
6	Gold Coast-Tweed	Queensland/New South Wales	558,888
7	Newcastle	New South Wales	531,191
8	Canberra-Queanbeyan	Australian Capital Territory/New South Wales	395,126
*	Canberra	Australian Capital Territory	345,257
9	Wollongong	New South Wales	284,169
10	Sunshine Coast	Queensland	237,562
11	Greater Hobart	Tasmania	209,287
12	Geelong	Victoria	172,300
13	Townsville	Queensland	162,730
14	Cairns	Queensland	142,001
15	Toowoomba	Queensland	125,339
16	Darwin	Northern Territory	120,652
17	Launceston	Tasmania	104,649
18	Albury-Wodonga	New South Wales/Victoria	102,894
19	Ballarat	Victoria	91,787
20	Bendigo	Victoria	88,031
21	Mackay	Queensland	81,148
22	Burnie-Devonport	Tasmania	81,144
23	Mandurah	Western Australia	78,612
24	La Trobe Valley	Victoria	78,531
25	Rockhampton	Queensland	75,497
26	Bundaberg	Queensland	66,176
27	Bunbury	Western Australia	63,202
28	Wagga Wagga	New South Wales	56,911
29	Hervey Bay	Queensland	56,165
30	Coffs Harbour	New South Wales	51,538
31	Mildura	Victoria	49,280
32	Gladstone	Queensland	48,796
33	Shepparton	Victoria	47,710
34	Tamworth	New South Wales	45,615
35	Port Macquarie	New South Wales	42,900
36	Orange	New South Wales	37,991
37	Dubbo	New South Wales	36,653
38	Geraldton	Western Australia	35,361
39	Nowra-Bomaderry	New South Wales	33,212
40	Bathurst	New South Wales	32,942
41	Warrnambool	Victoria	32,712
42	Lismore	New South Wales	31,926
43	Kalgoorlie/Boulder	Western Australia	31,509

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. These figures represent the populations of the contiguous built-up areas of each city.

State and territory capitals are in bold.

Rank	Urban Centre	Total number of people, 2006 census	Stat. Division/District (if part of larger SD)
1	Sydney, New South Wales	3,641,422 [1]
2	Melbourne, Victoria	3,371,888 [2]
3	Brisbane, Queensland	1,676,389 [3]
4	Perth, Western Australia	1,256,035 [4]
5	Adelaide, South Australia	1,040,719 [5]
6	Gold Coast-Tweed Heads, Queensland/New South Wales	454,436 [6][7]
7	Canberra-Queanbeyan, Australian Capital Territory/New South Wales	356,120 [8][9]
8	Newcastle, New South Wales	288,732 [10]	Newcastle
9	Central Coast, New South Wales	282,726 [11]	Sydney
10	Wollongong, New South Wales	234,482 [12]
11	Sunshine Coast, Queensland	184,662 [13]
12	Geelong, Victoria	137,220 [14]
13	Townsville-Thuringowa, Queensland	128,808 [15]
14	Hobart, Tasmania	128,557 [16]
15	Cairns, Queensland	98,349 [17]
16	Toowoomba, Queensland	95,265 [18]
17	Ballarat, Victoria	78,221 [19]
18	Bendigo, Victoria	76,051 [20]
19	Albury-Wodonga, New South Wales/Victoria	73,497 [21][22]
20	Launceston, Tasmania	71,395 [23]
21	Mandurah, Western Australia	67,813 [24]
22	Rockingham, Western Australia	67,520 [25]	Perth
23	Mackay, Queensland	66,874 [26]
24	Darwin, Northern Territory	66,291 [27]
25	Maitland, New South Wales	61,431 [28]	Newcastle
26	Rockhampton, Queensland	60,827 [29]
27	Bunbury, Western Australia	54,482 [30]
28	Bundaberg, Queensland	46,961 [31]
29	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales	46,735 [32]
30	Hervey Bay, Queensland	41,225 [33]
31	Port Macquarie, New South Wales	39,219 [34]
32	Shepparton-Mooroopna, Victoria	38,773 [35]
33	Melton, Victoria	35,490 [36]	Melbourne
34	Tamworth, New South Wales	33,475 [37]
35	Orange, New South Wales	31,544 [38]
36	Dubbo, New South Wales	30,574 [39]
37	Mildura, Victoria	30,016 [40]
38	Sunbury, Victoria	29,566 [41]
39	Bathurst, New South Wales	28,992 [42]
40	Gladstone, Queensland	28,808 [43]
41	Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia	28,242 [44]
42	Warrnambool, Victoria	28,150 [45]
43	Nowra-Bomaderry, New South Wales	27,478 [46]
44	Geraldton, Western Australia	27,420 [47]
45	Lismore, New South Wales	27,069 [48]
46	Coffs Harbour, New South Wales	26,353 [49]
47	Albany, Western Australia	25,196 [50]	(no Stat. dist.)
48	Richmond-Windsor, New South Wales	25,011 [51]	Sydney
49	Palmerston, Northern Territory	23,614 [52]	Darwin
50	Mount Gambier, South Australia	23,494 [53]	(no Stat. dist.)

25 largest Local Government Areas by population

Local Government Areas are the main units of local government in Australia. They may be termed cities, shires, councils or other names, but they all function similarly. Brisbane is the only state capital city with one LGA covering the majority of its urban area.

Rank	Local Government Area	Estimated resident population, 2008	Stat. Division/District
1	Brisbane City Council, Queensland	1,027,847	Brisbane
2	Gold Coast City Council, Queensland	497,848	Gold Coast
3	Moreton Bay Regional Council, Queensland	356,709	Brisbane
4	Sunshine Coast Regional Council, Queensland	312,804
5	City of Blacktown, New South Wales	291,612	Sydney
6	Logan City Council, Queensland	269,986	Brisbane
7	City of Casey, Victoria	238,336	Melbourne
8	Sutherland Shire, New South Wales	215,868	Sydney
9	City of Greater Geelong, Victoria	211,841	Geelong
10	City of Wollongong, New South Wales	198,324	Wollongong
11	City of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales	195,559	Newcastle
12	City of Stirling, Western Australia	193,300	Perth
13	City of Fairfield, New South Wales	190,657	Sydney
14	City of Bankstown, New South Wales	182,178	Sydney
15	City of Brimbank, Victoria	181,115	Melbourne
16	City of Penrith, New South Wales	180,766	Sydney
17	City of Liverpool, New South Wales	176,903	Sydney
18	City of Townsville, Queensland	175,542
19	City of Monash, Victoria	172,740	Melbourne
20	City of Sydney, New South Wales	172,685	Sydney
21	Baulkham Hills Shire, New South Wales	170,965	Sydney
22	City of Boroondara, Victoria	165,393	Melbourne
23	City of Gosford, New South Wales	163,957	Sydney
24	City of Hume, Victoria	162,260	Melbourne
25	City of Parramatta, New South Wales	161,912	Sydney

In comparison with these figures, the populations of the other capitals are relatively small. Melbourne has 89,759 (79th), Darwin 73,754 (92nd), Hobart 49,611 (127th), Adelaide 18,990 (227th), and Perth only 15,113 (246th). Most of these cities have suburban LGAs much larger than the central cities.

See also

• Demographics of Australia
• List of cities in Australia
• List of cities in South Australia by population
• World's largest cities