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List of cities in Australia by population

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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.

The eight Greater Capital City Statistical Areas are listed for the state and territory capital cities. All Significant Urban Areas (SUA) over 50,000 people are listed next. Lastly, the fifty largest Local Government Areas (the units of local government below the states and territories) are also ranked.

Greater capital city statistical areas by population

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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 territory 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.

Rank Greater capital city statistical area State/territory Estimated resident population 10-year
growth rate 		Included SUAs
June 2024[2] June 2015[2]
1 Greater Sydney  New South Wales 5,557,233 4,930,189 +12.72% Sydney
Central Coast
2 Greater Melbourne  Victoria 5,350,705 4,586,012 +16.67% Melbourne
Bacchus Marsh
Gisborne
3 Greater Brisbane  Queensland 2,780,063 2,318,653 +19.90% Brisbane
4 Greater Perth  Western Australia 2,384,371 1,998,937 +19.28% Perth
5 Greater Adelaide  South Australia 1,469,163 1,313,419 +11.86% Adelaide
6 Australian Capital Territory[a]  Australian Capital Territory 473,855 395,813 +19.72% Canberra–Queanbeyan
(ACT part only)
7 Greater Hobart  Tasmania 254,930 223,502 +14.06% Hobart
8 Greater Darwin  Northern Territory 152,489 144,914 +5.23% Darwin
Notes
  1. ^ The GCCSA for Canberra covers the entire ACT, and is formally titled as such.

Greater capital city areas by population density

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Rank Greater capital city statistical area State/territory Population (2023)[3] Land
area
(km2) 		Density
(/km2)
1 Canberra  Australian Capital Territory 466,566 814.2 573
2 Melbourne  Victoria 5,207,145 9,993 521.08
3 Adelaide  South Australia 1,446,380 3,259.8 443.7
4 Sydney  New South Wales 5,450,496 12,367.7 440.7
5 Perth  Western Australia 2,309,338 6,417.9 359.8
6 Brisbane  Queensland 2,706,966 15,842 170.9
7 Hobart  Tasmania 253,654 1,758.8 144.2
8 Darwin  Northern Territory 150,736 3,163.8 47.6

Significant urban areas by population

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The following table ranks all the SUAs with a population greater than 50,000 people in 2024, 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
Rank Significant
urban area 		State/territory Estimated resident population 10-year
growth rate
June 2024[4] June 2015[4]
1 Melbourne  Victoria 5,245,182 4,496,141 +16.66%
2 Sydney  New South Wales 5,143,256 4,547,327 +13.11%
3 Brisbane  Queensland 2,693,649 2,244,530 +20.01%
4 Perth  Western Australia 2,363,562 1,980,960 +19.31%
5 Adelaide  South Australia 1,449,366 1,294,981 +11.92%
6 Gold Coast–Tweed Heads  Queensland
 New South Wales 		750,997 627,217 +19.73%
7 Newcastle–Maitland  New South Wales 534,033 471,483 +13.27%
8 Canberra–Queanbeyan  Australian Capital Territory
 New South Wales 		510,641 432,759 +18.00%
9 Sunshine Coast  Queensland 417,982 333,833 +25.21%
10 Central Coast  New South Wales 351,237 329,895 +6.47%
11 Wollongong  New South Wales 318,258 291,687 +9.11%
12 Geelong  Victoria 308,915 247,166 +24.98%
13 Hobart  Tasmania 233,592 205,171 +13.85%
14 Townsville  Queensland 189,356 176,906 +7.04%
15 Cairns  Queensland 163,214 147,603 +10.58%
16 Toowoomba  Queensland 152,087 132,532 +14.75%
17 Darwin  Northern Territory 138,567 131,097 +5.70%
18 Ballarat  Victoria 119,284 99,662 +19.69%
19 Bendigo  Victoria 106,022 94,035 +12.75%
20 Albury–Wodonga  New South Wales
 Victoria 		101,370 89,306 +13.51%
21 Launceston  Tasmania 93,194 85,557 +8.93%
22 Mackay  Queensland 89,193 81,110 +9.97%
23 Rockhampton  Queensland 82,876 79,109 +4.76%
24 Bunbury  Western Australia 82,626 73,476 +12.45%
25 Bundaberg  Queensland 78,626 70,156 +12.07%
26 Coffs Harbour  New South Wales 76,479 69,239 +10.46%
27 Hervey Bay  Queensland 62,184 52,429 +18.61%
28 Wagga Wagga  New South Wales 57,963 55,359 +4.70%
29 Shepparton–Mooroopna  Victoria 55,212 50,161 +10.07%
30 Mildura–Buronga  Victoria
 New South Wales 		54,510 50,580 +7.77%
31 Port Macquarie  New South Wales 52,661 45,798 +14.99%

Map of top 20 SUAs

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Australian cities (GCCSAs, bolded; SUAs) by population

List of local government areas by population

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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 around 90 per cent of the nation. Significant sections of South Australia and New South Wales 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.

Rank Local government area Estimated resident population[5] 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
8 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

Definitions

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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). Urban areas are not listed here as their population is only updated every five years during the Census and therefore not as current as the other data published on this page.

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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "ESTIMATED RESIDENT POPULATION, States and Territories – Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs)". abs.gov.au. 26 March 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Population estimates by LGA, Significant Urban Area, Remoteness Area and electoral division, 2001 to 2024". abs.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
  3. ^ "Population estimates by LGA, Significant Urban Area, Remoteness Area and electoral division, 2001 to 2022". abs.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Population estimates by LGA, Significant Urban Area, Remoteness Area and electoral division, 2001 to 2024". abs.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
  5. ^ "Population estimates by LGA, Significant Urban Area, Remoteness Area and electoral division, 2001 to 2024". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
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