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
50 largest Urban Centres by population
25 largest Local Government Areas by population
See also
Notes and references

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.^[1]

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

Rank	Statistical Division/District	State	June 2007 Estimated Resident Population^[2]
1	Sydney	New South Wales	4,336,374
2	Melbourne	Victoria	3,806,092
3	Brisbane	Queensland	1,857,594
4	Perth	Western Australia	1,554,769
5	Adelaide	South Australia	1,158,259
6	Gold Coast-Tweed	Queensland/New South Wales	583,657
7	Newcastle	New South Wales	523,662
8	Canberra-Queanbeyan	Australian Capital Territory/New South Wales	388,072
*	*Canberra*	Australian Capital Territory ^[3]	339,573
9	Wollongong	New South Wales	280,159
10	Sunshine Coast	Queensland	230,429
11	Greater Hobart	Tasmania	207,484
12	Geelong	Victoria	169,544
13	Townsville	Queensland	157,174
14	Cairns	Queensland	135,856
15	Toowoomba	Queensland	123,406
16	Darwin	Northern Territory	117,395
17	Launceston	Tasmania	104,071
18	Albury-Wodonga	New South Wales/Victoria	101,842
19	Ballarat	Victoria	89,665
20	Bendigo	Victoria	86,510
21	Burnie-Devonport	Tasmania	80,241
22	Mackay	Queensland	79,172
23	Latrobe Valley	Victoria (incl. Moe, Morwell, Traralgon)	77,270
24	Rockhampton	Queensland	74,530
25	Mandurah	Western Australia	73,477
26	Bundaberg	Queensland	64,663
27	Bunbury	Western Australia	59,876
28	Wagga Wagga	New South Wales	56,147
29	Hervey Bay	Queensland	53,323
30	Coffs Harbour	New South Wales	50,726
31	Mildura	Victoria	48,691
32	Gladstone	Queensland	47,169
33	Shepparton	Victoria	46,680
34	Tamworth	New South Wales	44,970
35	Port Macquarie	New South Wales	42,042
36	Orange	New South Wales	37,333
37	Dubbo	New South Wales	36,150
38	Geraldton	Western Australia	34,214
39	Nowra-Bomaderry	New South Wales	32,556
40	Bathurst	New South Wales	32,385
41	Warrnambool	Victoria	32,042
42	Lismore	New South Wales	31,865
43	Kalgoorlie/Boulder	Western Australia	30,700

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 persons, 2006 census^[4]	Stat. Division/District (if part of larger SD)
1	Sydney, New South Wales	3,641,422
2	Melbourne, Victoria	3,371,888
3	Brisbane, Queensland	1,676,389
4	Perth, Western Australia	1,256,035
5	Adelaide, South Australia	1,040,719
6	Gold Coast-Tweed Heads, Queensland/New South Wales	454,436
7	Canberra-Queanbeyan, Australian Capital Territory/New South Wales	356,120
8	Newcastle, New South Wales	288,732	Newcastle
9	Central Coast, New South Wales	282,726	Sydney
10	Wollongong, New South Wales	234,482
11	Sunshine Coast, Queensland	184,662
12	Geelong, Victoria	137,220
13	Townsville-Thuringowa, Queensland	128,808
14	Hobart, Tasmania	128,557
15	Cairns, Queensland	98,349
16	Toowoomba, Queensland	95,265
17	Ballarat, Victoria	78,221
18	Bendigo, Victoria	76,051
19	Albury-Wodonga, New South Wales/Victoria	73,497
20	Launceston, Tasmania	71,395
21	Mandurah, Western Australia	67,813
22	Rockingham, Western Australia	67,520	Perth
23	Mackay, Queensland	66,874
24	Darwin, Northern Territory	66,291
25	Maitland, New South Wales	61,431	Newcastle
26	Rockhampton, Queensland	60,827
27	Bunbury, Western Australia	54,482
28	Bundaberg, Queensland	46,961
29	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales	46,735
30	Hervey Bay, Queensland	41,225
31	Port Macquarie, New South Wales	39,219
32	Shepparton-Mooroopna, Victoria	38,773
33	Melton, Victoria	35,490	Melbourne
34	Tamworth, New South Wales	33,475
35	Orange, New South Wales	31,544
36	Dubbo, New South Wales	30,574
37	Mildura, Victoria	30,016
38	Sunbury, Victoria	29,566
39	Bathurst, New South Wales	28,992
40	Gladstone, Queensland	28,808
41	Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia	28,242
42	Warrnambool, Victoria	28,150
43	Nowra-Bomaderry, New South Wales	27,478
44	Geraldton, Western Australia	27,420
45	Lismore, New South Wales	27,069
46	Coffs Harbour, New South Wales	26,353
47	Albany, Western Australia	25,196	(no Stat. dist.)
48	Richmond-Windsor, New South Wales	25,011	Sydney
49	Palmerston, Northern Territory	23,614	Darwin
50	Mount Gambier, South Australia	23,494	(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, 2007^[2]	Stat. Division/District
1	Brisbane City Council, Queensland	1,007,901	Brisbane
2	Gold Coast City Council, Queensland^[5]	524,667	Gold Coast
3	Moreton Bay Regional Council, Queensland	337,846	Brisbane
4	City of Blacktown, New South Wales	284,692	Sydney
5	City of Casey, Victoria	229,080	Melbourne
6	Sutherland Shire, New South Wales	213,917	Sydney
7	City of Greater Geelong, Victoria	208,395	Geelong
8	City of Wollongong, New South Wales	195,768	Wollongong
9	City of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales	193,092	Newcastle
10	City of Stirling, Western Australia	189,083	Perth
11	City of Fairfield, New South Wales	187,362	Sydney
12	Logan City Council, Queensland^[6]	180,358	Brisbane
13	City of Bankstown, New South Wales	179,657	Sydney
14	City of Penrith, New South Wales	177,686	Sydney
15	City of Brimbank, Victoria	176,249	Melbourne
16	City of Liverpool, New South Wales	172,932	Sydney
17	City of Monash, Victoria	171,478	Melbourne
18	City of Sydney, New South Wales	168,682	Sydney
19	Baulkham Hills Shire, New South Wales	168,026	Sydney
20	City of Boroondara, Victoria	163,890	Melbourne
21	City of Gosford, New South Wales	162,388	Sydney
22	Hornsby Shire, New South Wales	158,285	Sydney
23	City of Parramatta, New South Wales	157,775	Sydney
24	Maroochy Shire Council, Queensland^[7]	157,238	Sunshine Coast
25	City of Joondalup, Western Australia	157,203	Perth
25	City of Hume, Victoria	157,145	Melbourne

In comparison with these figures, the populations of the other capitals are relatively small. Melbourne has 81,144, Darwin 72,852, Hobart 49,720, Adelaide 18,575, and Perth only 13,486.^[2] Most of these cities have suburban LGAs much larger than the central cities.