List of 50 Biggest Cities in Australia (Largest by Population)

Here’s a list of Australia’s 50 largest cities.

Of course Sydney remains Australia’s largest city — but maybe not for long.

There are now just 200,000 people separating Melbourne from Sydney — 4.9 million compared to 5.1 million — and if current trends continue the Victorian capital is poised to become the largest city in Australia in eight years, according to new Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

Melbourne grew by 2.7 per cent in one year, 2016-17, adding more than 125,000 people.

It is one of the 10 fastest growing developed cities in the world and at that pace it’s population will grow by more than 10 per cent in the next 4 years.

Sydney’s growth is still strong (2 per cent), but not as spectacular, adding than 100,000 residents for the first time in its history,

Our two big super cities combined house about 40% of the nation’s population.

The demographers at id.com.au have compiled their annual list form the ABS data and come up with the following list.

If you’re wondering how they chose the boundaries for our big cities, check out the notes at the end of the list.

Rank	City (Significant Urban Area)	2017 Population	5-year growth	5 year growth %	1 year growth	1 year growth %
1	Sydney	4,741,874	433,750	10.1%	98,079	2.1%
2	Melbourne	4,677,157	557,346	13.5%	119,975	2.6%
3	Brisbane	2,326,656	203,040	9.6%	46,366	2.0%
4	Perth	2,004,696	141,620	7.6%	19,789	1.0%
5	Adelaide	1,315,346	55,749	4.4%	9,535	0.7%
6	Gold Coast – Tweed Heads	663,321	68,091	11.4%	16,338	2.5%
7	Newcastle – Maitland	481,183	23,063	5.0%	4,529	1.0%
8	Canberra – Queanbeyan	447,457	33,746	8.2%	6,914	1.6%
9	Central Coast	329,437	12,254	3.9%	2,413	0.7%
10	Sunshine Coast	325,399	36,616	12.7%	7,995	2.5%
11	Wollongong	299,203	15,531	5.5%	3,534	1.2%
12	Geelong	260,138	28,415	12.3%	6,869	2.7%
13	Hobart	208,324	8,743	4.4%	2,227	1.1%
14	Townsville	180,346	9,321	5.5%	1,486	0.8%
15	Cairns	151,925	9,701	6.8%	1,884	1.3%
16	Toowoomba	135,631	7,056	5.5%	1,594	1.2%
17	Darwin	132,708	12,281	10.2%	663	0.5%
18	Ballarat	103,481	8,508	9.0%	1,893	1.9%
19	Bendigo	97,096	8,148	9.2%	1,509	1.6%
20	Albury – Wodonga	91,923	6,721	7.9%	1,347	1.5%
21	Launceston	86,788	863	1.0%	453	0.5%
22	Mackay	80,427	– 238	-0.3%	– 353	-0.4%
23	Rockhampton	78,871	1,522	2.0%	76	0.1%
24	Bunbury	74,478	4,480	6.4%	376	0.5%
25	Coffs Harbour	70,857	3,599	5.4%	723	1.0%
26	Bundaberg	70,578	727	1.0%	269	0.4%
27	Melton	65,423	13,741	26.6%	3,306	5.3%
28	Wagga Wagga	56,181	1,767	3.2%	221	0.4%
29	Hervey Bay	53,492	2,935	5.8%	686	1.3%
30	Mildura – Wentworth	51,473	2,410	4.9%	475	0.9%
31	Shepparton – Mooroopna	51,142	2,778	5.7%	449	0.9%
32	Port Macquarie	46,948	3,005	6.8%	701	1.5%
33	Gladstone – Tannum Sands	44,984	1,290	3.0%	– 102	-0.2%
34	Tamworth	42,347	1,852	4.6%	369	0.9%
35	Traralgon – Morwell	41,626	796	1.9%	293	0.7%
36	Orange	40,079	1,864	4.9%	324	0.8%
37	Bowral – Mittagong	39,300	2,714	7.4%	538	1.4%
38	Busselton	38,289	5,156	15.6%	693	1.8%
39	Geraldton	37,931	269	0.7%	– 358	-0.9%
40	Dubbo	37,666	2,111	5.9%	541	1.5%
41	Nowra – Bomaderry	37,027	2,121	6.1%	318	0.9%
42	Warragul – Drouin	36,538	5,235	16.7%	1,185	3.4%
43	Bathurst	36,448	2,343	6.9%	435	1.2%
44	Warrnambool	34,912	1,504	4.5%	294	0.8%
45	Albany	34,151	1,628	5.0%	236	0.7%
46	Kalgoorlie – Boulder	30,541	– 1,997	-6.1%	– 141	-0.5%
47	Devonport	30,153	-73	-0.2%	87	0.3%
48	Mount Gambier	29,472	871	3.0%	15	0.1%
49	Lismore	28,764	– 560	-1.9%	-215	-0.7%
50	Nelson Bay	27,606	1,269	4.8%	246	0.9%

How did they chose the boundaries?

Where does Melbourne or Sydney stop and start?

Which boundaries did the demographers at id.com.au use?

They explain:

“…these figures are based on the “Significant Urban Area” geography. This is defined by the ABS as an aggregate of areas which roughly contain the continuous urban extent of a city without major gaps. It is different to the figures you might see elsewhere, which are based on “Greater Capital City Statistical Areas” (GCCSAs), and cover a wider labour market region where most people commute into the capitals to work.

For instance, the Sydney and Melbourne GCCSAs have 2017 populations of 5,131,326 and 4,850,740 respectively.

You can see the numbers below are a bit less than that, particularly for Sydney. That’s because non-contiguous urban areas are separated out in the Significant Urban Area classification.

Sydney’s GCCSA population includes the Central Coast while the Significant Urban Area excludes it as it’s non-contiguous. The same goes for the centre of Melton on the outskirts of Melbourne. These are separate centres in this view of the world. This provides a better measure of true bounded urban areas, but neither version is “correct” or better than the other. It also enables capital city populations to be compared to regional centres in the list below, which don’t have a wider capital city area defined.”

Read more at id.com.au

You may also want to read:

HERE’S WHY MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY HAVE DECOUPLED FROM THE REST OF AUSTRALIA’S PROPERTY MARKETS

About Michael Yardney

Michael is a director of Metropole Property Strategists who help their clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He's once again been voted Australia's leading property investment adviser and his opinions are regularly featured in the media. Visit Metropole.com.au