What's new in Censible
New features, improvements and fixes, newest first.
Releases
Newest first.
Ask, projections to 2041 and the Data page
Ask answers questions about places in the app from Censible's own figures, Censible is listed in Claude's connector directory, projections now run to 2036 and 2041 with new methods for figures that change with age, countries of birth and housing stress, and a Data page lists all 649 measures and where each comes from.
- NewAskA question about places, such as which suburbs are most like Essendon or how fast Parramatta is growing, is answered in the app by Claude from Censible's own figures. It uses the same tools as Censible's MCP server, so an answer in the app rests on the same figures and rules as one through a connected AI assistant, and each answer is a short paragraph with a table, a ranking or a trend beside it and follow-up questions to ask next. Questions are kept under Recent questions, and Ask is on the Analyse plan.
- NewHow Ask's answers are checkedEvery number in a written answer is checked against the figures the tools returned for that question, or a simple difference or ratio between two of them. If one doesn't match, Claude is asked once to correct it, and a sentence that still holds an unchecked number is left out. The figures in the tables and charts are looked up by Censible rather than written by Claude.
- NewIn Claude's connector directoryCensible is listed as a community connector in Claude's directory, at claude.ai/directory/censible, so it can be connected from within Claude by signing in with a Censible account rather than adding the server's address by hand. It needs a Censible subscription and offers the MCP server's 14 tools, the same ones Ask uses in the app, from searching and ranking places to site set figures and contrasts.
- NewProjections to 2036 and 2041Population and age now run to 2036 and 2041 alongside 2026 and 2031. They follow ABS estimates to mid-2025 and Geoscience Australia's projections to 2032, and after that each place's age groups are carried forward with the Hamilton-Perry method at the rates they changed between 2026 and 2031, damped towards the state's rates and scaled to the ABS's state projections. Trends slow after 2031 and are less certain the further out they go, and all four years are labelled as projections until 2026 Census results replace them from June 2027.
- ImprovedFigures that change with age154 figures the Census gives by age, including qualifications, marital status, long-term health conditions, unpaid care and the labour force, are now projected from each SA1's rates for each age group applied to its projected people by age, and suburbs, councils and postcodes move as their SA1s do. Work and travel to work stay at their 2021 figures, which were taken during lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne, and the labour force moves only as people age.
- ImprovedCountries of birthThe 51 country-of-birth figures now follow the ABS's yearly estimates of Australia's population by country of birth, which puts Australia's share born overseas at 32.7% in 2026, against 29.3% at the 2021 Census.
- ImprovedHousing stress projectedHousing stress for 2026 onwards no longer holds the 2021 share. Each place's 2021 households are measured against the line that costs and incomes have moved to, with mortgage repayments following the Reserve Bank's mortgage rates and then its estimate of the neutral rate from 2031, rents following CPI rents and incomes the wage price index. Across Australia, 30.8% of mortgage holders pay 30% or more of their income in 2026, against 16.3% at the 2021 Census when rates were near zero, and 39.9% of renters, against 35.4%.
- NewDataA Data page in the app lists all 649 measures for every suburb, council, postcode and statistical area, from the Census, the ABS, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and the Department of Social Services. Each measure has a short definition, the years it covers and its metric_id for the API and MCP server, and measures can be searched, filtered by source and year, browsed by topic or by source, and starred to keep them to hand.
- NewWhere each figure comes fromEach measure on the Data page is marked by how it's made: a Census count summed by Censible, the ABS's own published figure, an estimate worked out from Census bands such as income, a modelled figure shared out to small areas from larger ones, a projection, or the latest quarter from a source newer than the Census. A Sources and methods tab sets out each source and how its figures are made.
Unemployment and income support, up to date
Unemployment rates for the four quarters to June 2026 from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and income support payments at the end of June 2026 from the Department of Social Services, available for suburbs, postcodes, SA1s and drawn areas, along with new Census figures, state electorates and plan downgrades on the Billing page.
- NewUnemployment nowEach place has its unemployment rate for the four quarters to June 2026, alongside its 2021 Census rate, from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations' Small Area Labour Markets, which smooths each quarter as the average of the four quarters to it. Australia's rate is 4.3%, down from 5.1% at the 2021 Census.
- NewIncome support paymentsThe number of people receiving JobSeeker, the Age Pension, the Disability Support Pension, Youth Allowance, Rent Assistance, Parenting Payment Single, Carer Payment and Family Tax Benefit A at the end of June 2026, from the Department of Social Services. The first four are also shown as a share of people in the age range each payment is for.
- NewHow the new figures reach smaller areasBoth sources publish for statistical areas (SA2s), so for suburbs, postcodes, SA1s and drawn areas each SA2's figures are shared out by the 2021 Census pattern within it, which means the parts of an SA2 with more unemployment at the Census keep more of it, and the results are marked as modelled estimates.
- NewAustralian Defence Force servicePeople serving in the Australian Defence Force now, and people who served before, from the Census.
- NewStep and blended familiesStep and blended families as a share of couple families with children.
- NewNo non-school qualificationPeople with no non-school qualification, so qualification levels now add up to 100%.
- ImprovedOther ancestriesThe ancestry card's "Other backgrounds" now includes ancestries the Census doesn't name, so its bars cover everyone.
- NewUnemployment and income support in ExploreThe Overview has an Unemployment now card, and Income & work has Unemployment now and Who gets income support? cards.
- NewState electoratesState electorates, on their 2026 boundaries, can be searched and explored, with an Electorates option under "Search in", and opening one outlines it on the map.
- ImprovedMap shadingThe map can be shaded by the unemployment rate now or by household spending.
- NewHousehold spending in PDF reportsPDF reports have a Household spending slide showing what households spend a year by category against the comparison place, with the category that stands out most.
- NewDowngradesPlans can be downgraded on the Billing page. A downgrade takes effect at the end of the period you've paid for, and the page shows when your plan will change, while upgrades still apply straight away.
- ImprovedPeriods on figures from other sourcesIn the API and the MCP server, figures from sources other than the Census (unemployment now, payments and household spending) say what period they cover, such as the four quarters to June 2026. There are now 649 figures in all.
- FixedLoading pageA "Something went wrong" page no longer flashes briefly while the app loads.
- FixedMaps after an updateMaps load faster after an update.
The figures behind every chart
Topic cards in Explore can now switch from their chart to a table of the figures it draws.
- NewShow dataCards in Explore still open on their chart, and the table icon in a card's corner swaps it for a table of the figures behind it: each figure for the place, for the comparison and the difference between them. The card's sentence and notes stay in place, and the icon switches back to the chart.
- ImprovedFollows the comparisonThe table compares against whatever is chosen in "Compared with", whether that's Australia, a state, another place or an earlier census. Birthplace and language cards already list every figure under their chart, so they don't need the switch.
Housing stress, and new charts in Explore
Five housing stress figures from ABS TableBuilder for 2011, 2016 and 2021, and new chart types in Explore for parts of a whole, long lists, birthplaces, languages, year of arrival and home types.
- NewHousing stressFive figures from ABS TableBuilder's household income by rent and by mortgage repayment tables: renters and mortgage holders paying 30% or more of gross household income, the same under the 30/40 rule (households in Australia's bottom 40% of incomes), and both 30/40 figures together. At the 2021 Census, 35.4% of renters and 16.3% of mortgage holders across Australia paid 30% or more of their income.
- NewHow housing stress is measuredCensus income is gross weekly household income, not the equivalised disposable income of the usual 30/40 measure, and it comes in bands, so a band that straddles 30% is split as if households spread evenly across it. Suburbs, councils, postcodes and SA2s are taken from their own tables, while SA1s, drawn areas and catchments are modelled from their SA2's rates. 2026 and 2031 hold the 2021 share, and since rents have risen faster than incomes, that likely understates rental stress.
- NewHousing stress in Explore, the API and for AI assistantsHousing opens with housing stress (30/40) and its renter and mortgage-holder figures against the comparison in percentage points, followed by the 30% and 30/40 measures side by side. Housing stress can appear in the Overview's headline and comparison figures and shade the map, and all five figures are available through the API and the MCP server.
- ImprovedParts of a whole as stacked barsFigures that add up to a whole, such as age groups, tenure, home types, bedrooms, labour force status and ancestry, are drawn as two stacked bars, the place's above the comparison's, with a key giving both shares.
- ImprovedDot charts for long listsSpending by category, industries, occupations and fields of study are dot charts on one scale, with the place as a filled dot and the comparison as a ring, sorted by the place's figure and with the difference beside each row.
- NewBirthplaces, languages and year of arrivalBirthplaces and languages spoken at home are full-width cards that split the place into born overseas and born in Australia, or another language and English only, show the largest eight items as bars against the comparison, and list every item with its difference and its change since the last census. Year of arrival is a Gantt chart, with each period across its own years.
- NewHome types as a streetHousing draws home types as a street, with each type's frontage set by its share of homes and its height by storeys, and the comparison's street beneath. Rent and mortgage bands carry their medians above them, and household income bands are a column chart with the comparison's share marked on each band.
- ImprovedIncome figures and hoverIncome & work opens with the three income medians and household spending, each with its difference from the comparison. Every chart shows exact values on hover and dims the other marks while one is selected.
Rent and mortgage medians calibrated
Rent, mortgage and age medians are now placed within their bands with curves fitted to the ABS's own published medians, which brings them closer to the ABS's figures for standard areas and applies the same method to drawn areas, catchments and site sets.
- ImprovedMedians placed with the ABS's medians as the guideThe ABS works out its rent and mortgage medians from the amounts people gave, many of them round figures such as $400 a week or $3,000 a month that sit at the bottom edge of a band. Censible has only the bands, and had placed each median as if households were spread evenly across its band, which put rent and mortgage medians a little high. Rent, mortgage and age medians are now placed with curves fitted, for each band and census, to the ABS's published medians for 2011, 2016 and 2021, and the same curves apply to suburbs, councils, drawn areas, catchments and site sets.
- ImprovedCloser to the ABS's figuresChecked on regions left out of the fit, 2021 rent medians are now $2.66 a week from the ABS's on average, against $5.30 before, and mortgage medians $16 a month, against $27. Income medians, whose bands are narrower and showed no consistent bias, keep the even spread.
- ImprovedFiner rent and mortgage bandsRent and mortgage figures for 2011 to 2021 now use ABS TableBuilder's bands, which are finer than the DataPacks' where most medians fall, such as $25 rent bands from $75 to $549 a week in 2021 and $200 mortgage bands from $1,000 to $2,999 a month.
- ImprovedProjected rents and repaymentsProjections for 2026 and 2031 use the 2021 curves, so projected rents and repayments move with the wage price index and CPI rents without a step between 2021 and 2026.
Security changes
Changes from a security review of the app, the API and the MCP server.
- ImprovedAccount dataAccounts, saved areas, site sets and usage are reachable only through the Censible API, with row level security on each table in the app database.
- ImprovedConnecting AI assistantsThe consent page for connecting an assistant through MCP names the app by the address it returns you to, and warns before connecting one it doesn't recognise. Tokens issued there work only with the MCP server.
- ImprovedLimits on loadRequests have a size limit, each caller has a limit on requests at a time, and drawn areas and map tiles have limits of their own, so one caller can't slow the service for others.
- ImprovedBrowser protectionsPages can't be framed by other sites, and responses carry the standard security headers.
- ImprovedReportsPDF profile commentary is written from the figures Censible holds for the place and its comparison, never from figures sent with the request.
An Overview that leads with what stands out
A place's Overview in Explore now opens with its largest differences from the comparison, tied to the map, with the topic cards below.
- NewA headline from the figuresThe Overview opens with a sentence naming the place's largest differences from the comparison, such as more graduates and fewer families with children than Greater Melbourne, with the figures behind it and four key figures alongside. With no large difference, it says the place is much like the comparison.
- NewHow a place compares, on the mapEight headline figures are set against the comparison, largest difference first, and clicking one, or an underlined phrase in the headline, shades the map by that figure.
- ImprovedWhat stands outUp to four findings, each from a different topic and with its own chart, such as a gap that has widened since 2011 or population growth against the comparison, followed by the places most like this one. Projections and the 2021 lockdown figures carry their note on the finding itself.
- ImprovedFollows the comparisonChanging "Compared with" to Australia, a state or another place rewrites the Overview against that comparison.
Household spending
Modelled household spending by category for any place, catchment or site set, for the latest 12 months of the ABS Monthly Household Spending Indicator and updated after each monthly release.
- NewHousehold spending by categoryWhat an area's residents spend in a year, in total and per household, across the nine categories the ABS publishes, such as groceries, eating out and transport. It's a modelled estimate: the ABS publishes the indicator only by state, so each state's total is shared out to areas by their households' incomes and types from the 2021 Census, with how each category rises with income taken from the ABS Household Expenditure Survey 2015–16. It counts what residents spend wherever they spend it, and leaves out housing, utilities, phone and internet, and education.
- NewSpending in ExploreIncome & work has "How much do households spend?" and "What do households spend it on?", and the Overview has a Spending card. The figures work for drawn areas, catchments and site sets in the same way as other figures.
- ImprovedSpending in the API and for AI assistantsThe 20 spending figures are available through the API and the MCP server, marked as modelled.
Drive and walk times, and written PDF commentary
Catchments can now be the area within so many minutes' drive or walk of a point, as well as a circle or a drawn boundary, and each slide of the PDF profile has a headline and commentary written from the place's figures.
- NewDrive and walk time catchmentsIn Explore's "Around a point", choose Distance, Drive or Walk: 5 to 30 minutes' drive or 5 to 20 minutes' walk. Times use OpenStreetMap's roads without traffic, and are worked out on our own server in Sydney, so the locations you ask about stay in Australia.
- NewSite catchments by travel timeA site set's catchments can be a drive or walk time instead of a circle of 1 to 10 km.
- ImprovedTravel times in the API and for AI assistantsGET /v1/travel returns the area within a drive or walk time of a point, and the MCP server's area_figures and save_area accept a travel time.
- NewCommentary written from the figuresClaude writes each slide's headline and "What it means" from the figures for the place and its comparison, and each number in the text is checked against those figures, so a slide that fails the check uses the profile's standard wording instead.
- ImprovedProfiles kept in SavedA profile you've made can be downloaded again from Saved, under Reports.
Street addresses, clearer search, every figure projected
- NewPlace sites by street addressSites in a spreadsheet are now placed at their building, using the national address file, instead of the middle of their suburb.
- ImprovedGrouped search resultsResults come back grouped as places, your sites and your saved areas, each labelled by type. Statistical areas fold into one row, and an optional "Search in" narrows to one kind.
- NewProjections for every figureEvery share now has a 2026 and 2031 projection. Income, rent and mortgage figures are shown in each year's own dollars.
- NewUsageSee your plan and how much of each daily limit you've used.
- ImprovedFaster maps and place lists
Sites
Upload your own locations with one performance figure each, and see how your best sites differ from the rest.
- NewSite sets and catchmentsImport a spreadsheet of stores or projects. Each site gets a catchment of 1 to 10 km.
- NewWhat sets your best sites apartYour top third against your bottom third, with what sets your weakest sites apart underneath. It shows what goes with strong performance, not what causes it.
- NewPlaces like your best sitesFind places that look like your best catchments, leaving out places you already cover.
PDF profiles and a new design
- NewPDF census profileDownload a 16:9 briefing on any place from Explore, with searchable text that screen readers can read.
- ImprovedOne Compare controlA single Compare button that becomes a chip when you're comparing.
- ImprovedFlatter design and phone layoutFlatter surfaces and a phone layout with the main links in the top menu.
2026 boundaries and projections
- New2026 boundariesPlaces now use the 2026 boundaries, with the 2021 Census carried onto them. Changed places are marked as estimated.
- NewPopulation and age projectionsPopulation and age projected to 2026 and 2031. About 70 other shares, such as qualifications and renting, are projected by their trend since 2016.
Explore, rebuilt
- NewA zoomable mapStates, councils and suburbs, shaded by the figure you choose.
- NewWhat stands outA page of what makes a place different from what it's compared with.
Censible API, version 1
- NewREST API and MCP serverCensus figures for any place through an API and to AI assistants, hosted in Sydney.