Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4)
The largest regions below state level in the ABS's main set of boundaries, built from whole SA3s. SA4s are designed to represent labour markets, and most hold between 100,000 and 500,000 people.
What an SA4 is
SA4s were designed around where people live and work, using Census travel-to-work data, so each roughly matches a labour market. In a capital city that means a large section of the metro area. In the country it can be a whole region, like Queensland's Outback.
There are 108 SA4s, and they barely change between editions: the 2026 boundaries made no major changes to them. That stability is deliberate, because the ABS uses SA4s for long-running statistics.
Why SA4s matter
SA4 is the level the ABS uses for regional figures from its monthly Labour Force survey, so it's where you'll find regional employment and unemployment trends between Censuses. Whole SA4s also make up each capital city area (the Greater Capital City Statistical Areas) and each state.
Using SA4s
SA4s work for big-picture questions: which regions are adding jobs, how a regional market compares with the capital, or where to focus a state-wide expansion. For anything close to a site they're far too large, often holding several hundred thousand people across very different suburbs.
SA4s in Censible
Censible lists SA4s under statistical areas with an SA4 tag, on the 2026 boundaries. Use them to compare regions at a glance, then move down to SA3s, SA2s or suburbs.
Source: ABS, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 4, Statistical Area Level 4.
Statistical Area Level 3 (SA3)
A regional area made up of neighbouring SA2s with similar characteristics, usually home to between 30,000 and 130,000 people. SA3s are used for regional statistics and fit together to form SA4s.
Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2)
A medium-sized area defined by the ABS to represent a community that interacts socially and economically. Most have between 3,000 and 25,000 residents.
Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA)
An ABS region representing the functional extent of a state or territory capital, taking in the towns and rural areas whose residents work, shop or socialise in the city. GCCSAs are built from whole SA4s, and Rest of State regions cover the remainder of each state.
Questions people ask
There are 108, and the 2026 boundaries made no major changes to them.
They were designed around labour markets, using Census data on where people travel to work, and they're large enough for the ABS's monthly Labour Force survey to give reliable regional estimates.
An SA4 is made up of whole SA3s. SA3s describe regions or districts of tens of thousands of people, while SA4s describe whole labour markets of several hundred thousand.