Suburbs and Localities (SAL)

What a SAL is

Suburbs and Localities are the ABS's version of the place names people actually use: suburbs in cities and larger towns, and localities elsewhere. The official boundaries are set by state and territory governments, and the ABS rebuilds them from mesh blocks so Census figures can be published for each one.

There are 15,377 SALs in the 2026 boundaries, covering the whole country. They replaced State Suburbs (SSC) from the 2021 Census, so older data and tools may still use the SSC name and codes.

Suburbs, postcodes, councils and SA2s

Suburbs are the easiest boundaries to talk about, but they line up with very little else.

• Postcodes often cover several suburbs, and some suburbs are split across postcodes, so postcode and suburb figures aren't interchangeable.
• Councils don't contain suburbs neatly. The ABS treats the two as unconnected sets of boundaries, and some suburbs sit across two councils.
• SA2s sometimes match a suburb, but often group small suburbs together or split large ones.

Names

Where the same suburb name exists in more than one state, the ABS adds the state to keep names unique, as in Richmond (Vic.). Censible shows the state alongside the name instead, so you'll see Richmond with Victoria beside it.

Things to watch with suburb figures

• Small suburbs are noisy. The ABS slightly adjusts small counts to protect privacy, so in a suburb of a few hundred people a figure can move noticeably from that alone.
• Boundaries are approximate. Because they're built from mesh blocks, a SAL's edges can differ from the official boundary, and a few official localities don't appear at all.
• Mostly Census only. Most ABS data between Censuses, like annual population estimates, comes by SA2 or council rather than by suburb.
• Sizes vary enormously. Some suburbs have tens of thousands of residents and some have almost none, so comparing suburbs directly can mislead.

Suburbs in Censible

Censible uses the 2026 suburb boundaries. Search a suburb by name, see its figures against Australia and compare it with any other area. When a suburb is too small or too big for the question, an SA2 or a catchment around a point is usually the better unit.

Source: ABS, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 4, Suburbs and Localities.