Perth, 2011–2021: two-thirds of its growth on the outer edge, and the fewest renters of any capital

Perth grew by 22% between the 2011 and 2021 Censuses, level with Brisbane, with the fastest growth of the five largest capitals in the first half of the decade and the fastest projected growth of any capital between 2021 and 2026. Almost two-thirds of that growth went to eight outer areas, from Wanneroo and Swan to Rockingham and Mandurah, nearly all of it in separate houses, and Perth has the smallest shares of apartments and of renting households of any capital. Its median household income went from the highest of the five largest capitals in 2011 to the third highest in 2021, and its median rent was lower in 2021 than in 2016.

Faster growth before 2016, and projected again after 2021

Greater Perth grew from 1.73 million to 2.12 million residents over the decade, about 388,000 extra people. Its growth of 12.4% between 2011 and 2016 was the fastest of the five largest capitals, just ahead of Melbourne's 12.1%, and it slowed to 8.9% between 2016 and 2021, when Brisbane grew by 11.2% and Melbourne by 9.6%. On Censible's projections Perth grows by about 12.7% between 2021 and 2026, the fastest of the eight capitals, to about 2.39 million residents, and reaches about 2.51 million in 2031.

Greater Perth is the ABS's capital city area, which takes in Mandurah to the south and the Perth Hills to the east. The share of its residents aged 65 and over rose from 12.5% to 15.8% over the decade, the largest rise of the five largest capitals, and on Censible's projections reaches about 18.8% by 2031.

Most of the growth on the outer edge

Eight outer areas, which are Wanneroo in the north, Swan in the north-east, Armadale and Serpentine – Jarrahdale in the south-east, and Cockburn, Kwinana, Rockingham and Mandurah in the south-west, held 37% of Perth's residents in 2011 and took 64% of its growth, about 249,000 people, growing by 39% while the rest of the city grew by 13%. Wanneroo added about 56,000 residents and Swan about 45,000, the largest increases of Perth's 21 SA3s, the ABS statistical areas that group several suburbs, and Serpentine – Jarrahdale grew fastest, by 81% to about 32,000. Censible's projections add about 233,000 more residents to the eight areas between 2021 and 2031, which would be 59% of the city's projected growth.

These areas grew almost entirely in houses. Of the roughly 92,000 occupied dwellings they added, which was 61% of Perth's total, about nine in ten were separate houses. In 2021, 21.4% of their residents were under 15 against 19.0% across the city, households averaged 2.63 people against 2.52, and the median household income was $1,799 a week against $1,882.

Perth City, which takes in the CBD and the inner suburbs around it, grew by 20% to about 110,000 residents and took 4.7% of the city's growth, slightly less than its 5.3% share of residents in 2011. Flats and apartments rose from 39% to 46% of its occupied dwellings and made up about three-quarters of the 9,200 dwellings it added. In 2021, 46% of its households rented and 48% of adults held a bachelor degree or higher, against 27% and 26% across Perth, and its households averaged 2.1 people.

Houses, and the fewest renters of any capital

Separate houses made up 77.8% of Perth's occupied dwellings in 2021, the highest share of the five largest capitals, and about three-quarters of the 151,000 dwellings the city added over the decade. Flats and apartments made up 7.6%, the lowest share of any capital, against 8.2% in Adelaide, 14.6% in Brisbane, 15.5% in Melbourne and 30.7% in Sydney.

The share of households renting fell from 28.2% in 2011 to 26.9% in 2021, the lowest of any capital, while it rose from 32.4% to 36.4% in Sydney, from 28.0% to 30.5% in Melbourne and from 33.7% to 35.5% in Brisbane. In the eight outer areas 23.4% of households rented in 2021.

Who is moving in

In 2021, 37.7% of Perth's residents who stated a birthplace were born overseas, second among the five largest capitals to Sydney's 40.5%. The share rose from 36.7% in 2011 to 38.7% in 2016 and then fell, and Perth was the only one of the five where it fell between 2016 and 2021, though the 2021 Census was taken with international borders closed. Over the whole decade, people born in Australia accounted for about 58% of Perth's growth among residents who stated a birthplace, against 61% in Brisbane, 46% in Melbourne and 40% in Sydney, and for about 71% of its growth between 2016 and 2021.

England is Perth's largest overseas birthplace, at about 170,000 people or 8.4% of residents in 2021, the highest share of any capital and almost three times Sydney's 3.1%, and a further 1.1% were born in Scotland. The England-born share is highest along the northern and south-western coast, at 14.5% in Joondalup and 13.1% in both Wanneroo and Rockingham. South Africa accounts for 1.9% of residents, also the highest share of any capital, and Joondalup and Wanneroo hold about a third of Perth's South Africa-born residents from 18% of its population. New Zealand, at 2.9%, makes up 5.1% of Rockingham's residents.

The India-born and Philippines-born populations both more than doubled over the decade, India's from about 28,000 to 58,000, or from 1.7% to 2.9% of residents, and the Philippines' from about 13,000 to 30,000. Both settled largely in the newer estates of the south-east and north-east, where 6.1% of Armadale's residents and 4.2% of Swan's were born in India, and those two areas hold about a fifth of Perth's India-born residents from 11% of its population. The share of residents using a language other than English at home rose from 17.6% to 22.0%, and Malaysia, at 1.5% of residents, is a larger birthplace in Perth than in any of the other four largest capitals.

Incomes that fell behind Sydney's, and lower rents

In 2011 Perth had the highest median weekly household income of the five largest capitals, at $1,460 against $1,447 in Sydney. It rose 29% over the decade to $1,882, the slowest growth of the five, while Sydney's rose 45% and Melbourne's 44%, so by 2021 Perth's median was $214 a week below Sydney's and $37 below Melbourne's, and $18 above Brisbane's.

The median rent rose from $319 a week in 2011 to $367 in 2016 and fell to $352 in 2021, and Perth and Darwin were the only capitals where it was lower in 2021 than in 2016. In 2011 Perth's median rent was above Melbourne's and a little below Brisbane's, and by 2021 it was below both, at $352 against $381 in Brisbane and $388 in Melbourne. The median mortgage repayment was 5% lower in 2021 than in 2011, at $1,921 a month.

Measured against income, the median rent equals about 19% of the median household income, the lowest of the five largest capitals, against about 20% in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide and 22% in Sydney, and the median mortgage repayment about 24%, down from about 32% in 2011. Censible's figures for 2026, which move rents forward with the CPI rents series and incomes with the ABS wage price index, put the median rent at about $451 a week and the median household income at about $2,217, which would raise the rent's share of income to about 20%, and both remain projections until the 2026 Census results arrive.

Mining and the workforce

In 2021, 7.0% of Perth's employed residents worked in mining, about 70,000 people, up from 4.9% in 2011 and against 2.3% in Darwin, 1.1% in Brisbane and 0.1% in Sydney and Melbourne. The Census counts people at their usual residence, so residents who fly in and out to mine sites elsewhere in the state are counted in Perth. The share was highest in Mandurah, at 11.9%, and Rockingham, at 8.6%, and was 8.1% in Perth City.

Perth's labour force participation rate of 65.2% was the highest of the five largest capitals in 2021. Its unemployment rate went from 4.7% in 2011 to 8.1% in 2016, the highest of the five that year, and back to 5.3% in 2021. The share of adults holding a bachelor degree or higher rose from 20% to 26.5%, level with Brisbane and Adelaide and below Sydney's and Melbourne's 33%, and 24% of employed residents worked as professionals. The 2021 Census was taken during lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne but not in Perth, so Perth's work figures compare more reliably with Brisbane's and Adelaide's than with those two cities'.

What to watch in the 2026 Census

Four questions will decide whether this picture holds. Did Perth's growth pick up after 2021, as Censible's projections expect, and did the eight outer areas keep taking most of it? Did the overseas-born share resume its rise once the borders reopened? And did the rise in rents after 2021 take Perth's median rent back above Brisbane's and Melbourne's? The first 2026 Census results arrive in June 2027.

Method

Figures are for Greater Perth and the other Greater Capital City Statistical Areas from the 2011, 2016 and 2021 Censuses, carried onto the ABS's 2026 boundaries with ABS correspondences so each city is compared on the same ground. The eight outer areas are the Wanneroo, Swan, Armadale, Serpentine – Jarrahdale, Cockburn, Kwinana, Rockingham and Mandurah SA3s, and Perth City is the SA3 of that name. SA3s are ABS statistical areas that group several suburbs, usually with 30,000 to 130,000 residents each, and figures for the eight are calculated from summed counts. The shares of added homes by type compare counts of occupied private dwellings by structure in 2011 and 2021, birthplace shares are of residents who stated a birthplace, and housing costs as a share of income compare the median rent or monthly mortgage repayment with the median weekly household income. Population projections grow census counts with ABS estimates and Geoscience Australia projections, and the 2026 rent and income figures are moved forward with the CPI rents series and the ABS wage price index. More on the method is on Data and sources.

Limitations

The 2021 Census was taken with international borders closed, which lowered counts of international students and temporary residents in every city, and during lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne, which affected their employment and occupation figures.

Dollar figures are nominal, and comparisons of housing costs with incomes use each city's medians rather than individual households' circumstances.

Swan, Mundaring and Greater Perth as a whole had boundary changes between editions, so their 2011 and 2016 figures are estimates.

The dwelling figures count occupied dwellings, so homes that were empty on Census night are left out. Perth's counts of flats and of townhouses shift between 2011 and 2016 in ways that don't match what was built, so the split of added homes between apartments and townhouses is less certain than the count of separate houses.

Figures for people born in England and Scotland start in 2016, so their change is measured over five years. The mining figures count residents by where they live and don't show where they work.

The census shows where people live and who they are but doesn't record why they moved or where they lived before, and statements about what the figures mean for businesses are interpretation.

Figures for 2026 and 2031 are projections, and the 2026 ones will be replaced by census counts as the ABS releases the 2026 results from June 2027.