_Focus on | Living in Perth

Population

Population has been steadily rising in Perth. Over the year to 30 June 2017, an increase in the estimated resident population was recorded at 1.0% to 2.04 million. This is slightly below the overall Australian population growth of 1.6%.

Age Distribution

Age distribution in Perth is relatively comparable with the national average—however, the 20-29 age group trends higher at 14.6% against the national average at 13.8%.

Multiculturalism

Perth is a true multicultural city, with 42.7% of residents being born outside of Australia. The most prominent countries of birth include England (8.6%), New Zealand (3.2%), India (2.4%) South Africa (1.8%), and Malaysia (1.5%). Almost 46% of parents of the residents in Perth were born overseas, exceeding the national average of 34.4%. This wide diversity has encouraged many international restaurants, schools and cultural activities established within communities.

Religion

The Catholic religion was practiced by 22% of Perth residents at the time of the Census 2016, this was followed by Anglican at 13.8%, then Christian with 3.4%. No religion was the most common response in Perth with 32.1% of the population.

Language

Other than English, Mandarin (2.3%) was the most common language spoken in a Perth household. Other typical languages include Italian (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.0%), Cantonese (1.0%) and Arabic (0.7%).

Education

Perth is a skilled city. A higher proportion of people are educated at university level (22.9%) compared to the Australian average (22.0%). In Perth, 16.5% of the local student population were studying at university in the 2016 Census, compared to the national average of 16.1%.

Work

The most common occupation of Perth’s residents are in professional services—at 22.2%—on par with the national average. Technicians and trades workers (15.6%), clerical and administrative workers (13.6%) and managers (11.5%) were the next most common occupations.

Despite WA being known as a mining state—the city of Perth is not classified as a ‘mining town’. Only 5% of Perth’s population in 2016 worked in the mining industry, with most miners living in remote towns closer to the mines and commuting each day.

Of all the employed people in Perth, 3.8% worked in hospitals. Other major industries of employment included cafés and restaurants (2.5%), primary education (2.5%) and supermarket and grocery stores (2.4%).

Travel to Work

In Perth at the time of the Census 2016, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people were by car, as a driver (64.1%) and car, as a passenger (4.6%). Other common responses were worked at home (3.9%), bus (3.7%) and train (2.8%).

On the day, 10.3% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 71.3% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

Key Employment Hubs

The distribution of employment opportunities are wide across Perth, although there are key concentrated areas for office and industrial workers.

Commercial

Perth CBD is the largest office market in Perth. The CBD extends the length of St Georges Terrace through Adelaide Terrace to Plain Street in East Perth, bound by Wellington Street to the north, Elder Street to the west and the Swan River to the south.

The CBD is surrounded by open parklands enjoyed by workers at lunchtime including Kings Park, Langley Park, Wellington Square, Queens Gardens, Stirling Gardens, Supreme Court Gardens and the Esplanade Reserve.

The redevelopment of Elizabeth Quay accommodates further office space for the CBD and an array of restaurants and vibrant outdoor spaces overlooking the Swan River. Accessible by: train, ferry, bus and car.

West Perth accommodates the next largest office market bound by Kings Park Road to the south, Thomas Street to the west, Roe Street to the north and George Street to the east.

To the south, the precinct skirts the Parliament of Western Australia, the Old Observatory, Dumus House and Kings Park. Accessible by: bus and car.

Industrial

Industrial areas are more spread across the metropolitan area varying from distribution centres to warehouses and industrial estates.

North: Balcatta, Malaga, Osborne Park, Neerabup, Gnangara.

East: Perth Airport, Kenwick, Maddington, Hazelmere, Welshpool, High Wycombe, Kendale, Bassendean, Forrestfield, Belmont, Bayswater, South Guildford, Forrestdale, Beckenham.

South: Jandakot, Canning Vale,Bibra Lake, Yangebup, Kwinana, O’Connor, Henderson, Hope Valley, Fremantle, Rockingham.

Mostly the suburbs are accessible by: bus, truck and car.