Sydney, Australia Population

Located on Australia's east coast lies the city of Sydney. Home to 4.6 million people in the city and 4.9 million people in the urban area, Sydney is home to almost 65% of the state's population. Sydney is made up of over 650 suburbs that are spread across 33 local government areas. There is also considered to be 15 informal regions to the city.

When it comes to area, Sydney is an exceptionally large city. It spreads across 12,367 square miles and also surrounds the areas of Port Jackson, Hawkesbury, Royal National Park, and Macarthur. Because of its large size, Sidney’s population density remains manageable, with an average of 423 people per square kilometre.

One of the most expensive and most liveable cities

It isn’t cheap to live in Sydney! In fact, Sydney is considered one of the most expensive cities in the world. Living in Sydney is more expensive than living in London or in New York City. The city is becoming pricey enough when it comes to the cost of food, clothing, rent, transportation, utility bills, and more that it’s almost pricing itself out of a manageable place for many people to live.

However, even with the high price tag for living in Sydney, the city continues to rank as one of the most liveable cities in the world—beating out many other large cities to score third in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s global liveability index.

A city filled with corporate citizens

As a city, Sydney appeals heavily to businesses. There were 451,000 businesses based in Sydney as of 2011, and that number has only continued to grow. Sydney is also home to 48% of the top 500 companies in Australia, and two-thirds of the regional headquarters of multinational corporations in the country. These global companies are attracted to Sydney in part because of the city’s time zone, which spans across the closing of business in North America and the opening hours of businesses in Europe. There are 283 multinational companies that have regional offices in Sydney.

Home ownership vs. renting

Before World War II, it was less common for residents of Sydney to own a home. Since then, this trend has reversed, and many more people own than rent. This has contributed to an increase in the price of real estate, with prices increasing by an average of 8.6% annually, every year since 1970. The scarcity of land has pushed median house prices up so much that the median cost of a home in Sydney as of 2014 was $630,000. Out of all the dwellings in Sydney, 31% are rented, 30% are owned outright, and 34% are owned with a mortgage.

Tourism in the city of Sydney

For many international visitors, Sydney is the gateway to Australia. In 2013, the city hosted over 2.8 million international visitors—nearly half of all international visits to Australia that year. Many of these tourists originated from China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The city also saw 8.3 million domestic overnight visitors.

Tourism directly employs some 26,000 people in Sydney, and, on average, the tourism industry contributes $36 million to the city’s economy every day.

Demographic breakdown

For each decade since 1961, the population of Sydney has increased by more than 250,000 people. The population is estimated to grow by another 1 million people by 2035. Despite this increase in population and the predicted increases to come, Melbourne is still predicted to surpass Sydney as Australia’s most populous city by 2026. However, the four most densely populated suburbs in the country are located in Sydney, with each having more than 13,000 residents per square kilometre.