It was like Christmas Day for the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday when all the key numbers for the 2016 Census were revealed.
Let’s go by the numbers in Penrith (based on the 2750 postcode) and see what was under the tree…
44,806: The total number of people living in the 2750 postcode based on the Census. 48.5 per cent of us are male, while 51.5 per cent of us are female. The median age is 37, up from 36 in the 2011 Census.
$1,446: The median household income per week. It’s up from $1,256 in 2011. Interestingly, our mortgage payments are pretty much on par with five years ago. The median monthly mortgage payment in Penrith is $1,993, up from $1,950.
$360: Here’s a telling number – the median weekly rent in Penrith was $280 back in 2011 but is now $360.
34.5: More than a third of us are enjoying the single life, or at least not walking down the aisle, with a total of 12,514 people ticking ‘never married’ on their marital status option. That’s 34.5 per cent of us, with 45.2 per cent of us ticking ‘married’. 9.8 per cent of us are divorced (higher than the national average of 8.5 per cent) while 6.3 per cent of us are widowed and 4.1 per cent are listed as ‘separated’.
10,495: It appears religion is going out the window in the 2750 postcode, with a total of 10,495 people ticking ‘no religion’ in the 2016 census. That’s 23.4 per cent of us, but in 2011 it was only 15.4 per cent who said ‘no religion’, suggesting a shift in thinking in the area. Catholic remained the strongest religion in the area (28.4 per cent) while Anglican came in at 21.3 per cent.
15.3: 2,489 people in the 2750 postcode aren’t accessing the Internet at all from home (15.3 per cent of us).
5,291: 14.6 per cent of people in Penrith said they did voluntary work through an organisation or group in the 12 months prior to the Census. The disappointing thing is that it’s below the state average (18.1 per cent) and the national average (19.0 per cent).
4,100: Interestingly, Penrith is right in line with the national average when it comes to providing unpaid assistance to people with a disability. 11.3 per cent of us said we provided such care, the same as the Australian average.
9.3: Who reckons the 9.3 per cent of people (some 3,364) who claimed they did 30 hours of unpaid domestic work each week are fibbing a little? That’s an average of 4.2 hours per day! The most popular answer to this question was five to 14 hours per week, coming in at 26.4 per cent.
83.5: Here’s a glaring statistic that I’m sure could prompt the odd debate or two. 83.5 per cent of single parents are female, with just 16.5 per cent of single parents in Penrith being male.
590: We are welcoming more of our friends from India, with 590 of them living in Penrith (but listing their birth country as India). Back in 2011, it was 357.
75.2: More than three quarters of us living in the 2750 postcode were born here in Australia. At 75.2 per cent of us, it’s a marginal decrease from 2011 when 76.3 per cent of us said we were born in Australia.
3.9: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.9 per cent of the population in the 2750 postcode according to the 2016 Census. In 2011 it was 3.0 per cent.
29: In 2750, 29.0 per cent of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 29.2 per cent were in primary school, 20.7 per cent in secondary school and 18.9 per cent in a tertiary or technical institution.
Troy Dodds is the Weekender’s Managing Editor and Breaking News Reporter. He has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working with some of Australia’s leading media organisations. In 2023, he was named Editor of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.
