4 April 2024

Greater Geelong's population has continued to surge according to the latest official ABS data. Geelong is the fourth fastest growing Significant Urban Area* in the country over the past decade only behind the much smaller areas of Warragul – Drouin Bacchus Marsh and Airlie Beach – Cannonvale.

In the year to June 2023 the City of Greater Geelong grew by 2.2 per cent adding 6 208 residents and bringing the total population to 282 809. The city's sustained population growth is being driven by many factors including its proximity to Melbourne affordable housing diverse job opportunities and lifestyle.

The largest contributor to growth in the past year was net overseas migration (+2 618 people) followed by net internal migration (+2 429) and natural increase (+1 161).

A look at smaller areas (SA2s) shows that the areas adding more than 500 new residents in 2023 were Barwon Heads - Armstrong Creek (+1 093) Charlemont (+868) Grovedale - Mount Duneed (+833) Lara (+725) and Highton (+549).

Significantly Barwon Heads - Armstrong Creek experiencing the third largest growth of all 2 473 SA2s in Australia outside the capital cities.

The area with the largest increase in population by natural increase was Geelong West - Hamlyn Heights (+192) the suburbs attracting the most net internal migration from other areas in Australia were Barwon Heads - Armstrong Creek (+847) and the suburb with the largest net overseas migration was Highton (+356).

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*SUAs include 102 cities and towns defined by the ABS that have a population above 10 000.

Source: Regional population 2022 - 23 | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au)

See SA2 and SAU boundaries here - ABS Maps | Australian Bureau of Statistics