Largest cities in Australia by population

The 31 cities the United Nations Demographic Yearbook 2024 lists for Australia: the capital and every city of 100,000 or more, with the latest figure the country reported. The largest is Greater Sydney with 5,638,830 people; the capital, Canberra, has 484,630.

Who runs cities in Australia?

Local governments (about 537: cities, shires, towns, regional and Aboriginal shire councils): Councillors elected (methods vary by state; voting compulsory in some states); mayors directly elected in some places and chosen by councillors in others. Local roads, planning approvals, waste, libraries, parks, rates (property tax).

How local power works in Australia · Level 3: local councils worldwide

Countries define a city in different ways (the city proper, or the wider urban area) and report in different years, so cities in different countries are not always comparable.

More on Australia: official statistics · government and power · regions

Sources

• United Nations Statistics Division: Demographic Yearbook 2024, Table 8: Population of capital cities and cities of 100 000 or more inhabitants, latest available year, 2005-2024, read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 0c6784df022e…)

Each saved copy is the file exactly as downloaded, kept so the figures can be checked even if the source changes. Report an error.