Information from the 2016 ABS Census and information about the Maroondah population has started to trickle through. 

Here are a few facts about our area.

Population

The official population estimate for the City of Maroondah as at 30 June 2016 is 113,994.

The 2016 Census counted 110,376 million people living in Maroondah, an 6.3% increase since the last
census in 2011, meaning an additional 109 people are moving into the municipality each month.

Croydon is the suburb with the greatest population (26,956), followed by Ringwood (17,471), Ringwood
East (10,265), Ringwood North (9,832) and Heathmont (9,688).

Gender

Women continue to outnumber men in Maroondah, making up 51.6% of the population in 2016.

The proportion of the Maroondah population that is female increases with age. Of those aged 65 years
and over, 57% are female and for the population aged 85 years and over, 66% are female.

Age

As a community, we are gradually getting older.

The median age in Maroondah is 38 years in 2016, compared with 37 years in 2006. 

There has been an increase in the proportion of the population in Maroondah aged 65 years and over, which grew to 16.0% in 2016, compared with 13.9% in 2006. The proportion of children aged 0 to 14 years made up 18.7% of the population in 2016, declining from 19.5% in 2006.

The suburb with the greatest number of seniors aged 65 years and over is Croydon where this age
group comprises 18.9% of the suburb population.

This is followed by Ringwood North and Ringwood with 16.9% of the population for these suburbs. The
lowest proportion of seniors aged 65 and over is Kilsyth South with just 7.8% of the suburb population.

The suburb with the oldest median age is Ringwood North (41 years) whilst the youngest median age is
Bayswater North (36 years).

The most youthful suburb is Warranwood with 20.8% of the suburb population are aged between 0
and 14 years. The second most youthful suburb is Heathmont with 19.9% aged 0 to 14 years.

The 2016 ABS Census of Population and Housing results provide us with an insight into the changing demographics of our Maroondah community.

Households

The census counted 44,424 dwellings across Maroondah, a 6.1% increase from 2011. The average persons per household remained steady at 2.6 persons.

Most people in Maroondah live in a separate house (88.2%), followed by townhouses (8.8%) and
apartments (2.5%). There is an average of 3.1 bedrooms per occupied private dwelling.

Of all occupied private dwellings in Maroondah, a total of 32.7% are owned outright, 40.6% are owned
with a mortgage and 23.9% are rented. The proportion owned with a mortgage in Maroondah is
considerably higher than the Victorian (35.2%) and Australian (34.5%) average.

The median rent for Maroondah households has increased significantly to $341 per month, a 17.5%
increase compared with 2011. In contrast, the median mortgage repayments for Maroondah households has increased slightly to $1800 per month, just a 3.8% increase compared with 2011.

The proportion of rented households where the weekly rental payments are 30% of more of the
household income is 8.8%, a lower proportion compared with the Victorian (10.4%) and Australian
(11.5%) average. In contrast, the proportion of households where the weekly mortgage payments
are 30% of more of the household income is 7.9%, a higher proportion than both the Victorian (7.5%)
and Australian (7.2%) average.

More than 58% of households had two or more registered motor vehicles garaged or parked at their
address. Just 4.7% of households in Maroondah do not have a motor vehicle.

Over 87% of households had at least one person who could access the internet from their dwelling.
This could have been through a desktop/laptop computer, mobile or smart phone, tablet, music or
video player, gaming console, smart TV or any other device.

Families

The census counted 29,181 families living in Maroondah. Couple families with children remained
the dominant household type in Maroondah (34.6%) increasing slightly from 2011. Couple
families without children were the next most common household type (23.8%), followed by lone
person households (23.3%) Single parent families have remained steady at 15.7% in 2016. A total 4,665 single parent families were counted in 2016 and over 82.5% of single parents were female.

Just over half of the Maroondah population aged over 15 (50.6%) are married. Almost 9% are
divorced and 2.9% are separated. Almost a third of people in Maroondah (32.2%) have never married.

Income 

The median personal income in Maroondah is $696 per week, which is 8% higher than the Victorian
median income. The median family household is $1,544 in 2016, compared with $1,305 in 2011.

A total of 17.6% of households in Maroondah have a weekly household income of less than $650, which
is lower than both the Victorian and Australian average. Almost 16% of households in Maroondah
have a weekly income of more than $3000. 

Warranwood is the Maroondah suburb with the highest median household income of $2,376 per
week, followed by Croydon Hills with a median household income of $2,047. Ringwood is the
suburb with the lowest median household income in Maroondah of $1,356 per week.

Country of Birth

The number of people living in Maroondah who were born overseas increased by 3,796 between the
2011 and 2016 censuses, rising from 21% of the population in 2011 to 23% in 2016.
The most common countries of birth outside Australia were England 4.0%, China (excluding
Taiwan) 2.7%, India 1.7%, Myanmar 1.6% and New Zealand 1.2%.

The proportion of people born in China has increased from 0.5% of the Maroondah population
in 2006 to 2.7% of the population in 2016. The proportion of people born in India has increased
from 0.6% of the Maroondah population in 2006 to 1.7% of the population in 2016.

In Maroondah, 51.3% of people had both parents born in Australia and 30.8% of people had both
parents born overseas.

Language

The majority of the Maroondah population (78.8%) only speak English at home. Other common languages spoken at home include Mandarin 3.3%, Cantonese 1.3%, Chin Haka 1.0%, Italian 0.7% and Hindi 0.6%.

The number of Chin Haka speaking people in Maroondah comprises 37.8% of the total population
speaking this language across all of Victoria.

Indigenous

In the 2016 Census, 534 people in Maroondah identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait
Islander origin, making up 0.5% of the population.

The median age of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Maroondah was 21 years in 2016.
The total number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Maroondah has increased
by 69% since the 2006 Census.

Religion

The most common religion reported by people living in Maroondah is Christian 54.8%, followed by 36.3%
reporting no religious affiliation.

The proportion of the Maroondah population reporting a Christian religion has dropped by 14%
since 2006. Buddism (2.1%) and Hinduism (1.4%) are the next most common religious groups.

Need assistance

A total of 4.9% of the Maroondah population requires assistance for the daily core activities.
The proportion is higher for people aged over 65 in Maroondah, with 10.5% of this age group reporting
they need assistance for daily core activities 

Forthcoming data

In October 2017, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release further data from the 2016 Census of
Population and Housing, including:

• Labour force characteristics
• Migration
• Educational qualifications
• Industry of employment
• Occupation

Get more 2016 Census facts via Maroondah ID Community Profile.

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