--- title: Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025, Australia resource: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/ publisher: Australian Bureau of Statistics licence: CC BY 4.0 licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ version: 2026-10-20 rows: 13700 fields: 6 source: https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_LGA2025,1.0.0/ERP.3.TOT..LGA2025.A?format=csvfilewithlabels source_sha256: 3fdcb89ad1468cbf2fc281874c5f22908eed5838914940ec040717e766c5f356 language: en-AU operator: National Digital not_endorsed: true --- # Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025, Australia The estimated resident population of every Australian council area at 30 June each year since 2001, on the ABS's 2025 council boundaries. Updated yearly. Published by Australian Bureau of Statistics under CC BY 4.0. National Digital converted the publisher's file to other formats. It renamed and typed the columns and kept only those the schema lists. National Digital made these changes, and the publisher is not responsible for them. Australian Bureau of Statistics has not endorsed this site. Also called: Estimated resident population by LGA, Council area population Australia, Population by Local Government Area ABS, Regional population by LGA. ## Download Latest version, redirects to `https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/`: - csv: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.csv (463 KB) - xlsx: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.xlsx (270 KB) - json: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.json (1.7 MB) - parquet: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.parquet (69 KB) - sqlite: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.sqlite (688 KB) - duckdb: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.duckdb - ndjson: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.ndjson (1.6 MB) - csv.gz: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.csv.gz (87 KB) Pinned version 2026-10-20: `https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/data.`. Dated versions keep their content. ## Query The query API returns only the rows you ask for, as JSON, NDJSON or CSV, from the same typed rows as the files. It needs no key. Rows: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/au-population-by-lga-2025/rows. Counts and sums: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/au-population-by-lga-2025/aggregate. - Rows: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/au-population-by-lga-2025/rows?year=eq.2025&limit=5 - Aggregate: https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/au-population-by-lga-2025/aggregate?group=lga_name&metric=sum.population&year=eq.2025 Each filter is `field=operator.value` in the query string, and every filter must match. A number or date field compares as a number or date, and a text field compares as text. Values are case-sensitive, except that `like` and `ilike` ignore case in the ASCII letters A to Z. Prefix `not.` to negate a filter, as `not.eq.value`. Operators: `eq.value`, `neq.value`, `gt.value`, `gte.value`, `lt.value`, `lte.value`, `like.*text*`, `ilike.*text*`, `in.(a,b,c)`, `is.null`. - `select`: Fields to return, comma-separated. Every field when absent. - `order`: `field.asc` or `field.desc`, comma-separated. When absent, rows come in the order of the file they are read from. For the newest versions that is the version's own data.parquet, which keeps the publisher's order unless the dataset sorted it. Any other version is read from the Parquet file the answer names in `file`, and when that file is sorted the answer names its sort in `order`, which ties follow too. - `limit`: Rows per page, 1 to 10,000. 100 when absent. - `offset`: Rows to skip. The `next` URL in each answer sets it for you. - `group`: On `aggregate`, fields to group by, comma-separated. - `metric`: On `aggregate`, `count`, `sum.field`, `avg.field`, `min.field` or `max.field`, comma-separated. `count` when absent. - `format`: `json`, `ndjson` or `csv`. JSON carries the provenance header, and the others carry it in response headers. Without a version the API answers from the newest version, and that answer changes when the publisher releases again. Put `versions//` before `rows` or `aggregate` for an answer from that version alone. Every version with a table can be queried, and `/api/v1/datasets//versions` lists them. A query on a version the database does not hold is read from its Parquet file, and one that would read too much of it is refused with DuckDB SQL that answers it from the file. The API allows 60 requests in 10 seconds from one address. Above that it answers 429 for 10 seconds with a `Retry-After` header, a `RateLimit-Policy` header and a JSON body that gives the limit. Every API answer carries the same `RateLimit-Policy`. A client should wait the `Retry-After` seconds, or read the files, which have no limit. OpenAPI for this dataset: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/openapi.json ## Explore Charts and dashboards in the browser: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/explore/. A dashboard can be shared as a link or embedded. ## Fields | field | type | publisher's header | note | |---|---|---|---| | `lga_code` | string | LGA_2025 | | | `lga_name` | string | Region | | | `year` | integer | TIME_PERIOD | The year whose 30 June the estimate is for. | | `population` | integer | OBS_VALUE | | | `obs_status` | string | OBS_STATUS | | | `obs_status_meaning` | string | Observation Status | | Key: `lga_code, year`. ## Versions - 2026-10-20: 13700 rows, 6 fields, sha256 3fdcb89ad146. https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/ Machine-readable: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/versions.json, https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/changes.json, https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/datapackage.json, https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/schema.json, https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/history.tar.zst ## Same subject, other publishers - [Top three names registered for girls by council area, New South Wales](https://publicdata.au/d/nsw-top-baby-names-by-lga-female/) (NSW) - [Top three names registered for boys by council area, New South Wales](https://publicdata.au/d/nsw-top-baby-names-by-lga-male/) (NSW) ## Attribution and citation Australian Bureau of Statistics, ERP by LGA (2025), Age and Sex, 2001 to 2025 (ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_LGA2025), ABS Data Explorer, sourced 19 October 2026, https://dataexplorer.abs.gov.au/vis?df[ds]=ABS_ABS_TOPICS&df[id]=ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_LGA2025&df[ag]=ABS&df[vs]=1.0.0, licensed under CC BY 4.0. The licence requires the publisher's attribution. We ask that you also name publicdata.au and link to the version you used. Plain text: Australian Bureau of Statistics, ERP by LGA (2025), Age and Sex, 2001 to 2025 (ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_LGA2025), ABS Data Explorer, sourced 19 October 2026, https://dataexplorer.abs.gov.au/vis?df[ds]=ABS_ABS_TOPICS&df[id]=ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_LGA2025&df[ag]=ABS&df[vs]=1.0.0, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/ Harvard: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2026) Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025, Australia, version 2026-10-20 [data set], CC BY 4.0, sourced 19 October 2026. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au. Available at: https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/ Markdown: Data: [Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025, Australia](https://www.abs.gov.au/website-privacy-copyright-and-disclaimer), Australian Bureau of Statistics, [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), sourced 19 October 2026. Files: [publicdata.au](https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/) by [National Digital](https://nationaldigital.com.au/). ## Questions ### How do I download Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025 as a CSV file? Open https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.csv. It redirects to the newest dated version, which is https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/data.csv today. The same path serves Excel, JSON, Parquet, SQLite, DuckDB, NDJSON. A dated URL never changes, so use it when the file must stay the same. ### Can I open Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025 in Excel? Yes. https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/data.xlsx is a workbook with the 13,700 rows on a records sheet, the field list on a second sheet and the provenance on a third. The CSV also opens in Excel. https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/data.csv.gz is the CSV at about a tenth of the size. ### What years does Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025 cover? The current version covers 2001 to 2025. Each release from ABS becomes a new dated version here, and earlier versions stay online. ### How often is Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025 updated? ABS releases it yearly. This site checks the portal every week and adds a dated version when the file changes. ### Can I use Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025 commercially? Yes. CC BY 4.0 allows commercial use, redistribution and derived works as long as the attribution is kept. The attribution string is in this page's side column and inside every file. ### Is this the official source for Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025? No. The publisher is Australian Bureau of Statistics, and its page is https://www.abs.gov.au/website-privacy-copyright-and-disclaimer. National Digital converted the publisher's file to other formats. It renamed and typed the columns and kept only those the schema lists. National Digital made these changes, and the publisher is not responsible for them. The original sits beside every version as source.csv with its SHA-256, so the two can be compared. ### What is in each row? The ABS's estimate of all the people usually resident in one council area at 30 June of one year from 2001, both sexes and all ages together. ### Is there a breakdown by age and sex? The ABS table also gives each council's population by sex and five-year age group. This dataset reads only the totals, which are the figure most uses need. The breakdown is 57 times larger. ### Which council boundaries are used? The Local Government Areas of the ABS's 2025 edition, the same edition as the council boundaries dataset here. The ABS has re-estimated every year from 2001 on those boundaries, so a council's figures for earlier years describe the area it covers in 2025. A table on another edition's boundaries is a separate dataset, because the ABS changes some codes between editions. ### Are the figures final? The ABS revises recent years when later census and migration data arrive. Each yearly release replaces the figures for the years it revises, and this site keeps every release as a dated version. ### What do the codes beginning with the state digit and ending in 99 mean? The ABS gives each state rows for its unincorporated area, for people with no usual address, and for people offshore or on ships. They are kept as the ABS publishes them and are not council areas. ## What this site did to the data Cells were typed, headers were renamed to snake_case and the encoding was made UTF-8. Rows were left alone. Nothing is derived. The publisher's file is beside every version as `source.csv`. ## Improve this dataset This page is built from [register/au-population-by-lga-2025.yaml](https://github.com/National-Digital/publicdata.au/blob/main/register/au-population-by-lga-2025.yaml) on GitHub, and a fix to it is welcome as a pull request. https://publicdata.au/contribute/ explains how.