Region welcomes 12,500 new locals

BROOKE Marjoribanks and her family have been staples of Toowoomba for more than a decade — and they’ve being joined by thousands more since then.

New data from the 2021 Census, which was released yesterday, revealed Toowoomba’s stunning growth over the past five years, with the region now boasting an extra 12,500 residents since 2016.

The Toowoomba region’s growth of 7.7 per cent in five years is more than double that of Townsville (3.2 per cent) and Gladstone (three per cent), and better than Cairns (6.4 per cent).

In fact, the region’s population growth is in the same league as Brisbane’s (9.8 per cent), showcasing both the region’s allure to outsiders and the growing pains facing politicians.

The Toowoomba region’s population has also become more female since 2016, with women making up 51.6 per cent of the total population (5554 more than males).

But census data also revealed how much older Toowoomba has become, with the median age now at 39 (up one year from 2016), which is above the state and federal averages.

Children aged 10-14 are the most prevalent age demographic at 7.2 per cent of the population, but the percentage of people aged 19 and under has dropped slightly from 26.8 per cent five years ago to 26.2 today.

Conversely, now 19.4 per cent of Toowoomba region’s population is 65 and older, up from just 17.9 per cent during the previous census.

The number of children born since 2016 as also stagnated, with the percentage dropping from 6.4 per cent of the population to 5.9 per cent.

In economic news, median household incomes increased by more than 19 per cent to $1847 per week, while the number of households whose income was less than $650 per week dropped from 21 per cent of the population to 18.5 per cent.

More encouragingly, the percentage of households whose total weekly income was in excess of $3000 jumped from 10.8 per cent to 16.3 per cent.

The number of people listed as “married” in Toowoomba dropped below 50 per cent for the first time, with the 2021 Census showing just 48.2 per cent were in a marriage situation. This figure was 51.5 per cent just 10 years ago.

Of those, the number of people in “de facto” marriages has increased to 10.4 per cent.

More people are also divorced or separated.

Picture: Tom Gillespie POPULATION BOOM: Long-time Toowoomba resident Brooke Marjoribanks, with daughters Sadie and Lola, is being joined by thousands more as the city sees significant population growth in the latest census data.