List of places in Victoria by population

This is a list of places in the Australian state of Victoria by population.

Methodology

The figures below broadly represent the populations of the contiguous built-up area of each city or town as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The population figures are drawn from the Australian Census Urban Centres and Localities data, where an "urban centre" is defined as a population cluster of 1,000 or more people. ^[1] Some urban centres include neighbouring towns; for example, the Mildura population in the table below includes Irymple. ^[2]

The table lists urban centres that have appeared in the top 50 in at least one census since 2001.

Table

Urban centre	2001 census [3]		2006 census [4]		2011 census [5]		2016 census [6]		2021 census
	Rank	Population	Rank	Population	Rank	Population	Rank	Population	Rank	Population
Melbourne	1	3,160,171	1	3,375,341	1	3,707,530	1	4,196,201	1	4,585,537
Geelong	2	129,668	2	135,965	2	143,921	2	157,103	2	180,239
Ballarat	3	72,766	3	77,766	3	85,936	3	93,761	3	105,348
Bendigo	4	68,480	4	75,420	4	82,795	4	92,384	4	100,649
Melton (Melbourne)	6	32,007	6	35,194	5	45,625	5	54,455	5	76,346
Shepparton - Mooroopna	5	35,754	5	38,247	6	42,742	6	46,194	6	49,862
Pakenham (Melbourne)	19	11,283	12	18,621	8	32,913	–	N/A [note 1]	–	N/A [note 1]
Sunbury (Melbourne)	10	25,086	9	29,071	7	33,062	8	34,425	7	38,010
Wodonga	8	27,659	8	29,538	9	31,605	7	35,131	8	37,839
Mildura	7	27,963	7	30,761	10	31,363	9	33,445	9	35,652
Warrnambool	9	26,669	10	28,015	11	29,286	10	30,707	10	32,894
Traralgon	11	19,569	11	21,474	12	24,590	11	25,482	11	27,628
Torquay - Jan Juc	30	7,943 [note 2]	29	9,463 [note 2]	19	13,336	15	16,942	12	22,998
Ocean Grove - Barwon Heads	17	12,582	16	13,701	14	16,091	13	18,208	13	22,035
Bacchus Marsh	18	12,107	19	13,046	17	14,914	14	17,303	14	21,692
Wangaratta	12	16,310	13	16,732	13	17,376	12	18,567	15	19,712
Warragul	22	10,405	21	11,333	20	13,081	18	14,274	16	19,134
Horsham	15	13,210	15	13,945	16	15,261	16	15,630	17	16,289
Drysdale - Clifton Springs	28	9,033	25	9,880	26	10,929	24	12,483	18	16,199
Lara	26	9,185	24	10,312	25	11,192	21	13,327	19	15,772
Moe - Newborough	13	15,352 [note 3]	14	15,159 [note 3]	15	15,293	17	15,062	20	15,758
Drouin	40	5,800	36	6,656	30	9,369	26	11,889	21	14,764
Wallan	50	3,958	45	5,321	36	7,810	34	8,521	22	14,741
Sale	16	12,793	18	13,090	21	12,764	20	13,507	23	14,100
Morwell	14	13,505	17	13,399	18	13,689	19	13,540	24	14,068
Echuca	20	10,926	20	12,399	22	12,611	23	12,902	25	13,764
Bairnsdale	21	10,557	22	11,033	23	11,820	22	12,950	26	13,734
Colac	23	10,164	23	10,560	24	11,416	25	11,890	27	12,348
Leopold	35	6,722	31	7,937	29	9,608	27	11,882	28	12,319
Gisborne	46	4,228	38	6,285	34	8,056	31	9,822	29	10,999
Swan Hill	24	9,738	27	9,705	28	9,876	28	10,603	30	10,869
Castlemaine	34	6,822	34	7,082	33	9,124	30	9,933	31	10,577
Portland	25	9,566	26	9,708	27	9,959	29	10,059	32	10,450
Benalla	29	8,593	30	8,951	32	9,328	32	9,296	33	9,742
Hamilton	27	9,119	28	9,493	31	9,344	33	8,892	34	9,577
Portarlington - St Leonards	44	4,677 [note 4]	47	4,947 [note 4]	42	6,069 [note 4]	41	6,883	35	9,048
Kilmore	55	3,521	48	4,699	41	6,142	39	6,953	36	8,786
Healesville	32	7,132	33	7,216	35	7,992	35	8,483	37	8,698
Yarrawonga	49	4,016	43	5,727	40	6,793	37	7,847	38	8,580
Wonthaggi	37	6,136	37	6,362	37	7,279	36	7,917	39	8,430
Maryborough	31	7,471	32	7,549	38	7,174	38	7,495	40	7,769
Ararat	33	7,043	35	7,066	39	7,023	40	6,924	41	7,015
Cowes	56	3,494	52	4,137	52	4,310	50	4,944	42	6,797
Lakes Entrance	42	5,476	42	5,644	43	5,967	42	6,071	43	6,527
Bannockburn	106	1,518	79	2,426	61	3,512	49	4,997	44	6,178
Inverloch	53	3,737	57	3,532	51	4,456	48	5,066	45	6,046
Seymour	36	6,441	40	5,915	44	5,915	44	5,842	46	6,016
Kyabram	41	5,527	44	5,378	46	5,643	43	5,899	47	6,010
Stawell	39	6,142	41	5,755	45	5,737	45	5,521	48	5,627
Leongatha	47	4,220	50	4,306	48	4,894	47	5,117	49	5,618
Whittlesea		2,370	62	3,412	55	3,952	56	3,917	50	5,497
Cobram	45	4,543	46	4,995	47	5,420	46	5,376	51	5,389
Kyneton	48	4,121	51	4,176	50	4,461	51	4,866	53	5,151
Churchill	43	4,898	49	4,568	49	4,750	52	4,567	56	4,679

Gallery

• 
  Melbourne, the most populated city in Victoria.
• 
  Looking east over Sturt Street and the CBD toward Bridge Mall from Ballarat Town Hall clock tower
• 
  Pall Mall and Charing Cross in 1909. Bendigo had become a bustling city with a large transport network.

Notes

1. Due to increased residential development in Officer, which previously provided a non-urban buffer between Pakenham and the rest of the Melbourne metropolitan area, Pakenham began to be counted as part of the greater Melbourne urban centre starting from the 2016 census.
2. This figure is for Torquay only.
3. This figure is for Moe - Yallourn.
4. This figure is the sum of the populations of Portarlington, Indented Head and St Leonards, which were treated as three neighbouring but distinct urban centres prior to the 2016 census.

See also

• Victoria portal

• Demographics of Australia
• List of cities in Australia
• List of places in New South Wales by population
• List of places in the Northern Territory by population
• List of places in Queensland by population
• List of places in South Australia by population
• List of places in Tasmania by population
• List of places in Western Australia by population

References

1. "Urban Centre and Locality - Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS)". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
2. "2016 Mildura - Buronga (Mildura Part), Census All persons QuickStats | Australian Bureau of Statistics". www.abs.gov.au. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
3. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016.2 - Census of Population and Housing: Selected Characteristics for Urban Centres and Localities, Victoria, 2001
4. Australian Bureau of Statistics TableBuilder: 2006 Census - Persons in Dwellings - persons counted by Urban Centres/Localities
5. Australian Bureau of Statistics TableBuilder: 2011 Census - Persons and Relationships - persons counted by Urban Centres and Localities
6. Australian Bureau of Statistics TableBuilder: 2016 Census - Cultural Diversity - Persons (Place of Usual Residence) counted by Urban Centres and Localities