Ten million people now call regional Australia home, and Western Australia is leading the way with its regional population growing faster than the cities, according to a deep dive into the latest population statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
New ABS Estimated Regional Population (ERP) data released last week shows Australia’s regional and remote population grew by 1.1 per cent in 2025, reaching 10.02 million, up from 9.91 million in 2024, and up 6.3 per cent since 2020.
An analysis of the data by the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) provides insights into the local government areas (LGAs) seeing the most growth.
RAI CEO Liz Ritchie said regional Western Australia had the highest growth rate (1.9%) among the regions, while Tasmania was the lowest on 0.3 per cent. Interestingly, Perth had the highest growth rate among the cities, too (2.4 per cent).
“Digging into this data gives us a better understanding of what is happening in the regions. We see Western Australia dominating our table of top 10 regional LGAs by growth rate – with Serpentine-Jarrahdale with its natural beauty and closeness to Perth leading the way with 4.5 per cent growth, this is well above the metropolitan average growth rate of 1.8 per cent. This shows the value Australians place in the benefits of a regional lifestyle, while still needing the amenities that being close to a major city provides.
“These smaller centres, close to major cities – we call these Connected Lifestyle Regions – have seen bigger growth rates than major metropolitan centres (8.7% versus 8.5%) over the last five years,” she said.
The only LGAs outside of Western Australia to make the top 10 regional areas for growth rate are Mitchell in Victoria (second on 4.2 per cent growth) and Adelaide Plains (sixth on 3.8 per cent growth). Both are only a short distance from their state capitals.
Ms Ritchie said the growth rate tells the story of places that are expanding, while the population increase shows the absolute growth numbers for LGAs.
“When we look to population growth, many of these regions are reflected in our Regional Movers Index, the latest report was released just last week. We know the Gold Coast (annual change: 11,944 people) is popular with capital city movers, while our perennial favourites across the board – the Sunshine Coast and Greater Geelong are second and third by annual change in population numbers. Fraser Coast and Lake Macquarie also rate a mention in the top 10.”
Ms Ritchie said the data makes a strong case for a National Population Plan that identifies growth areas in the regions and puts investment into those places to ensure the infrastructure, housing, childcare and health resources are there to support that community to maximise the population growth.
“We know regional Australia is growing, we have had evidence of that going back well before the COVID-19 pandemic. Now we need to support those communities to grow and prosper as Australians vote with their feet and move out to the regions.”
There are different factors determining population growth through the regions.
Queensland is experiencing population growth from all angles – natural increase, net internal migration and overseas migration.
“Gold Coast, Townsville and Cairns are all seeing population growth from net overseas migration and natural increase, while Sunshine Coast and Fraser Coast see more from internal migration.” Ms Ritchie said.
“In Victoria, Greater Geelong is boosted by internal migration as well as natural increase and overseas migration, while Darwin is also seeing more babies arrive and overseas migrants adding to their population numbers.”
Of the regional LGAs, 54 of them had a growth rate higher than the metropolitan average of 1.8 per cent.
“This includes regions like Byron, Maitland, Cessnock and Fraser Coast. It tells us the focus on our metropolitan population, while growing, misses the vital work that needs to be done to support regional areas with significant growth.
“The regional renaissance shows no signs of slowing down, we know more than one third of city dwellers are considering a regional move and we know why – housing affordability, cost of living pressures and the chance to get back to nature.
“We need governments to keep pace with what Australians already understand – regional living is a genuine and desirable choice. Our focus should be on making it possible for people to live where they want, without compromising access to essential services and amenities.
“This is the goal of our Regionalisation Ambition, which is built around 25 targets across six pillars from Liveability, Health and Jobs and Skills – and Population. Each year we measure the progress of each target with the objective of rebalancing the nation. We continue to see progress, but it’s slow progress and we are ambitious for the regions. Australians are choosing the regions for the life they offer, and we will continue to work to ensure those regions have what they need to thrive — because when regions thrive, Australia does too,” she said.
RAI analysis of ABS ERP data:
• Population growth was driven by:
o Net overseas migration (+55,262)
o Net internal migration (+35,093)
o Natural increase (+22,258)
• There was growth in all regional areas in the past 12 months. Connected Lifestyle Regions recorded the fastest growth between 2024 and 2025 at 1.6 per cent, closely approaching the growth rate of metropolitan areas (1.8 per cent).
• The regional share of total overseas arrivals has increased from 16.7 per cent in FY2023-24 to 17.3 per cent in FY2024-25.
• LGA with the highest growth rate: Serpentine-Jarrahdale 4.5 per cent
• Top LGA for annual population change Gold Coast: up by 11,944
• Biggest natural increase rate among regional cities: Palmerston, NT: natural increase: 517 people, population: 42611, natural increase rate: 1.2 per cent
• Largest population growth by natural increase: Gold Coast: 2300 people.
