Map of major cities in Australia.

Greater Capital City Statistical Areas/Significant Urban Areas by population

Each capital city forms its own Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA), which according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) represents a broad socioeconomic definition of each of the eight state and territory capital cities. These correspond to the more common and international usage of metropolitan areas. Significant Urban Areas are similarly defined but include population centres which are not capital cities. In Australia the population of the GCCSA/SUA is the most-often quoted figure for that city's population. The following ranks GCSSAs and SUAs which are not included within the GCCSAs with populations of over 30,000.

50 largest urban centres by population[edit]

			Estimated resident population				Statistical Division/ District (if part of larger SD)	Ranking in state or territory, 2011
Rank		Urban Centre	2011 Census		2006 Census			ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	WA	Vic
	1	Sydney	3,908,642	[2]	3,641,422	[3]			1
	2	Melbourne	3,707,530	[4]	3,371,888	[5]									1
	3	Brisbane	1,874,427	[6]	1,676,389	[7]					1
	4	Perth	1,627,576	[8]	1,256,035	[9]								1
	5	Adelaide	1,103,979	[10]	1,040,719	[11]						1
	6	Gold Coast-Tweed Heads	533,660	[12][13]	454,436	[14][15]			2		2
	7	Canberra-Queanbeyan	391,474	[16][17]	356,120	[18][19]		1	3
	8	Newcastle	308,308	[20]	288,732	[21]	Newcastle		4
	9	Central Coast	297,713	[22]	282,726	[23]	Sydney		5
	10	Wollongong	245,942	[24]	234,482	[25]	Illawarra		6
	11	Sunshine Coast	209,263	[26]	184,662	[27]					3
	12	Hobart	170,975	[28]	128,557	[29]							1
	13	Townsville-Thuringowa	157,748	[30]	128,808	[31]					4
	14	Geelong	143,291	[32]	137,220	[33]									2
	15	Cairns	133,893	[34]	98,349	[35]					5
	16	Darwin-Palmerston	103,016	[36]	89,905	[37][38]				1
	17	Toowoomba	96,597	[39]	95,265	[40]					6
	18	Ballarat	85,935	[41]	78,221	[42]									3
	19	Bendigo	82,794	[43]	76,051	[44]									4
	20	Albury-Wodonga	77,232	[45][46]	73,497	[47][48]			7						5
	21	Mackay	74,219	[49]	66,874	[50]					7
	22	Launceston	74,085	[51]	71,395	[52]							2
	23	Mandurah	69,903	[53]	67,813	[54]	Perth (GCCSA only)							2
	24	Maitland	67,132	[55]	61,431	[56]	Newcastle		8
	25	Bunbury	64,385	[57]	54,482	[58]								3
	26	Rockhampton	61,724	[59]	60,827	[60]					8
	27	Bundaberg	49,750	[61]	46,961	[62]					9
	28	Hervey Bay	48,680	[63]	41,225	[64]					10
	29	Wagga Wagga	46,913	[65]	46,735	[66]			9
	30	Melton	45,624	[67]	35,490	[68]	Melbourne								6
	31	Coffs Harbour	45,580	[69]	26,353	[70]			10
	32	Shepparton-Mooroopna	42,741	[71]	38,773	[72]									7
	33	Port Macquarie	41,491	[73]	39,219	[74]			11
	34	Tamworth	36,131	[75]	33,475	[76]			12
	35	Orange	34,992	[77]	31,544	[78]			13
	36	Mildura-Buronga	33,432	[79][80]	30,823	[81][82]			14						8
	37	Sunbury	33,062	[83]	29,566	[84]									9
	38	Pakenham	32,911	[85]	18,808	[86]	Melbourne								10
	39	Dubbo	32,327	[87]	30,574	[88]			15
	40	Gladstone	32,073	[89]	28,808	[90]					11
	41	Geraldton	31,349	[91]	27,420	[92]								4
	42	Bathurst	31,294	[93]	28,992	[94]			16
	43	Kalgoorlie-Boulder	30,840	[95]	28,242	[96]								5
	44	Warrnambool	29,284	[97]	28,150	[98]									11
	45	Nowra-Bomaderry	27,988	[99]	27,478	[100]			17
	46	Lismore	27,474	[101]	27,069	[102]			18
	47	Albany	26,643	[103]	25,196	[104]								6
	48	Mount Gambier	25,199	[105]	23,494	[106]						2
	49	Traralgon	24,590	[107]	21,960	[108]									12
	50	Alice Springs	24,208	[109]	21,622	[110]				2

25 largest local government areas by population[edit]

			Estimated resident population			Statistical Division/ District	Ranking in state, 2011
Rank		Local government area	2011 Census		2009[111]		Qld	NSW	WA	Vic
	1	City of Brisbane	1,041,839	[112]	1,052,458	Brisbane	1
	2	City of Gold Coast	494,501	[113]	515,157	Gold Coast	2
	3	Moreton Bay Region	378,045	[114]	371,162	Brisbane	3
	4	Sunshine Coast Region	306,909	[115]	323,423	Sunshine Coast	4
	5	City of Blacktown	301,099	[116]	299,797	Sydney		1
	6	Logan City	278,050	[117]	277,568	Brisbane	5
	7	City of Casey	252,382	[118]	247,357	Melbourne				1
	8	City of Greater Geelong	210,875	[119]	216,330	Geelong				2
	9	Sutherland Shire	210,863	[120]	219,828	Sydney		2
	10	City of Stirling	195,702	[121]	198,803	Perth			1
	11	City of Wollongong	192,418	[122]	201,438	Wollongong		3
	12	City of Lake Macquarie	189,006	[123]	199,277	Newcastle		4
	13	City of Fairfield	187,766	[124]	194,543	Sydney		5
	14	City of Brimbank	182,735	[125]	185,890	Melbourne				3
	15	City of Bankstown	182,352	[126]	186,108	Sydney		6
	16	City of Liverpool	180,143	[127]	182,261	Sydney		7
	17	City of Penrith	178,467	[128]	184,611	Sydney		8
	18	City of Townsville	174,492	[129]	181,743	Northern	6
	19	The Hills Shire	169,872	[130]	176,487	Sydney		9
	20	City of Sydney	169,505	[131]	177,920	Sydney		10
	21	City of Monash	169,280	[132]	176,069	Melbourne				4
	22	City of Hume	167,562	[133]	167,540	Melbourne				5
	23	City of Parramatta	166,858	[134]	167,540	Sydney		11
	24	City of Gosford	162,440	[135]	166,626	Sydney		12
	25	City of Wyndham	161,575	[136]	143,879	Melbourne				6