Population Heatmap
Who is arriving, who is leaving, and who is being born. Population change for all 537 Australian council areas — and, for every one of them, the three flows that caused it. Growth is not one number; it is three, and they rarely point the same way.
This map is free, in full. The platform behind it goes further.
Every layer here is open — no login, no locked layers. What a subscription adds is what the people arriving actually do to a market: HtAG RCS™ growth, risk and cashflow scores at suburb level, rents and yields, commercial listings and leasing data, and the research tools that turn a shortlist into a decision.
How to read the map
Four things worth knowing before you draw a conclusion from a colour.
Start with the change, then ask why
The map opens on population change over the latest full year — across the country that spread runs from roughly −2% to nearly +6%. That headline tells you a council grew. The three component layers tell you what kind of growth it was.
Zero is the colour break
Population change, natural increase and net internal migration all use a diverging scale centred on zero: red shades are losing people, blue shades are gaining them. A pale band is a council close to standing still, not a council with missing data.
Counts and rates say different things
Net overseas migration is a headcount, so big cities dominate it by construction. Population change is a percentage, so a small council can top the map on a few hundred people. Compare like with like before ranking anything.
Scope before you scan
Australia-wide, a single state, or one of five capital cities — the region control reframes the map while the colour bands stay fixed, so areas remain comparable. Search jumps to a council; the download button saves the current view as an image.
One number, three causes.
Across all 537 council areas the three flows below add up to the headline figure exactly. Nothing is left over, and nothing is estimated away.
Population change
Change in estimated resident population over the latest full year to 30 June, shown as a percentage. This is the layer the map opens on — and it is the sum of the three flows below.
Every layer prints its own key on the map. The component layers are headcounts rather than percentages, so their bands are numbers of people, not shades of this scale — always read the legend shown for the layer you have selected.
Six maps, one platform.
People arriving is the start of a story. These tell you what happened to prices, rents and businesses when they did.
LGA & Suburb Heatmaps
Prices, growth and yields across Australia at council and suburb level, plus the HtAG RCS™ composite scores.
Open residential heatmapEmployment Heatmap
Unemployment, labour force and registered businesses by council area — whether the people arriving have somewhere to work.
Open employment mapCommercial Discovery Map
Industrial, office and retail listings, selling pace and leasing speed by council area.
Open commercial mapMarkets in the Moment (MiM)
A nested treemap giving an instant bird’s-eye view of the residential market.
Open MiMHtAG SchoolRank™
Every Australian school mapped by education quality.
Open SchoolRankPopulation Heatmap
Population change split into births, internal moves and overseas migration.
You’re hereLocal Services Heatmap
Childcare, hospitals and aged care by council area — who can actually live in a market.
Open services mapTwo councils can post the same growth rate for opposite reasons.
One is full of new babies; one is being chosen by people who could live anywhere. Those are different markets, and only the component layers tell them apart. Start here, then take the shortlist into the property data.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics Regional population — estimated resident population and its components, by local government area. The vintage of each layer is printed under the layer list on the map. Component figures are net flows over the year, not gross arrivals or departures, and are subject to later revision by the ABS. Population density uses each council’s full land area, so large rural shires read low even where their towns are dense. Figures are derived from official statistics and statistical modelling and are not a guarantee of future performance. Nothing on this page is financial advice. HtAG RCS™, StreetLens™ and SchoolRank™ are trademarks of HtAG Analytics.
