Hay Infrastructure Projects, NSW

Agriculture-led local economy with a current project program concentrated in road works and highway-facing service infrastructure.

Economic base

Hay’s economy is best understood as an agriculture-centred service town. In 2021, agriculture, forestry and fishing accounted for 22.78% of employed residents, well ahead of retail trade at 10.19%, construction at 9.18%, education and training at 9.1%, public administration and safety at 8.09%, and health care and social assistance at 7.47%. The resident population was 2,899 in 2025, up 32 people or 1.1% over the year, while the labour force was 1,651 in 2026 Q1 with an unemployment rate of 4.6%. These figures point to a small labour market with a primary production base and a modest local services role rather than a diversified urban economy.

Business counts reinforce that pattern. Hay had 443 registered businesses in June 2025, including 181 employing businesses. Agriculture was the largest business group with 164 registered businesses and 67 employing businesses, followed by construction with 66 and 28, rental, hiring and real estate services with 34, retail with 31 and 13, accommodation and food services with 27 and 22, and transport, postal and warehousing with 23 and 10. Service capacity is limited but important for a town of this size, with one public hospital, three approved centre-based childcare services providing 89 places, and two residential aged care homes with 43 places. This mix is consistent with Hay functioning as an agricultural district centre that also supports travellers, freight movement and local households.

Current project program

The current named project list is concentrated in transport. Four active projects are identified, all in the transport category, with a printed total of $7.1m across four valued entries. The largest is Moama Street, Hay at $3.8m in construction, followed by Cobb Highway, Hay at $1.4m in construction. There are no completed named projects in the current list and no proposed projects. This is a narrow program centred on road works rather than social infrastructure, utilities or major industrial facilities.

Alongside the road works, two active development approvals are recorded in Hay South for the same project label, 'Erection of a new structure; Service station', each with a stated value of $990k and both classed as transport and logistics. These approvals sit in one narrative group whose values are not to be summed, so they should be treated as separate entries rather than one larger combined project. Separate from the named list, non-residential building approvals totalled $15.3m over the latest 12 months to June 2026, or 1.38× the council’s own three-year average. That indicates a higher recent level of approved non-residential work, but approvals are a measure of approved work, not construction or completion.

Economic connections

The strongest supported connection between Hay’s economy and its current project program is freight and road access. Agriculture is the dominant employing industry, and the business base includes 23 registered transport, postal and warehousing businesses. In that context, construction on Moama Street and the Cobb Highway aligns with maintenance and improvement of the road network used by farm inputs, grain, livestock servicing, general freight and town access. The evidence supports a transport-enablement reading rather than a broader growth claim: the active works are road projects, and the local economy has a clear agricultural and transport service component.

The approved service station developments in Hay South also align with that access mechanism and with the town’s traveller-service role. Hay has 27 registered accommodation and food services businesses, 22 of them employing, which suggests an existing base of highway-oriented and visitor-supporting activity. Additional service station capacity could improve refuelling and convenience provision for passing traffic and local transport operators, but the approvals do not by themselves demonstrate delivery or a measured uplift in trade. More broadly, the recent $15.3m in non-residential building approvals is consistent with an active period of business and infrastructure investment, though it should be read as approved value only.

Outlook

Near-term conditions in Hay will be shaped less by sector diversification than by execution of a small number of transport works and whether approved highway-service projects proceed to construction. For a council with 2,899 residents and 1,651 people in the labour force, even a modest number of road and service-station projects can be locally visible, but the current evidence still points to a compact program rather than a broad capital cycle. The population increase of 1.1% in 2025 and unemployment rate of 4.6% suggest relatively steady local conditions, not a sharp change in economic structure.

What matters most from here is whether transport works are completed on time, whether the service station approvals convert into actual builds, and whether non-residential approvals remain above Hay’s recent average. If that pattern continues, it would support the view that the town is sustaining investment tied to freight access and roadside services. Service capacity also bears watching because the local platform is small: one public hospital, 89 childcare places and 43 residential aged care places. In a small agricultural centre, changes in these everyday services can matter as much as capital works for business operations and household retention.

Key takeaways

• Hay’s economic base is led by agriculture, with supporting roles in retail, construction, education, public administration and health; business counts also show a meaningful transport and traveller-service presence.
• The current named project program is highly concentrated in transport, with Moama Street, Hay at $3.8m and Cobb Highway, Hay at $1.4m the main active works, plus two separate $990k service station approvals in Hay South.
• The clearest supported mechanism is freight and roadside access: road works and service station approvals align with an agricultural district centre that also services transport operators and passing traffic, while recent non-residential approvals suggest an active approved-work environment.

Sources

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing — ABS Census 2021
• Estimated resident population — ABS Regional Population
• Unemployment rate — Small Area Labour Markets
• Registered businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Public hospitals — AIHW MyHospitals
• Retail trade — ABS Census 2021
• Construction — ABS Census 2021
• Education and training — ABS Census 2021
• Public administration and safety — ABS Census 2021
• Health care and social assistance — ABS Census 2021
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Labour force — Small Area Labour Markets
• Employing businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Retail Trade — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Retail Trade — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Accommodation and Food Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Accommodation and Food Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Transport, Postal and Warehousing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Transport, Postal and Warehousing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Approved centre-based childcare services — ACECQA national register
• Approved childcare places — ACECQA national register
• Residential aged care homes — AIHW GEN aged care
• Residential aged care places — AIHW GEN aged care
• Moama Street, Hay — Infrastructure Australia
• Erection of a new structure; Service station — NSW planning portal
• Non-residential building approvals, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Cobb Highway, Hay — Infrastructure Australia
• Erection of a new structure; Service station — NSW planning portal
• Non-residential building approvals versus this council's own three-year average, weighted by the value of those approvals — ABS Building Approvals