Cambridge Infrastructure Projects, WA

Cambridge is a knowledge, health and professional-services economy with transport work under way

Economic base

Cambridge is a predominantly metropolitan service economy, with knowledge-intensive work at its centre and substantial health, education, retail and hospitality activity around it. The largest employed-resident industries in 2021 were health care and social assistance at 18.3%, professional, scientific and technical services at 15.3%, education and training at 10.1%, mining at 7.7%, retail trade at 6.5% and construction at 5.8%. Financial and insurance services accounted for 4.2%, while accommodation and food services accounted for 5.3%. This mix gives the local economy several service channels, but its strongest concentrations are in health, professional services and education.

The business base reinforces this profile. In June 2025 Cambridge recorded 4,022 registered businesses and 1,346 employing businesses. Professional, scientific and technical services accounted for 841 registered businesses, health care and social assistance for 767, rental, hiring and real estate services for 639, and financial and insurance services for 379. Construction had 325 registered businesses and 96 employing businesses. These counts describe business presence, not workplace employment. The labour force was 18,868 in 2026-Q1, with 562 unemployed people and a 3% unemployment rate, giving a current measure of local labour-market conditions.

Project program

Transport work is under way in Cambridge. The direction of activity is therefore centred on movement and access. That emphasis aligns with a local economy in which health care, education and professional services require regular movement between workplaces, institutions, clients, students and patients. Transport activity may improve access and network reliability for those connections. The relationship is functional: movement infrastructure supports the circulation of people and services, while the local industry profile supplies the principal reason for frequent travel.

Building approvals provide a separate signal of physical activity. In the 12 months to July 2026, residential building work approved to proceed was valued at $206.3m. Non-residential building approvals in the latest 12 months to 2026-06-30 totalled $46.3m, equal to 0.89× Cambridge's own three-year average and therefore below that average. Together, transport activity and authorised building work describe a council where access and the built environment are the main visible directions of change. Approvals record permission to proceed, while their value describes authorised work rather than local economic output.

Economic connections

The clearest supported connection is between transport activity and the service economy. Health care, education and professional services depend on workers, clients, students and patients reaching dispersed workplaces and institutions. Transport work may support those flows by improving access and network functioning. Cambridge's construction base provides another relevant connection to authorised building activity: construction accounted for 5.8% of employed residents in 2021, while the council recorded 325 registered construction businesses and 96 employing construction businesses in June 2025. Those counts indicate local business capacity associated with building work, but they are not a measure of jobs created by any particular activity.

Population and service capacity form a second connection. Cambridge's estimated resident population was 32,684 in 2025, an increase of 545 or 1.7%. Natural increase was 0, net internal migration was -61 and net overseas migration was 606, making overseas migration the main recorded contributor to the increase. Current service capacity includes 2 hospitals, 6 approved centre-based childcare services with 389 places, and 4 residential aged-care homes with 339 places. These measures link population change with the capacity used by health, childcare and aged-care services, and with the access requirements that transport activity may support.

Outlook

The immediate pattern is moderate population growth alongside residential approvals running below the yearly pace required by the state housing target. The target is 175 additional dwellings a year, and approvals in the 12 months to July 2026 were at 79% of that pace. Cambridge recorded 139 dwellings approved in that period, equivalent to 4.3 dwellings per 1,000 residents and 1.39× its own three-year average. These measures place current approvals above the council's recent average while below the target's required annual pace, giving housing activity two distinct reference points.

The outlook is shaped by residential approvals against the housing target, non-residential approvals against the council's own average, labour-market conditions, population change and the direction of transport activity. Cambridge enters this period with a large professional and health business base, a 3% unemployment rate in 2026-Q1 and population growth driven mainly by overseas migration in 2025. The mix of approved housing and non-residential work will indicate the balance of physical activity, while transport activity remains relevant to the movement of workers and users of health, education and professional services. Together these indicators connect demographic change, service capacity and the built environment.

For council and planning staff

The housing target requires 175 additional dwellings a year. Approvals in the 12 months to July 2026 were at 79% of that yearly pace, with 139 dwellings approved and 4.3 dwellings approved per 1,000 residents. Population was 32,684 in 2025, up by 545 or 1.7%; natural increase was 0, net internal migration was -61 and net overseas migration was 606. Service capacity includes 2 hospitals, 6 approved centre-based childcare services and 389 approved childcare places at 2026-09-30. At 2025-06-30, Cambridge had 4 residential aged-care homes and 339 residential aged-care places. Together, these measures put housing pace, population change and service capacity in the same local planning frame.

For buyers’ agents and investors

In 2021, 39.5% of occupied private dwellings were owned outright, 35.6% were owned with a mortgage and 21.2% were rented. Average household size was 2.7 people and median age was 41; 46.7% of residents had lived at a different address five years earlier. Median weekly household income was $2,964 and median weekly personal income was $1,222, while the labour force participation rate was 67.1% in 2021. In 2026-Q1, the labour force was 18,868, with 562 unemployed people and a 3% unemployment rate. New dwelling approvals in the 12 months to July 2026 comprised 70 houses and 69 townhouses, apartments and other dwellings, showing a broadly balanced mix by form.

For builders and developers

In the 12 months to July 2026, 139 dwellings were approved: 70 new houses and 69 townhouses, apartments and other dwellings. The total was 1.39× Cambridge's own three-year average, and residential building work approved in that period was valued at $206.3m. Construction recorded 325 registered businesses and 96 employing businesses in June 2025, while construction accounted for 5.8% of employed residents in the 2021 Census. Non-residential building approvals totalled $46.3m in the latest 12 months to 2026-06-30, equivalent to 0.89× Cambridge's own three-year average. These figures describe the scale, composition and business context of authorised building activity.

Key takeaways

• Cambridge's economy is service-led, with health care, professional services and education prominent among employed residents and registered businesses.
• Transport work is under way, aligning with the access needs of a health, education and professional-services economy.
• Residential approvals were 79% of the housing target's required yearly pace, while population increased by 1.7% in 2025, mainly through net overseas migration of 606.

Sources

• Health care and social assistance — ABS Census 2021
• Professional, scientific and technical services — ABS Census 2021
• Education and training — ABS Census 2021
• Registered businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Unemployment rate — Small Area Labour Markets
• Mining — ABS Census 2021
• Retail trade — ABS Census 2021
• Construction — ABS Census 2021
• Financial and insurance services — ABS Census 2021
• Accommodation and food services — ABS Census 2021
• Employing businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Health Care and Social Assistance — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Financial and Insurance Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Labour force — Small Area Labour Markets
• Unemployed persons — Small Area Labour Markets
• Value of residential building work approved (new homes, alterations and additions), latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Non-residential building approvals, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Non-residential building approvals versus this council's own three-year average, weighted by the value of those approvals — ABS Building Approvals
• Estimated resident population — ABS Regional Population
• Open public and private hospitals — AIHW MyHospitals
• Approved childcare places — ACECQA national register
• Residential aged care places — AIHW GEN aged care
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Natural increase — ABS Regional Population
• Net internal migration — ABS Regional Population
• Net overseas migration — ABS Regional Population
• Approved centre-based childcare services — ACECQA national register
• Residential aged care homes — AIHW GEN aged care
• Dwellings approved in the latest 12 months against the yearly pace the housing target needs (100% is on pace) — Perth and Peel @3.5million
• Target: 6,830 additional dwellings, 2011 to 2050, infill 6,830 (175 a year) — Perth and Peel @3.5million
• Dwellings approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Dwellings approved per 1,000 residents, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Dwellings approved versus this council's own three-year average — ABS Building Approvals
• Owned outright — ABS Census 2021
• Average household size — ABS Census 2021
• New houses approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Townhouses, apartments and other dwellings approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Owned with a mortgage — ABS Census 2021
• Rented — ABS Census 2021
• Median age — ABS Census 2021
• Lived at a different address 5 years ago — ABS Census 2021
• Median household income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
• Median personal income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
• Labour force participation rate — ABS Census 2021