Where not to live in Australia if you’re single: Nation’s most loved-up municipalities revealed

If you’re on the hunt for a relationship, there are some parts of the country you might want to avoid, with a landmark study revealing Australia’s most loved-up municipalities.

Exclusive: Golden wedding anniversaries are celebrated in Victoria’s Golden Plains, which sets the gold standard in the state for the highest number of couples.

The rural shire between Geelong, Ballarat and Melbourne claims the crown of ‘most loved-up’ Victorian municipality, just edging out its coastal neighbour, the Surf Coast Shire.

In New South Wales, Yass Valley in the Southern Tablelands is the vale of love, beating out beachside Kiama and perhaps proving a point that country beats coast when it comes to coupling up.

THE HAPPINESS PROJECT:

AUSTRALIA’S ULTIMATE PLACE TO LIVE

REGIONS SMASH CITIES FOR HARDEST WORKERS

WHERE TO FIND THE KINDEST AUSSIES

Love was in the air at Golden Plains Festival 10th anniversary celebrations. Picture: Ty Johnson/Flickr

In South Australia the outback community of Kimba, which is also Australia’s kindest municipality, Roxby Downs and Elliston (in that order) have the highest percentage of couples while in Queensland the most loved-up areas are Weipa, a mining town on the Gulf of Carpentaria coast of the Cape York Peninsula, and Isaac.

Nationally, Western Australia’s Wandering topped every other Australian municipality in the ‘most loved-up’ category, with the highest percentage of couples.

Australian demographer Bernard Salt said it made sense there were proportionally more settled couples in rural regions of Australia than in its major cities.

“I think it’s a rite of passage in Australia that people from the age of 18 through to 28 typically move out of country areas and move into the cities,” Mr Salt said. “That has two effects. One, it adds a disproportionate number of young single people to the cities and two, it removes young single people from country areas.”

THE HAPPINESS PROJECT:

AUSTRALIA’S HAPPY HOTSPOTS REVEALED

HOUSE PRICE SHOCK AS REGIONAL AFFORDABILITY TUMBLES

The research forms part of Bond University’s landmark Happiness Project, which used the most recent Census data and a host of other publicly available information to measure key categories affecting quality of life across 540 Australian local government areas (LGAs).

It also looked at the percentage of people living with a partner as well as marriage and divorce rates in municipalities across the country, and found that while the weather was warm and the living easy in Byron Bay, so seemingly, was bailing out of wedlock.

The popular northern New South Wales coastal town has one of the highest divorce rates in the country.

Beautiful Byron Bay has some of the country’s highest divorce rates in the country. Photo: iStock

The Happiness Project research showed Sydney City earnt its tag of ‘Sin City’, with the highest rate of de facto relationships of any Australian metropolitan municipality.

It was followed by the Melbourne local government areas of Yarra, Melbourne City and Port Phillip.

The lowest metropolitan rates of de facto relationships were in the Sydney areas of Ku-ring-gai (which is also Australia’s safest suburb), The Hills Shire, Cumberland, Hornsby, and Perth’s Peppermint Grove.

TOP 10 MOST LOVED-UP VIC LGAs

(Highest percentage of adults living with a partner)

1. Golden Plains

2. Surf Coast

3. Macedon Ranges

4. Moyne

5. Indigo

6. Towong

7. Nillumbik

8. Queenscliffe

9. West Wimmera

10. Murrindindi

TOP 10 MOST LOVED-UP NSW LGAs

(Highest percentage of adults living with a partner)

1. Yass Valley

2. Kiama

3. Murray River

4. The Hills Shire

5. Walcha

6. Cabonne

7. Camden

8. Wollondilly

9. Ku-ring-gai

10. Greater Hume Shire

TOP 10 MOST LOVED-UP QLD LGAs

(Highest percentage of adults living with a partner)

1. Weipa

2. Isaac

3. Central Highlands

4. Blackall-Tambo

5. Banana

6. Croydon

7. Bulloo

8. Barcaldine

9. Gladstone

10. Maranoa

TOP 10 MOST LOVED-UP SA LGAs

(Highest percentage of adults living with a partner)

1. Kimba

2. Roxby Downs

3. Elliston

4. Franklin Harbour

5. Grant

6. Lower Eyre Peninsula

7. Streaky Bay

8. Wudinna

9. Robe

10. Mount Remarkable

TOP 5 MOST LOVED-UP NT LGAs

(Highest percentages of adults living with a partner)

1. Wagait

2. Litchfield

3. Palmerston

4. Katherine

5. Darwin

TOP 10 MOST LOVED-UP TASSIE LGAs

(Highest percentage of adults living with a partner)

1. Flinders Island

2. Kentish

3. Glamorgan/Spring Bay

4. Latrobe

5. Tasman

6. Circular Head

7. West Tamar

8. Kingborough

9. Huon Valley

10. Northern Midlands

*Source: The Happiness Project, Bond University

With Bond University student journalist Amelia Chapman

Data was taken from the most recent 2016 Census and other public sources to score each LGA out of 10 in nine categories: housing affordability, education, community, jobs, wealth, accessibility, work-life balance, safety and health. Each category draws on a number of factors for its score, and each LGA is also given an overall quality of life score, resulting in a searchable online map.

Originally published as Where not to live in Australia if you’re single: Nation’s most loved-up municipalities revealed