2021 Census data reveals scale of Gold Coast’s north population boom

More than 22,000 people have moved to the city’s booming north in the last six years, new census data has revealed. FIND OUT HOW MUCH YOUR SUBURB GREW

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More than 22,000 people have moved to the Gold Coast’s booming north in the past six years, new census data has revealed.

The total population in Pimpama rose from just 9396 in the 2016 census to 24,601 in 2021, an increase of 15,205 residents.

Coomera’s population increased from 13,304 residents to 20,225 (up 6921) in the same time period.

The numbers have cemented the Pimpama-Coomera area as one of the fastest growing regions in the nation, and sparked frustration from its local state MP.

Coomera MP Michael Crandon told the Bulletin the new figures were “no surprise” to him.

“(The state government) has always underestimated the numbers,” he said.

“The infrastructure is so far behind, and they knew (this growth) was coming all along.

“It hasn’t surprised me, it’s like I’ve been in some sort of echo chamber and no one hears it but me.

“I’ve been telling them, ‘come for a drive with me and see it’. They just don’t get it.”

Bulletin reports last week revealed it would be 2028 before the Coomera Hospital announced in the 2022-23 State Budget would be completed, with fears its 404 beds won’t be enough to relieve pressures on the city’s struggling hospital system.

“We were saying several years ago it needed to be between 600-800 beds,” Mr Crandon said.

“It’s a fraction of the size it needs to be so where’s it going to be in six years time? A 400-bed hospital just isn’t going to cut it.

“We need to future proof these projects, we’re constantly behind and trying to catch up.

“But have they listened? No.

“It’s fallen on deaf ears time and time again.”

The area is also home to some of the Gold Coast’s most notorious interchanges, including M1 Exit 45 at Ormeau, which is currently undergoing a $20m upgrade to reduce queuing on the motorway.

The new data also revealed the Gold Coast’s total population rose from 555,721 residents in 2016 to 625,087 in 2021.

There are now 167,929 families and 270,261 private dwellings citywide. There were just 26,794 unoccupied private dwellings across the entire Gold Coast.

The average weekly rent sits at $450 a week, up from $390p/w in 2016.

State government projections tipped the city would hit 1,076,192 residents by 2041, a 2021 Bulletin investigation revealed.

But some forecasters pre-Covid believed it could reach that one million mark as early as 2036, with post-pandemic interstate migration bringing the number even closer.

2016-2021: HOW GOLD COAST SUBURBS HAVE GROWN

•Arundel 10,246 – 11,171

•Beaudesert 13,915 – 14,674

•Benowa 8741 – 9889

•Biggera Waters 8534 - 9973

•Broadbeach Waters 7779 – 8164

•Bundall 4523 – 4895

•Burleigh Heads 8770 – 9176

•Burleigh Waters 14,156 – 14,413

•Carrara 12,189 – 13,147

•Coolangatta 5948 – 6491

•Coomera 13,304 – 20,225

•Currumbin – Tugun 11,316 – 12,339

•Currumbin Valley – Tallebudgera 7147 – 7674

•Currumbin Waters 9121 – 9797

•Elanora – 12,145 – 12,539

•Helensvale 16,862 – 18,949

•Hope Island 11,232 – 14,665

•Jacobs Well – Alberton 3642 – 4607

•Main Beach 3883 – 3998

•Mermaid Beach – Broadbeach 11,921 – 13,997

•Mermaid Waters 12,170 – 13,205

•Merrimac 7071 – 7210

•Miami 6843 – 7445

•Molendinar 6375 – 6450

•Mudgeeraba – Bonogin 18,263 – 19,552

•Nerang – Mount Nathan 20,529 – 21,260

•Ormeau 14,460 – 15,938

•Oxenford – Maudsland 15,795 – 17,920

•Pacific Pines – Gaven 18,320 – 18,308

•Palm Beach 14,654 – 16,349

•Paradise Point – Hollywell 9399 – 9991

•Parkwood 8702 – 8837

•Pimpama – 9,396 – 24,601

•Reedy Creek – Andrews 7976 – 8810

•Robina 23,106 – 25,659

•Runaway Bay 9068 – 9308

•Southport – North 14,697 – 17891

•Southport – South 17,208 – 18,893

•Surfers Paradise 23,689 – 26,412

•Tamborine – Canungra 14,273 – 15,692

•Upper Coomera 25,276 – 27,180

•Varsity Lakes 15,183 – 16,639

•Willow Vale 2096 – 2279

•Worongary – Tallai 7884 – 8542

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