The maps that reveal how western Sydney is being split in two

Western Sydney is getting younger and more divided, with a chasm growing in employment and opportunities between the region’s northern and southern sides.

Data compiled for KPMG’s Enterprising Cities report reveals a significantly higher employment rate in the city’s north-west, where unemployment sits at 2.9 per cent, compared to the city’s south-west and outer-west, where unemployment ranges from 3.6 to 5.4 per cent.

There were increases in the population of people aged 20-49, with 19,600 people in their 20s moving to western Sydney. Terry Rawnsley, KPMG’s urban economist, said this was primarily driven by the migration of families to the area.

While western Sydney’s expanse has never grown at a constant rate, he said the data shows the impacts of infrastructure investment in a region.

While Sydney’s north-western edges have for years reaped the benefits of government investment in the M2/M7, Sydney’s first metro line and new employment hubs, the city’s south-west is several decades behind.

But not for long. Major projects in the area, including construction on the new international airport, the Bradfield City precinct (the first major planned city in Australia in more than 100 years) and Moorebank’s freight terminal, are all creating more jobs.

On western Sydney’s northern side, 27,000 jobs – primarily professional occupations – were added in 2024. On the southern side, that number was just 13,400, made up of primarily blue-collar jobs. Between the two sides, Parramatta acts as what Rawnsley labelled a blurry demarcation line.

That divide was concerning for social mobility: “You would like to have a city where, in a street, you could have a service worker, a labourer, a lawyer and a doctor, all stretched on the one street. It doesn’t always work that way, but having that diversity of workforce is good because you can have local services coming through and for the next generation to have … wide social networks.”

One of the most significant drivers of growth was transport connectivity, said KPMG Western Sydney partner Kaylene Hubbard: “It’s reasonably easy to get here from outside Greater Western Sydney, but once you’re in Greater Western Sydney, getting around is a bit of a mess.

“A lot of the north-west has received an amount of investment which has driven housing, and all kinds of things in that area. If you look at investment coming online in the south, that increases the opportunity.”

The other connected driver is housing. Data shows approvals for new homes dropped across the board in the west through 2024, but Rawnsley said they had picked up since.

If you want a glimpse of what parts of the south-west could be in a few decades, look to Macquarie Park in northern Sydney, a large employment cluster that started in the 1970s when planning began for a technology park next to the university.

“It’s really a 40- or 50-year journey,” he said.

The Sydney Morning Herald has opened its bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email [e-mail] with news tips.