This was published 5 months ago
Which suburb has the most teachers? Dentists? CEOs? Where to find Melbourne’s worker tribes
By Craig Butt
Credit: Matt Davidson
Brunswick has the most bike mechanics, Craigieburn has the most cabinetmakers, and South Yarra has the most stockbrokers. The most accountants can be found living in the Melbourne CBD, while more zookeepers reside in Healesville than any other suburb.
The Age’s analysis of census data has pinpointed the most common suburb of residence in the state for more than 1,000 different jobs.
What about your job? To find out, type it into the box below and follow the prompt to our visual story. It starts out by taking you through the typical earnings for your occupation, before showing you how many people do the same job as you in your suburb, as well as the suburb that comes out on the top of the list for your profession. Give it a shot:
Let’s take a tour of the state to see which suburb comes out top for each job.
Inner Melbourne
Let’s start in the Melbourne CBD, the most densely populated area of the entire state and home to more workers than any other suburb.
With all of its cafes, restaurants and bars, the city is home to the most waiters (1452), chefs (1176), kitchen hands (710), cooks (341), baristas (374), cafe/restaurant managers (300), bar attendants (280) and pastry cooks (74). Perhaps thanks to all these eateries, there are more delivery drivers (386) living in the CBD than any other suburb.
Credit: Matt Davidson
The hospitality sector is also represented by the number of hotel receptionists (108) and hotel managers (75). It is also home to many office workers, with the most software engineers (752), accountants (668), management consultants (395), and architects (252).
And while bricks and mortar shopfronts have taken a hit in recent years, shop assistants are still the most common job in Victoria, and more of them live in the CBD (1348) than any other suburb.
Suburbs that have the most of each job in the inner city
Carlton: Gallery or museum guides
Docklands: Analyst programmers
North Melbourne: Paediatricians
Southbank: Gaming workers
South Yarra: Barristers
The north/south divide
There’s traditionally been a view that south of the CBD is home to business and legal types, while the north is the preferred habitat of creative and academic types, and this has been borne out in the data.
Richmond has the most sales and marketing managers (503), marketing specialists (451), solicitors (444) and financial investment advisors, as well as the most personal assistants (156).
It also has the most footballers (41), which is almost enough for two full teams.
Compare that to bookish Brunswick, which has the most university lecturers (249), newspaper or periodical editors (31), and librarians (38).
It also has the most graphic designers (164), musicians (40), directors (of film, radio, TV or stage) (27), video producers (21), and composers (8).
Credit: Matt Davidson
Another piece of census trivia: more people who live in Brunswick bike to work than any other suburb, which is convenient since this area also has the most bike mechanics (15). If that statistic sounds a bit dubious, get a statistician to fact-check it—there are 30 to choose from in Brunswick, more than any other suburb in the state.
Suburbs that have the most of each job in the inner-north
Brunswick: University lecturers
Coburg: Body artists
Northcote: Policy analysts
Preston: Occupational therapists
Thornbury: Brewery workers
The eastern suburbs
Now, let’s head to Melbourne’s leafy east, which is home to a disproportionate number of medical professionals.
Kew has the most GPs (221), anaesthetists (52), psychiatrists (40), orthopaedic surgeons (25), obstetricians/gynaecologists (19), gastroenterologists (15), otorhinolaryngologists (ear, nose and throat specialists) (14), cardiologists (14) and pathologists (13).
It also has the most judges (10).
Credit: Matt Davidson
Glen Waverley has the most dentists (74) and optometrists (29). It also has plenty of doctors specialising in animals, with 27 veterinarians.
Suburbs that have the most of each job in the eastern suburbs
Box Hill: Natural remedy consultants
Croydon: Ministers of religion
Glen Waverley: Dentists
Kew: General practitioners
Mount Waverley: Chief information officers
The western and northern suburbs
Point Cook has the most general clerks (579), retail managers (561), program or project administrators (353) and bank workers (203),
It also tops the list for a lot of ICT (information communication technology) jobs, such as ICT project managers (467), ICT business analysts (232) and ICT customer support officers (223).
A bit further west, Tarneit comes out on top for more blue-collar jobs. It has the most storepersons (1142), childcare workers (646) and service station attendants (54). It has the most people who collect trolleys for a living (23), as well as the most people who collect debts for a living (32).
Credit: Matt Davidson
Tarneit also has a lot of drivers, with the most truck drivers (1078), forklift drivers (465), couriers (192) and taxi drivers (167). When it comes to other forms of transport, Craigieburn has the most bus drivers (120), Werribee has the most train drivers (38) and Reservoir has the most tram drivers (23).
Suburbs that have the most of each job in the western suburbs
Hoppers Crossing: Lifeguards
Point Cook: Bank workers
St Albans: Beauty therapists
Tarneit: Truck drivers
Werribee: Train drivers
Heading due north, Sunbury has more than its fair share of tradies, with the most carpenters (359), electricians (313) and plumbers (381), as well as some key essential workers, with the most police officers (191) and ambulance officers (57). And possibly thanks to its proximity to Melbourne Airport, it has the most baggage handlers (42) and flight attendants (38).
Meanwhile, Craigieburn comes out top for a few jobs commonly seen at shopping centres, such as checkout operators (269), shelf fillers (158), fast food cooks (158), hairdressers (144) and pharmacy sales assistants (103).
Suburbs that have the most of each job in the northern suburbs
Broadmeadows: Chauffeurs
Craigieburn: Aged or disabled carers
Reservoir: Handypersons
Sunbury: Police officers
Thomastown: Fabric and textile factory workers
Bayside and the Mornington Peninsula
If you were to walk all of Brighton, you would find that it has the most chief executives or managing directors (445) of anywhere in Victoria. It also has the most corporate general managers (218), financial investment managers (71) and real estate agency principals (30).
Credit: Matt Davidson
Neighbouring Elwood has the most actors (13), while a bit further down the Nepean Highway, Cheltenham has the most sports administrators (13).
Suburbs that have the most of each job in Bayside and the Mornington Peninsula
Brighton: CEOs and managing directors
Elwood: Actors
Frankston: Window cleaners
Mornington: Horse trainers
Rosebud: Greenkeepers
In Melbourne’s south-east, Berwick has the most primary school teachers (448) and school principals (66) (Reservoir, in the city’s north, has the most secondary school teachers). The health sector is also well represented here, with 211 medical receptionists, 116 critical care nurses and 65 nurse managers.
Suburbs that have the most of each job in the south-eastern suburbs
Berwick: Primary school teachers
Clyde North: Medical nurses
Keysborough: Bakers
Pakenham: Signwriters
Springvale: Stonemasons
Rural and regional Victoria
As you might expect, rural and regional Victoria is where the agricultural jobs are. Benalla has the most beef cattle farmers (31), Hamilton has the most sheep farmers (53), Shepparton has the most poultry farmers (35) and Warrnambool has the most dairy farmers (55) and meat process workers (149).
Mildura has the most vineyard workers (185), grape growers (123), winery cellar hands (66) and winemakers (33). And on a completely unrelated note, it also has the most acupuncturists (7).
Suburbs that have the most of each job in rural/regional Victoria
Horsham: Grain, oilseed or pasture growers
Lakes Entrance: Fishing Hands
Mildura: Vineyard workers
Shepparton: Fruit or nut growers
Warrnambool: Meat process workers
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