Hobart population: how many people live in Hobart?

Greater Hobart added 542 people, or 0.21 per cent, over the 2024-25 financial year. The ABS capital city data rounds the growth rate to 0.2 per cent, while Tasmania rounds the increase to 540 people. The increase was the smallest and the rate the slowest of the eight capital cities. Adelaide, the next slowest, grew 1.27 per cent². Hobart's increase was also the city's smallest annual increase since 2001-02, when it added 323 people.

Annual population growth over the 24 financial years from 2001-02 to 2024-25 ranged from 0.16 per cent to 2.45 per cent, and the population increased in every year over the period. The highest growth rate was recorded in 2017-18, when the city added 5,663 people (2.45 per cent), the largest increase and the highest rate over the period. The three years from 2016-17 to 2018-19 were the only years with growth above 2 per cent².

The annual increase declined in each of the seven years after the 2017-18 peak, from 5,663 people to 5,544 in 2018-19, 4,361 in 2019-20, 3,858 in 2020-21, 2,417 in 2021-22, 943 in 2022-23, 631 in 2023-24 and 542 in 2024-25².

The city's fastest-growing areas in 2024-25 were on the eastern shore of the Derwent River and around Sorell. The ABS identifies Rokeby (up by 240 people) on the eastern shore and Sorell - Richmond (150) in Hobart's north-east as the areas with the largest growth in Tasmania¹.

Rokeby grew from 8,987 to 9,227 people over the year, a rate of 2.7 per cent that was also the highest of any area in the state. Sorell - Richmond grew from 10,731 to 10,881⁴. The next largest increase in Greater Hobart was Dodges Ferry - Lewisham, up 91 people.

Population growth varied across the city. Four of Greater Hobart's six SA3 regions grew over 2024-25 and two declined. Hobart - North East added 277 people and Sorell - Dodges Ferry added 241, the two largest increases, followed by Brighton with 198 and Hobart - South and West with 127. Hobart Inner declined by 143 people and Hobart - North West by 158. Together, the six regional changes account for the city's total increase of 542 people².

Rokeby recorded the largest natural increase of any area in the state, at 137 people. Sandy Bay recorded the state's largest net overseas migration gain, at 308 people, while its total population fell by 27. The largest net internal migration gain in the state, 106 people at St Helens - Scamander, was outside the capital on Tasmania's east coast⁴.

Hobart was the seventh largest of the eight capital city populations at 30 June 2025, with 255,250 people. Sydney was the largest, with 5,638,830 people, followed by Melbourne with 5,435,590, Brisbane with 2,833,524, Perth with 2,452,765 and Adelaide with 1,491,015. Canberra, the sixth largest capital, had 484,630 people, and Darwin, the smallest, had 159,284².

Hobart also recorded the smallest population increase and slowest growth rate of the eight capitals in 2024-25. It added 542 people, compared with 2,719 in Darwin, the next smallest increase. Melbourne recorded the largest increase of the eight capitals, at 105,030 people, followed by Sydney with 75,230, Brisbane with 58,223 and Perth with 58,088¹.

By growth rate, Perth was the fastest-growing capital at 2.43 per cent, followed by Brisbane at 2.10 per cent and Melbourne at 1.97 per cent. Hobart's rate of 0.21 per cent was the slowest, below Adelaide's 1.27 per cent¹.

Australia's eight capital cities had a combined population of 18,750,888 people at 30 June 2025, an increase of 324,679 (1.8 per cent) over the year. Greater Hobart accounted for 1.4 per cent of the combined capital population¹.

Adelaide's population data is covered in the Adelaide population article.