Wollongong population: how many people live in Wollongong?

The Wollongong Significant Urban Area had an estimated resident population of 322,343 at 30 June 2025. That made Wollongong the fourth largest of the 36 urban areas in New South Wales, behind Sydney at 5,219,674, Newcastle - Maitland at 541,634 and the Central Coast at 354,189¹. Wollongong accounted for 3.8 per cent of New South Wales' 8,592,524 people and 1.2 per cent of Australia's 27,613,654².

The ABS updates the population estimate each year for 30 June. The count includes everyone who usually lives in the area regardless of citizenship or visa status, so temporary migrants such as international students are included while short-term visitors are not. In this release, the estimates are final for 2001 to 2021, revised for 2022 to 2024 and preliminary for 2025³. The next release, covering 30 June 2026, is due on 25 March 2027⁴.

Net overseas migration was the largest contributor to Wollongong's population growth in 2024-25, adding 1,951 people, or 54 per cent of the urban area's 3,642-person increase. Natural increase (the excess of births over deaths) added 938 people, from 3,506 births and 2,568 deaths. Net internal migration (moves to and from elsewhere in Australia) added 753, from 25,258 arrivals and 24,505 departures⁵.

The ABS does not publish population components for urban areas, so Wollongong's figures are derived from the 22 smaller areas that make up the urban area.

Net overseas migration was also the largest component in each of the four years from 2021-22 to 2024-25. It peaked at 3,421 people in 2022-23, when net internal migration recorded a loss of 176 people. Net internal migration added 1,189 people in 2021-22, 958 in 2023-24 and 753 in 2024-25, while natural increase ranged from 823 to 1,060 across the four years.

The pattern varied by council area. Net overseas migration was the largest component of the Wollongong council area's 2024-25 increase of 2,123 people, adding 1,673, while net internal migration subtracted 112. In Shellharbour, net internal migration added 938 of the council area's 1,559-person increase. Kiama's population fell by 20, as deaths exceeded births by 62 and net internal migration subtracted 50⁶. The Wollongong council area recorded a net internal migration loss in each of the four years from 2021-22 to 2024-25, while Shellharbour recorded a gain in each⁷.

Wollongong was the fourth-largest urban area in New South Wales at 30 June 2025, a position it has held in every year since 2001. Sydney, Newcastle - Maitland and the Central Coast were the three larger urban areas. Albury - Wodonga was the next largest, with 102,435 people, less than a third of Wollongong's population. It crosses the Victorian border but is listed once in the data, under New South Wales¹.

The gap between the Central Coast and Wollongong was 31,846 people at 30 June 2025, similar to the 30,930-person gap at 30 June 2001. It reached 39,775 at 30 June 2019, the widest gap during this period, before narrowing in each of the next six years¹.

In 2024-25, Wollongong grew 1.14 per cent, lower than Sydney's 1.37 per cent and Newcastle - Maitland's 1.30 per cent, and higher than the Central Coast's 0.68 per cent¹. Across the rest of the state outside Greater Sydney, the population grew from 2,928,450 to 2,953,694 over the year, an increase of 25,244, or 0.86 per cent².

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

The urban area added 61,688 people from 30 June 2001 to 30 June 2025, growing from 260,655 to 322,343, an increase of 23.7 per cent¹.

Wollongong first reached 300,000 people at 30 June 2018 and 320,000 at 30 June 2025¹. It took three or four years to move between each 10,000-person milestone from 270,000 to 320,000.

The three council areas grew at different rates over the same period. The Wollongong council area grew from 188,275 people in 2001 to 224,327 in 2025, an increase of 36,052, or 19.1 per cent. It first reached 200,000 residents at 30 June 2010, when its population was 200,468¹.

Shellharbour recorded the fastest growth of the three council areas, increasing from 59,383 to 83,228, a rise of 40.2 per cent. Kiama grew from 19,793 to 23,139, an increase of 16.9 per cent. Its population fell by 20 people in 2024-25, the first annual decline since 2005-06¹.