Census data reveals the most popular suburbs among occupations

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This was published 6 years ago

Census data reveals the most popular suburbs among occupations

By Matt Wade

Essential services workers such as police, nurses and school teachers settle in outer Sydney suburbs where property is more affordable while professionals including lawyers and doctors cluster in neighbourhoods close to the central business district.

That is the trend revealed by analysis of census figures showing which Sydney suburbs have the highest number of workers in a range of common occupations.

The 10 Sydney suburbs with the most lawyers were an average of only four kilometres from the CBD, while the average for the 10 most popular suburbs with doctors was 12 kilometres from the CBD.

It was a very different pattern for police officers. The 10 Sydney suburbs where the highest numbers of police live were an average of 40 kilometres from the CBD. For both school teachers and nurses the average was 27 kilometres from the CBD.

The ten Sydney suburbs with the most lawyers were an average of only 4 kilometres from the CBD.

The ten Sydney suburbs with the most lawyers were an average of only 4 kilometres from the CBD.

Karen Walsh, the chief executive of housing advocacy group Shelter NSW, said the high cost of housing had forced many essential services workers to locate long distances from their employment.

"It's all to do with housing affordability," she said.

"More and more people in occupations like policing and nursing are unable to live close to where they need to work."

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Ms Walsh said this was an unhealthy trend for the city.

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"We absolutely need mixed communities with different types of people from different backgrounds," she said.

The local-level data provided to the Herald by the Bureau of Statistics takes 11 common occupations and shows how many workers from each of those occupations were living in Sydney suburbs when the 2016 census was conducted.

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The inner-west suburb of Strathfield was easily the most popular neighbourhood for Sydney's doctors (537) followed by Randwick and Mosman.

Strathfield also had more dentists than any other suburb – 97 in all. Castle Hill and Epping were also popular with dentists.

Mosman was Sydney's biggest lawyer huddle – almost 600 of them live there.

Paddington was the next most popular neighbourhood for legal practitioners (440) followed by Randwick and Darlinghurst.

Academics also tend to congregate in inner-city suburbs.

Randwick, adjacent to the University of NSW, had the most university lecturers (345) followed by Marrickville and Maroubra.

The suburb with the most police officers was Glenmore Park near Penrith (180) followed by Engadine and Baulkham Hills.

It was a similar pattern for plumbers – Cronulla, Baulkham Hills and Glenmore Park were the most popular suburbs for that occupation.

The largest suburban cluster of school teachers was at Castle Hill (799) followed by Baulkham Hills and Kellyville.

Randwick, a suburb close to several major hospitals, was home to the most nurses and midwives (628) followed by Blacktown, Baulkham Hills and Castle Hill.

The suburb of Campsie had the most cleaners (199) followed by Lidcombe and Auburn.

The 2016 census showed that Sydney's workforce is dominated by professionals and managers – four in 10 of the city's workers are now in those two broad employment categories.

The number of professionals working in Sydney rose by 145,000 between the 2006 census and the 2016 census. They now make up 26.3 per cent of the city's workforce. The healthcare and social assistance sector provided one in eight jobs in NSW, making it state's biggest employer.

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