The Forbes population has increased to 9587 according to Census data released this week, with just 22 more males than females.
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Our population has aged a bit – the median age of a Forbes resident is now 42 compared to 41 in the previous Census and a national median of 38.
But the age group that makes up the largest percentage of our population is five to nine years, they account for seven per cent of our population just ahead of 10-14 years (6.8 per cent) and 50-54 years (6.9 per cent).
Our Indigenous population is also growing: up to 11.1 per cent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander from 9.6 in the 2011 Census.
Forbes residents enjoy housing costs well below the national average: Forbes’ median weekly rent is $180 when the Australian average is $335. Locally, that’s up $30 from $150 in Forbes at the 2011 Census.
Home owners are also getting a better deal with a median monthly mortgage of $1148 compared to a national median of $1755. The median mortgage payment has only gone up $21 since the last Census.
But the largest percentage of Forbes residents, 37.9 per cent, actually own their home outright.
Meanwhile the median Forbes income has jumped more than $100 per person, to $571 personal or $1326 a family from $460 and $1010 in the 2011 statistics.
We like big homes: 32.2 per cent of people live in a house with four or more bedrooms and 44.9 per cent live in a house with three bedrooms.
Most of us do five to 14 hours a week doing unpaid domestic work … but 11 per cent of Forbes residents spend more than 30 hours a week on the housework!
Most homes – 37 per cent – have two vehicles and 21.2 per cent have three vehicles.
Forbes continues to be a community-minded town, 25 per cent of Forbes folk volunteered their time through an organisation or group, well above the national 19 per cent. That hasn’t changed since the last Census.
We’re not following the nation-wide trend of losing our religion either, with 34.4 per cent Catholic and 24.8 per cent Anglican.
Nation-wide, 29.6 per cent of people selected “no religion” on the Census, Forbes was nearly half that at 15.4 per cent.
Forbes also has more residents with both parents born in Australia – 80.9 per cent of us compared to a national average of 47.3 per cent - and far less families who only spoke English at home.
The top five languages in the 114 homes where another language was spoken were Italian, Wiradjuri, Cantonese, Malayalam and Afrikaans.
