Community snapshot

The 2021-2022 year was steady for the local economy as the unemployment rate, rents and median house prices, and the number of building approvals showed little movement.

Housing

From the 2021 Census, there were 12,177 private dwellings in the region, of which 85.75% were ‘separate house’, and 5.4% were ‘flat, unit or apartment’. The median weekly rent for a house in Emerald is $300, while the median rent for a property in Blackwater dropped from $270 to $220 this year.

The median sale price in Emerald is $350,000 which has risen 5.01% in the last 12 months.

The number of new house approvals in the region during the year was 37; a decrease of 15.91% from the previous year and more than double that of the 2016-2017 year.

On 31 March 2021, the Queensland Valuer-General released land valuations for 12,373 properties with a total value of $4.38 billion in the CHRC area.

Population

The 2021 estimated resident population was 27,836 people. This represents a 0.3% decrease from 2016 when the population on Census night was 27,999 people. The 30-39 years cohort is the most common with 4,358 people.

Central Highlands visitor economy

The economic return to the region for tourism is around $235 million. According to the 2019 figures (latest available), the region welcomed 65,000 interstate visitors and 312,000 intrastate visitors. The ‘drive market’ accounts for most of the visitors to the Central Highlands.

There are 255 tourism-related businesses in the region. The top 3 international visitor markets are New Zealand, United States of America and the United Kingdom.

In 2019, 707,000 visitors stayed on average for 5 nights and spent an average of $91 per night.

Year Visitors Average nights

Spend p/night

2018 678,000 5 $95 2019 707,000 5 $91

Business is the primary reason people visit the region, followed by holiday-makers and visiting friends and relatives (2016-2019 data from Tourism Research Australia).

Culturally diverse

The top 5 countries of birth for Central Highlands’ residents include Australia, New Zealand, England, the Philippines and South Africa. In 2021, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 5.2% of the Central Highlands population.

Employment

Our top 3 employers are coal mining, beef cattle farming and primary education, accounting for more than 30% of jobs. The unemployment rate in the region at the end of the March 2022 quarter was 4%, directly in line with the Queensland rate of 4%. 21.9% of employed people work in the mining industry and 11.8% work in agriculture, forestry and fishing. The labour force participation rate for Central Queensland is 70.3% compared to 70.9% at the same time in 2020 Queensland Government Statistician's Office.

Industry

Our economy generates an estimated $10.7 billion output representing 24% of the $44.9 billion output generated by Central Queensland.

The top 5 industry sectors (generating gross revenue) in the Central Highlands are:

„ mining „ agriculture, forestry, fishing „ rental hiring and real estate services „ construction „ manufacturing.

The Central Highlands region remains fully drought-declared The Long Paddock.

Information supplied by REMPLAN, the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office, the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census data and RP Data.