The shape of the region
| Measure | Wollongong | Shellharbour | Kiama |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 214,564 | 76,271 | 23,074 |
| Median age | 39 | 39 | 48 |
| Median weekly household income | $1,682 | $1,647 | $1,834 |
| Median weekly rent | $390 | $420 | $485 |
What jumps out of the table
- Kiama is demographically its own place. A median age of 48 against 39 in both neighbours is not a rounding difference; it is nine years, the gap between a workforce town and a destination one. It pairs with the region's highest median household income and its highest rents, $485 a week at a Census when Wollongong's median was $390.
- Shellharbour's housing pressure predates the current cycle. Even in 2021 its median rent ($420) sat above Wollongong's ($390) on a lower median income. The fastest-growing corner of the region has been paying more for housing than its bigger neighbour since before the post-Census boom.
- Wollongong is the region's centre of gravity, but not its whole story. At 214,564 people it holds about two-thirds of the three-LGA population, which is exactly why regional averages quietly become Wollongong averages unless you split the table, as we have.
The live economic read we can actually cite: Kiama
Of the three councils, only Kiama's current-year economic profile was fully readable from a primary source this week: the REMPLAN economic profile the council operates. As at 19 July 2026 it reports an estimated population of 23,139, some 7,535 local jobs, and annual economic output of $2.738 billion. Two details from the same profile sketch the town's economic character: construction is the largest contributor to output at $700.8 million (25.6 per cent of the total), while accommodation and food services is the largest employer with 1,176 jobs, 15.6 per cent of all local employment. Building and hosting: the Kiama economy in five words.
The same profile places Kiama inside REMPLAN's regional denominators: about 3.8 per cent of the Illawarra's $72.1 billion annual output and 4.34 per cent of its 173,628 jobs.
And the honest half of this section: as at 19 July we do not publish equivalent current-year figures for Wollongong and Shellharbour, because we could not read them from a citable primary source. Their forecast and economic profile products sit behind a hard bot challenge that we will work through properly rather than quote second-hand. When we can read them, this story gets its companion piece.
Why a baseline at all
Every planning fight, budget argument and project pitch in this region leans on a number like the ones above, usually without a link. Our baseline exists so future stories can point at it: when a proponent says "fast-growing", the Census says what was true in 2021 and the next Census will say what happened after. The 2026 Census, collected in August this year, will be the first direct re-measure of all three councils since this table, and we will rebuild the portrait from it when the data lands.