The City of Whittlesea is one of the largest municipalities in metropolitan Melbourne, covering an area of approximately 489 km2.
About 70% of the City is rural with the other 30% urban, comprising houses, shops and factories.
We are one of the fastest-growing municipalities in Australia.
Our current population is approximately 268,944. This is expected to grow to 463,826 by 2054.
Between 2026 and 2054, our three fastest-growing precincts are forecast to be:
- Donnybrook with an additional 55,887 people
- Epping with an additional 44,502 people
- Wollert with an additional 34,897 people.
Our growth is not only in our newer suburbs, with strong growth and redevelopment set to take place in established areas such as Epping, Thomastown and Lalor.
Age profile
Our community is slightly younger than average, with a median age of 35, compared to 37 across the greater Melbourne area.
By 2054, the City of Whittlesea will have approximately 19,000 more children aged under 18 than in 2026, and almost 11,500 more residents over 65.
Multiculturalism
We are one of the most multicultural municipalities in Victoria. In 2021, almost half of our residents (more than 115,000 people) spoke a language other than English at home.
Between 2016 and 2021, emerging communities in the City of Whittlesea included residents born in India (+5,915 persons), Nepal (+1,382), Philippines (+818), and Iran (+730).
In 2021, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population was 2,270 people, the third-largest in metropolitan Melbourne.
Households
In 2026, we expect the 95,000th home to be built in the City of Whittlesea. This figure is expected to grow to more than 164,000 dwellings by 2054. Currently:
- 85% of homes are separate dwellings, compared with 72% across Victoria
- the average household size in the City of Whittlesea is 2.9 people, higher than the Victorian average of 2.5
- about 41% of households consist of couples with children, higher than the statewide average of 31%.
Further information
See more socio-demographic information about our community
In 2010, the Victorian Government introduced the Urban Growth Zone. This increased land for 90,000 new residential blocks within Melbourne’s seven growth areas, which includes the City of Whittlesea.
New and emerging growth areas will have the most rapid population growth. Our highest population growth over the next 20 years will be in Epping, Wollert and Donnybrook.
In 2025, there were more than 87,000 local jobs and 23,735 local businesses in the City of Whittlesea.
Approximately 131,000 people who live here are employed. Of our employed residents:
- 63% work outside of the municipality, many in the areas of Darebin, Hume and inner Melbourne
- 60% work full-time and 38% work part-time.
The three main industry sector employers in the municipality are:
- health care and social assistance (19%)
- construction (14%)
- education and training (11%).
Our residents rely more heavily on driving a car to their place of work than residents in many other parts of Melbourne, with more than 67,300 residents (63%) travelling outside of the City of Whittlesea for work.
The train is the most popular form of public transport for commuters. Train use is increasing thanks to the recent line extension to include Middle Gorge, Hawkstowe and Mernda stations.