The population of the Mid-Western Region has risen 6.7 per cent from 24,076 in the 2016 census to 25,713 in the 2021 data. The number of families has increased from 6,077 to 6,800 in the last five years.

While the median age remains the same at 42-years-old, the breakdown of ages shows an ageing population in the region.

The number of people aged 50 and above increased by 10.26 per cent from 9,609 to 10,595.

Similarly, the number of residents aged from zero to 49 increased by 4.55 per cent from 14,461 in 2016 to 15,120 in 2021.

Residents are earning more than in 2016 with the median weekly household income increasing from $1,131 to $1,486.

The gender breakdown remains the same with an almost equal split of male and female at 50.3 per cent of the population identifying as male and 49.7 per cent identifying as female.

When it comes to religion, 34.3 per cent of the population now identify as non-religious with 8,827 of respondents choosing the 'No religion, so described' option compared to 5,320 in 2016. It is worth noting that 'No Religion, so described' does not include those who reported Secular and other spiritual beliefs such as Atheism, Agnosticism and Own Spiritual Beliefs, according to the census data. Christianity remains broadly the largest religious group reported overall at 60 per cent - this is a decline of 13.5 percentage points compared to 2016. The number of people that identified at Catholic was steady.

When it comes to homes and rentals, things have changed. Compared to the 2016 snapshot, there are now 3,740 homes owned outright compared with 3,332, making up 38.9 per cent of the region's homes. Homes owned with a mortgage also rose from 2,681 to 3,108 and rentals dropped slightly from 2,402 to 2,351 in the last five years, making up just under a quarter of the homes in the region.

The number of motor vehicles per household has also risen with the number of respondents listing 'three or more vehicles' rising from 1,839 in 2016 to 2,485 in 2021. This data excludes motorbikes, scooter and heavy vehicles.

The region has also become more diverse. When it comes to ancestry the majority of residents listed their ancestry as Australian with 43.9 per cent and English with 42.9 per cent. Both of these are increases of around 10 per cent on 2016. The number of residents with Irish background make up 12 per cent of the population compared to just 8.5 per cent in 2016, similarly those with Scottish ancestry, jumping to 9.8 per cent.

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