Cairns

Located in Far North Queensland, the Cairns SA4 region consists of the local governments of Douglas, Tablelands, Cassowary Coast, Cairns and the eastern portion of Mareeba. It's situated about 1700km from Brisbane CBD and 350km from the Townsville CBD.  

Known for its role in Queensland tourism, with it attracting both domestic and international tourists, Cairns is slowly undergoing a diversification of its economy. Currently, the Mount Peter PDA located in the southern portion of Cairns is expected to be the next growth frontier. 

Cairns will surpass 300,000 residents in 2035.

The Gordonvale - Trinity SA2 is expected to be the region's fastest growing area as most available greenfield land in the northern and central portion of Cairns will be developed. Supported by the Mount Peter PDA, it will unlock an additional 18,000+ new homes for the region. Additionally, within Gordonvale proper, the Maher Road precinct is enabling new developments along Maher Road in terms of new greenfield estates and retirement villages. 

There has been a push for urban regeneration and renewal within the Cairns City Centre, as seen with the upcoming hospital precinct and redevelopment of older established social housing. 

Furthermore, there will be sporadic pockets of development stemming from the Residential Activation Fund to help alleviate housing shortages within regional and rural communities by providing trunk infrastructure. 

We set the context for our local area forecasts with a presentation of our state- and regional-level forecasts for Queensland.

Access the presentation slides (including our forecast data for each region), and a short recap or the full webinar presentation on-demand. Learn what's driving change and how much growth will go to each region of the state over the 25 years to 2046.

The population forecast for Queensland

The following forecast information presents the numbers for Cairns.

Learn more about the different options to access these forecasts for Local Government Areas (LGAs), suburbs, custom catchments or the entire state or nation here.