Population of Goulburn, New South Wales: How many people live there?

The population of Goulburn in New South Wales is 24,070 people. The Goulburn population is bigger than Whyalla, smaller than Alice Springs, and about the same size as Armidale.

It’s fair to say that Goulburn doesn’t rank high on the bucket list of travellers to Australia. It’s one of several medium sized inland New South Wales towns. A 1h5m drive north-east of Canberra, Goulburn largely acts as a service hub for surrounding agricultural areas.

Goulburn’s not an entirely unpleasant place to visit. It has several heritage buildings including the Post Office, Colonial Mutual Life Building, Courthouse and Goulburn Pumping Station. But most visitors will be content to take a picture of the Big Merino – the world’s largest concrete sheep – then get out. The Big Merino is one of Australia’s notoriously kitsch roadside Big Things. Others include the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour, the Big Ned Kelly in Glenrowan, the Big Galah in Kimba and the Golden Gumboot in Tully.

big-merino-goulborn — The Big Merino is the star attraction in Goulburn, New South Wales.

You might not be going to Goulburn, but there’s a decent chance you’ll go past it. It’s on the Hume Highway, so you’ll pass Goulburn on the drive from Sydney to Albury or onwards to Melbourne. It’s also one of the first stops on the Sydney to Adelaide drive, while the journey from Canberra to Sydney branches off at Goulburn too.

Population of Goulburn

Goulburn has city status, but don’t pay too much attention to that. Australia will call anywhere with more than two buildings and traffic light a city. According to the regional population growth data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the significant urban area of Goulburn has a population of 24,070 people. That’s using the Goulburn population figures for 2019, released in March 2020.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics uses several different measurements for the population of geographical areas, but the significant urban area figures map most closely to what most people would describe as a town or city.

This makes Goulburn roughly the same size as Armidale or Taree. Compared to elsewhere in Australia, the population of Goulburn is a smidge higher than that of Gympie in Queensland or Whyalla in South Australia, but slightly lower than that of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.