When viewing datasets on the Community Insight Australia map you can see the data displayed at three different levels SA3, SA2, SA1. These areas are defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). SA1 is the most granular of these and is the area upon which the maps in the tool are built.

• SA1s have a population of between 200 and 800, with an average of around 400 people. SA1s in remote and regional areas generally have smaller populations than those in urban areas. Most of the data generated from the ABS Census is available at SA1 level. SA1s are referred to by number only. Their numbers are extensions of SA2 numbers.
• SA2s are similar in size to suburbs, and are called by suburb names. This is the smallest granularity Centrelink data is available. SA2s generally have a population between 3,000 and 25,000 with an average of about 10,000 people.
• SA3s are regions. Most of our health data has a granularity of SA3.

In the map to the left, the area defined by the black outline is the SA3 called ‘Sydney Inner City’, and the shaded areas are SA1s.

In the map to the right, the area outlined in black is an SA2 within the SA3. It is called ‘Surry Hills’, and the shaded areas are also SA2s.

There are a few changes to the definitions with every Census. We use the 2021 definitions, which have an average of 25 SA1s in each SA2, and an average of 7 SA2s in every SA3. The number is dependent on the population density and geographical features like rivers, parks and main roads. The following table shows how many of each area type there are in Australia.

The codes for the SA1s, SA2s and SA3s are related. For example:

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Click on this link to download a spreadsheet from the ABS showing SA2 codes and names and their corresponding SA3 codes and names.