We are Kalgoorlie-Boulder

11 per cent.

About 11 in every 100 Kalgoorlie-Boulder residents speak a language other than English at home, across 96 languages.

Our population
28,969
Speak another language
3,318
Languages at home
96
Growth since last census
+10.1%

3,318 of us — 11.5% — speak a language other than English at home, most often Tagalog, Afrikaans and Filipino. A share this size is easy to design around by accident, which is precisely how it gets designed out.

In Western Australia

#33

of 137 Western Australia councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #151 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Tagalog

326 speakers

Tagalog is spoken by 326 of our residents at home, 1.1% of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

Afrikaans

315 speakers

Afrikaans is spoken by 315 of our residents at home, 1.1% of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

Filipino

296 speakers

Filipino is spoken by 296 of our residents at home, 1.0% of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

The languages of Kalgoorlie-Boulder

96 languages carry the conversation at home. Every one of them is spoken here.

Each block below is scaled to the number of people who speak that language at home, and tinted by how fast that community has grown since the last census.

  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, covering 2,362 speakers. Area is speakers at the 2021 Census; tint is the change since 2016. Every figure is also in the table below.

Every language, in order

Speakers at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016. Broader ABS categories such as “Chinese, nfd” are counted in our totals but left out of this list, so the percentages can exceed the sum of the languages shown.

  1. 01
    Tagalog
    326+8.7%
  2. 02
    Afrikaans
    315-16.7%
  3. 03
    Filipino
    296+34.5%
  4. 04
    Mandarin
    2030%
  5. 05
    Shona
    170+24.1%
  6. 06
    Hindi
    139-12.0%
  7. 07
    Thai
    134+21.8%
  8. 08
    Maori (New Zealand)
    126-11.9%
  9. 09
    Spanish
    119+250%
  10. 10
    Punjabi
    101+80.4%

Fastest-growing among us

Filipino

+34.5% since last census

We share this portrait because a council below the Western Australia average is the one most likely to be planned for as though everybody here reads English. 3,318 of us do not, at home, and a service that reaches everyone except them has not reached everyone. This almanac exists so that the number is on the record before the decision is made.

Filipino grew 34.5% since the last census, to 296 speakers. A community growing at that rate is one whose translation needs are ahead of the last set of figures anyone commissioned.

Who we are, beyond language

Where we were born

22.3% of us were born overseas, across 82 countries.

  1. 01
    New Zealand
    2,057-15.0%
  2. 02
    Philippines
    776+26.0%
  3. 03
    England
    660-11.3%
  4. 04
    South Africa
    531-8.1%
  5. 05
    India
    365-2.1%
  6. 06
    Zimbabwe
    309+10.4%
  7. 07
    Papua New Guinea
    169+15.0%
  8. 08
    Thailand
    164+39.0%
  9. 09
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    138-19.8%
  10. 10
    Scotland
    93-30.6%

What we believe

Reported affiliation in Kalgoorlie-Boulder at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    13,132+28.5%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    11,374-24.2%
  3. 03
    Hinduism
    369+10.1%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    327+27.2%
  5. 05
    Islam
    234+25.8%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 16 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Kalgoorlie-Boulder shaded by the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. Boundaries are ABS ASGS 2021. See every council on one map.

In context

Kalgoorlie-Boulder
11.5%
Western Australia
17.3%
Australia
21.3%

11.5% of Kalgoorlie-Boulder residents speak a language other than English at home, against 17.3% for Western Australia and 21.3% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 Census.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2021, language used at home by Statistical Area Level 2, aggregated to Local Government Area. Growth compares 2021 against the 2016 Census.

How the headline share is counted. 11.5% is 3,318 residents as a share of all 28,969 of us. A further 3,299 did not state a language at all, and we do not count them as speaking one — counting every non-response as a non-English speaker would put this figure at 22.8%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 12.9%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Kalgoorlie-Boulder, it is almost certainly one of those two.

Two further caveats we would rather state than bury. Summing suburbs omits residents not allocated to one — no usual address, migratory and unincorporated areas — so national totals sit a little under the ABS published figures; the Kalgoorlie-Boulder figures on this page are unaffected. And ranked language lists exclude ABS residual categories such as “Chinese, nfd”, which are not languages anyone can order a translation in; they remain inside the headline total.

Need this community reached in its own languages? Talk to us about translation in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.