Cooma Surrounds

The community is notably older, with 23.5% of people aged 65 and over, which is well above the national figure. Children under 15 make up 15.6% of the population, a figure that has fallen since 2011.

The area is overwhelmingly Australian-born, with only 11.6% of people born overseas—far below the New South Wales average of 29.3%. English and Australian are the most common ancestries.

English is the primary language for 87.2% of residents, and very few people—only 0.5%—speak little or no English, which is well below the national figure.

Over half of the population identifies as Christian, while 36.2% report no religion, a figure that has risen by 16 percentage points since 2011.

Year 12 completion is far below the national average at 45.1%, though the proportion of adults with a bachelor degree or higher has risen to 18.4% since 2011.

Typical weekly family income is about $2,068, which is roughly the same as the state and national figures. High earners are more common than in 2011, with 19.9% of households now earning $3,000 or more a week.

Long-term health conditions are more common here than in most areas, affecting 31.2% of residents, with arthritis being the most frequent condition.

Volunteering is very high at 24.6%, far above the national figure. The area also has a higher rate of people who served in the Defence Force compared to the rest of the state.

The First Nations community is older than the national average, with a typical age of 32. This group has a very low unemployment rate of 0.0%.

Families are typically small, with 2.4 people per home, and one-parent families are among the lowest for this level at 8.6%.

Housing is dominated by separate houses, with 98.3% of homes being detached. Home ownership is very high, as 51.2% of people own their homes outright—far above the national figure.

The area is highly car-dependent, with 60.5% of people driving to work and only 0.3% using public transport. Almost every home has a vehicle.

The population is very stable, with only 27.4% of people moving in the last five years, which is far below the national figure of 40.7%.

The local economy is led by agriculture, forestry and fishing, while unemployment is very low at 2.5%.

Residents generally have high access to money and resources, scoring 9 out of 10, which is higher than about 90% of similar areas.

The climate is significantly cooler than the state average, with a typical minimum temperature of 4.5 degrees and a typical maximum of 18.1 degrees.

The area is almost entirely car-dependent, with a very low walkability score of 1.4. Most homes are far from health services, groceries, and public transport.