55.5% ▲ +14.6%
Higher than 89% of urban centre areas.
- 2011: 48.4%
- 2016: 51.6%
- 2021: 55.5%
Share of people whose highest year of school is Year 12 or equivalent.
Cairns · Urban Centre
Education & Qualifications in Cairns
How far people went at school, the qualifications they hold and what they studied.
More people in Cairns hold higher qualifications than in most similar areas, though they still trail the national figures. A growing number of residents are finishing school and university, with the proportion of adults holding a bachelor degree or higher rising by 5.3 percentage points since 2011.
Schooling
Highest year of school completed.
Around 55.5% of residents completed Year 12, which is much higher than most similar areas but still well below the Australian figure of 58.8%. This is a positive trend for Cairns, as the completion rate rose 7.1 points since 2011.
Highest year of school
View on map →In Cairns, Year 12 is the majority at 62%; Year 10 is next at 21%.
Qualifications
Post-school qualifications and degrees.
About 19.7% of adults have a bachelor degree or higher, a figure that is much higher than in similar areas but a little below the Queensland average. The most common qualification is a Certificate III or IV, held by 31% of the population.
19.7% ▲ +37.1%
Higher than 80% of urban centre areas.
- 2011: 14.4%
- 2016: 16.7%
- 2021: 19.7%
Share of people aged 15+ whose highest qualification is a bachelor degree or above (incl. graduate and postgraduate).
Highest qualification level
View on map →In Cairns, the largest group is Certificate III / IV at 39%, followed by Bachelor degree (27%) and Advanced diploma / diploma (19%).
Field of study
What people studied.
Qualifications in Cairns are spread across several fields, with Management and Commerce being the most common at 15.8%. Engineering and related fields follow closely at 14.1%, while Society and Culture accounts for 12.1%.
Sources
- Census of Population and Housing — Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 (CC BY 4.0).
More for Cairns
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Education & Qualifications in Cairns [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/ucl/UCL303001/cairns/topic/education