The population of Brisbane is one of the highest in Australia and was the first local government area (LGA) to have a million residents. This is equivalent to the combined population of Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. The City of Brisbane has more than a million residents and manages a budget of over A$3 billion.
There are many transportation options in and around Brisbane. There is a large suburban rail network and a popular bus and ferry system. The city is also served by a number of airports and a seaport. Approximately 11% of the population travelled by private vehicle.
The City's median employee income was $52,150. About twenty-one percent of residents earned less than $500 per week. The remainder of the population earned between $1000 and $2000 per week. One in five people lived in one-parent households and a quarter had children under the age of 14. There were also many people aged 65 and older. Most residents were married, with 31.3% being in a civil union and 14.9% in a de facto marriage.
A growing population and the development of a modern infrastructure are driving the city's development. The metropolitan population increased from four hundred and fifty thousand people in 1947 to over six hundred and twenty-one thousand residents in 1961, including Redcliffe and part of the Pine Rivers shire. During the 1960s, the city was faced with a major sewerage shortage. During that time, about 80 percent of the city's streets were unsewered, and more than half of the city's roads were less than eight metres wide.