By understanding who lives and works in the local area, businesses can make more informed decisions and choices around their product and service offerings, and also consider how best to engage and meet the needs of customers to sustain and grow their business.

Boroondara at a glance

The City of Boroondara is located 10km east of the CBD and includes the suburbs of Ashburton, Balwyn, Balwyn North, Camberwell, Canterbury, Hawthorn, Hawthorn East, Kew, Kew East and parts of Glen Iris and Surrey Hills.

Boroondara has a population of 169,411 and includes 26,160 registered local businesses.

(Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022.)

Boroondara’s key local economic strengths, drivers and enablers are:

  • more than 50 diverse shopping precincts including essential and discretionary retail, professional services and high-quality cafes and restaurants
  • well-serviced public transport networks including trams, trains and buses, and easy access by major arterial roads
  • a number of high-performing public and independent schools, and Swinburne University Hawthorn campus
  • public health facilities, private hospitals and allied health practices
  • multiple libraries, recreational facilities, neighbourhood houses, markets and arts venues
  • highly valued parks, gardens and open spaces
  • quality housing, tree-lined streets and heritage character.
Burwood customer
Glenferrie customer
Greythorn customer

Employment and Gross Regional Product

In the financial year ending June 2022, the City of Boroondara:

  • reported a Gross Regional Product of $13.28 billion. (This is the amount of the nation’s wealth which is generated by businesses, organisations and individuals working in the area.)
  • was the location for 84,684 jobs
  • included 93,353 employed residents.

(Source: Economy.id, City of Boroondara Economic Profile.)

Key industries

Boroondara's largest employing industries in 2021–22 were:

  1. Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (14,974 local jobs)
  2. Healthcare and Social Assistance (14,875).

Other key industries were Education and Training (12,348) and Retail Trade (9,939).

(Source: Economy.id, City of Boroondara Economic Profile.)

More information

For more detailed economic information, see the City of Boroondara Economic Profile on the id Community website.

For more information on shopping villages in Boroondara, see our Shopping villages page.


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