SourceTargetCommunity Atlas
We are Mackay

We are Mackay.

Home to one of the larger Tagalog-speaking communities in Queensland, and 90 other language communities besides.

Our population
120,528
Speak another language
17,113
Languages at home
15+
Growth since last census
+33.8%
91 languages are spoken at home in Mackay. Tagalog leads (896 speakers), with Afrikaans close behind (625). 14 per cent of us speak a language other than English at home. That is the measure of a community that has not left its languages behind.
speak Tagalog at home
896
Our largest community language, Tagalog, is spoken by 0.7% of Mackay residents at home.
What makes our community ours
Tagalog
896 speakers

896 speakers, 0.7% of Mackay. +16% since 2021.

Afrikaans
625 speakers

625 speakers, 0.5% of Mackay. +8% since 2021.

Filipino
554 speakers

554 speakers, 0.5% of Mackay. +5% since 2021.

The languages of Mackay

91 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.

Tagalog
896 · +16.2%
Afrikaans
625 · +8.1%
Filipino
554 · +5.3%
Mandarin
361 · +32.2%
Maltese
216
Punjabi
201 · +36.7%
German
185 · +17.1%
Malayalam
180 · +40.6%
Thai
174 · +6.1%
Hindi
158 · -5.4%
Italian
136 · -30.3%
Spanish
135 · +27.4%
Nepali
112 · +154.5%
Cantonese
110 · +54.9%
Vietnamese
105 · +114.3%
GROWTH ≥ 50%
≥ 20%
≥ 5%
≥ 0%
≥ -10%
DECLINING
  1. 01
    Tagalog896 · 0.7%
    16.2%
  2. 02
    Afrikaans625 · 0.5%
    8.1%
  3. 03
    Filipino554 · 0.5%
    5.3%
  4. 04
    Mandarin361 · 0.3%
    32.2%
  5. 05
    Maltese216 · 0.2%
    22.6%
  6. 06
    Punjabi201 · 0.2%
    36.7%
  7. 07
    German185 · 0.2%
    17.1%
  8. 08
    Malayalam180 · 0.1%
    40.6%
  9. 09
    Thai174 · 0.1%
    6.1%
  10. 10
    Hindi158 · 0.1%
    5.4%
  11. 11
    Italian136 · 0.1%
    30.3%
  12. 12
    Spanish135 · 0.1%
    27.4%
Fastest-growing among us
Nepali
+154.5% since last census

We publish this so our residents can see themselves counted, and so the agencies, funders and neighbours who serve us can see who we actually serve. Language access is not a translation line-item in our budget. It is how an emergency notice reaches a grandparent, how an enrolment form is understood, and how a health campaign actually lands in the suburbs that make up our council.

Our suburbs
Where we are
In context
Mackay
14.2%
Queensland
15.8%
Australia
27.3%

14.2% of Mackay residents speak a language other than English at home, against 15.8% for Queensland and 27.3% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 census.