Understanding the economic role of City of Townsville provides a framework for understanding what policy responses and investment may be appropriate to support the growth of businesses and maintenance of a vibrant economy in the future.
The charts and table below give a broad overview of the role and function of your economy. It helps answer questions such as:
- How much of the Townsville City Council's economy is driven by meeting the local population needs?
- What proportion of jobs in the area are in goods production or selling of products?
- In which broad sectors are the key strengths of the local economy?
- What contribution do business services make in your area and is it growing?
- Is there a presence of local, state and federal government workers in in the area?
Once you have developed a broad picture of your economy, you can then drill down further with all the detail here.
| Employment composition | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Townsville City Council | 2024 | 2019 | 2014 | |||
| Industry | number | % | number | % | number | % |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 534 | 0.5 | 617 | 0.7 | 519 | 0.6 |
| Mining | 1,009 | 1.0 | 930 | 1.0 | 807 | 0.9 |
| Goods related | 31,733 | 30.3 | 29,478 | 31.4 | 36,469 | 39.5 |
| Household services | 44,647 | 42.6 | 38,865 | 41.3 | 31,296 | 33.9 |
| Business services | 11,636 | 11.1 | 10,726 | 11.4 | 11,941 | 12.9 |
| Public administration and safety | 15,273 | 14.6 | 13,382 | 14.2 | 11,286 | 12.2 |
| Total Industries | 104,832 | 100.0 | 93,999 | 100.0 | 92,318 | 100.0 |
Source: National Institute of Economic and Industry Research (NIEIR) ©2025. Compiled and presented in economy.id by .id (informed decisions). Data are based on a 2020-21 price base for all years. NIEIR-ID data are inflation adjusted each year to allow direct comparison, and annual data releases adjust previous years’ figures to a new base year.Learn more. Please refer to specific data notes for more information | ||||||