Statistical Areas Level 1 (SA1)

Statistical Areas Level 1 (SA1) are geographical areas built from whole Mesh Blocks. Whole SA1s aggregate to form Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2) in the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Main Structure. The SA1s have generally been designed as the smallest unit for the release of census data; however, limited census data may also be available at the Mesh Block level for the 2016 ASGS. SA1s have a population of between 200 and 800 people with an average population size of approximately 400 people.
There are 57,523 spatial SA1 regions covering the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. These include 33 non-spatial SA1 special purpose codes, comprising Migratory–Offshore–Shipping and No Usual Address codes for each State and Territory.

SA1s are also used as the building blocks for a number of ASGS defined regions including the Indigenous Structure, the Section of State and Urban Centre and Localities Structures, and the Remoteness Structure. Within the Non ABS Structure SA1s are used to approximate a number of administrative regions, such as Commonwealth Electoral Divisions and State Electoral Divisions.

Data from the 2016 Census of Population and Housing will be available at SA1 level.