What benchmarks are available in Community Views?

Benchmarks put your community's results in context. This article explains where the benchmark data comes from, how the national, state and regional comparison groups are defined, and how to tell whether a difference between your results and a benchmark is meaningful. It's for anyone interpreting Community Views results or quoting them in a report.

Key concepts

The Living in Australia benchmark survey

Benchmark data comes from Living in Australia, a national survey we run independently once a year, around April, with a sample of around 5,000 Australians. It's separate from your organisation's own Community Views survey, so benchmark results don't move when your survey runs - they update once a year with each national collection.

National, state and regional comparators

The 'Benchmark' drop-down menu offers national, state and regional comparators for standard Community Views questions, including Concerns and Values & Experiences. A Victorian study area, for example, can be compared against 'Australia', 'Regional Australia', 'Victoria', 'Greater Melbourne' and 'Regional Victoria'.

How regional benchmarks are defined

All benchmarks are groupings of local government areas (LGAs). A regional benchmark comprises the LGAs outside the metropolitan area of its state - 'Regional Victoria', for example, comprises all Victorian LGAs not within metropolitan Melbourne.

Past survey waves

Where earlier waves of your survey are available, they also appear in the 'Benchmark' drop-down menu. This lets you compare current results against your community's own previous results, not just against other places. Results across all survey waves are held on the Community Views platform.

Is the comparison fair?

Two things help you judge whether a difference between your results and a benchmark means anything.

First, the Community Views platform tests every benchmark comparison for statistical significance. A green up arrow or red down arrow marks a result that is statistically different from the comparator, tested at the p<0.05 level - meaning the difference is unlikely to be explained by chance alone. Where there's no arrow, the difference falls within the survey's margin of error and should be read as broadly similar.

Second, treat comparisons between places as context rather than a league table. Places differ in their population, geography, development pattern, housing market, transport options, socio-economic conditions and access to services. Those structural differences can influence both what residents prioritise and how they rate their experiences, so a lower or higher result than a benchmark does not, by itself, mean one place is doing better or worse than another.

Where to find benchmarks in Community Views

Open a topic from a topic tile on the Headlines and Navigation page, then choose a comparator from the chart's 'Benchmark' drop-down menu. Only one of the 'Benchmark', 'Local Area' and 'Demography' drop-down menus can be applied to a chart at a time.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Where does the benchmark data come from?

A: From Living in Australia, a national survey we collect independently once a year, around April, with a sample of around 5,000 Australians. It's not drawn from other organisations' Community Views surveys.

Q: What does 'Regional Victoria' actually cover?

A: All Victorian LGAs that are not within metropolitan Melbourne. Other regional benchmarks work the same way - they capture the LGAs outside their state's metropolitan area.

Q: Why does my result have an arrow next to it?

A: The arrow means your result is statistically different from the comparator - a green up arrow for significantly higher, a red down arrow for significantly lower, tested at the p<0.05 level. No arrow means the difference falls within the survey's margin of error and the two results should be read as broadly similar.

Q: Can I compare our results with our previous survey?

A: Yes. Where past waves of your survey are available, they appear in the 'Benchmark' drop-down menu alongside the national, state and regional comparators.

Q: Is it fair to compare my community with other places?

A: Use the comparison as context rather than a ranking. Structural differences between places - population, geography, housing, transport, socio-economic conditions and access to services - shape both what residents value and how they rate their experiences.