MT BEAUTY and Bright's populations are growing faster than the Australian average, according to the latest Census.

Bright's population has increased by 8.9 per cent, or 214 people, to 2620, while Mt Beauty's population has grown by 10.4 per cent (86 people) to 910 since 2016.

This is above the Australian average of 8.6 per cent population growth since 2016, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The latest data reveals that, within a very small margin, Millennials (25–39 years old) have caught up to Baby Boomers (55–74 years old) as the largest generational group in Australia.

But in Mt Beauty and Bright, Boomers remain the most populous generation by far, with 29.2 per cent of Bright residents and 31.2 per cent of Mt Beauty residents aged between 55 and 74.

Meanwhile, Millennials only make up 15 and 16 percent of Bright and Mt Beauty residents, respectively.

Over a quarter of tenants are experiencing rental stress in both towns – 26 per cent of renters in Bright and 27.1 per cent in Mt Beauty have rent payments greater than 30 per cent of household income.

However, this remains lower than the 30.9 per cent of renters experiencing rental stress across Victoria.

Mortgage stress is also lower than the Victorian average, with only 10.7 per cent of Bright household owners and 14.3 per cent of Mt Beauty owners spending more than 30 per cent of their income on mortgage repayments.

In Bright, median weekly rent costs $300, while in Mt Beauty median weekly rent costs $270, however, according to the ABS, 2021 data is not comparable to 2016 because calculations now exclude dwellings being occupied rent–free.

2021 is the first time the Census collected information on diagnosed long–term health conditions.

Mental health conditions, arthritis and asthma were the most common long–term ailments, with over two million people across Australia reporting having at least one of those health issues.

Mt Beauty and Bright were no different, with 12.5 per cent of Mt Beauty resident s and 10.3 per cent of Bright residents living with arthritis – greater than the Victorian average of eight per cent.

In Bright, asthma sits just above the state average at 8.5 per cent of the population, while Mt Beauty residents can breathe easy with only 7.5 per cent of residents with asthma.

Bright and Mt Beauty have also seen a leap in residents reporting they follow no religion.

In Mt Beauty, 55.4 per cent of residents reported having no religion, as did 53.6 of Bright residents compared to 38.8 per cent across Victoria.

However, only 37.5 per cent of Bright residents and 43. 8 per cent of Mt Beauty residents said they followed no religion in 2016.

This follows an Australia–wide trend, with 38.9 per cent of Australia's population reported having no religion in the 2021 Census, an increase from 30.1 per cent in 2016 and 22.3 per cent in 2011.

This reporting does not include those who reported atheism, agnosticism or having their own spiritual beliefs.