Wagga local government area at a glance after newly released Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census

From population growth and weekly household income to cultural diversity and religion, plenty has changed between the last two national censuses taken in 2016 and 2021.

Remembering too that a large portion of the country was under some form of lockdown and in the heights of a global pandemic on census night, August 10, 2021.

So, what does Wagga look like at a glance?

At this stage, Wagga's population growth target of reaching 100,000 by 2038 remains difficult despite the LGA reporting 67,609 residents (48.6 per cent male, 51.4 per cent female) up from 62,385 in 2016.

Continuing along the roughly 1.67 per cent annual growth shown in the five-year period after 2016 - a notable rise from the 0.98 per cent growth between 2011 and 2016 - the target could be reached by 2045.

That includes a growth from 15,773 families in 2016 to 17,273 in 2021, and an increase in Wagga's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population from 5.6 to 6.6 per cent.

The LGA's median age of 35 is four years younger than the state as a whole, with Wagga's population average above NSW's in every four-year age breakdown until 30-34 years.

One of the more interesting national statistics from yesterday's census release was the rise in Australians who identified as having no religious affiliation, an increase from 29.6 per cent in 2016 to 38.4 per cent in 2021.

Reflecting the national shift away from religion, Wagga saw a meaningful rise in residents with no religious affiliation, from 22.2 per cent in 2016 to 31.3 per cent in 2021.

This latest ABS figure more than doubles the 15 per cent of Wagga residents who responded as having no religious affiliation in 2011.

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Wagga's cultural diversity make-up also saw changes, with a notable rise in local residents identifying 'Australian' as the top response for their family ancestry, up to 40 per cent in 2021 from 31.7 per cent in 2016 and significantly higher than the whole of NSW in the latest count.

Local residents reporting Australia as their country of birth dropped by 1.1 percentage points from 2016 to 83 per cent.

Despite this, the number of Wagga residents who reported both their parents being born overseas rose to 14.2 per cent, from 11.5 per cent in 2016, which was up from 10.3 per cent in 2011.

While England remains the second highest birth country reported by Wagga residents at 2.8 per cent, the top five inclusion of Iraq at 1.4 per cent is notable and a reflection of the region's intake of Yazidi refugees since 2014.

Kurdish, an official language of Iraq, topped the list of languages other than English used at home with 1 per cent.

Cost of living pressures have remained at the forefront of minds and in the headlines throughout the pandemic.

In the Wagga LGA, the personal median weekly income rose from $696 to $839.

Median weekly rent per Wagga household rose from $265 in 2016 to $300 in 2021, the latest figure below the NSW mark of $330.

Comparatively, median monthly mortgage repayments per household stayed at exactly $1517, a likely reflection of steady and low interest rates between 2016 and 2021.

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