Albury sits on the northern, New South Wales bank of the Murray, on Wiradjuri country, and Wodonga on the southern, Victorian bank; its name comes from Wordonga, the local Waywurru name for the area. The 2021 Census counted 97,793 people in the combined urban area: 53,677 on the Albury side and 37,839 in Wodonga and its suburbs. Melbourne is about 326 km away and Sydney about 554 km. In Albury, Dean Street is the spine of the shopping and office district, Lavington is the largest suburb, and Thurgoona, Glenroy, Springdale Heights, Hamilton Valley and East, West, North and South Albury fill out the city. In Wodonga, people search by West Wodonga, Bandiana, Baranduda, Killara, Leneva, Huon Creek and Bonegilla, with Jindera, Howlong and the Lake Hume village close by. The twin cities owe part of their size to an agreement the Prime Minister and the NSW and Victorian premiers signed on 25 January 1973 to fast-track their growth as a decentralisation centre.
Public services carry a large share of the economy. Albury Wodonga Health, formed in 2009 by merging Albury Base Hospital and Wodonga Regional Health Service, describes itself as the only cross-border public health provider in Australia and, with more than 3,190 staff, the region's largest employer. Invest Albury Wodonga, the councils' joint investment site, says more than 1,000 Australian Taxation Office staff are based here and that the Army Logistic Training Centre is headquartered at Bandiana, alongside Latchford Barracks. Charles Sturt University has its campus at Thurgoona, La Trobe University has had a Wodonga campus since 1991, and TAFE NSW and Wodonga TAFE teach trades and vocational courses. That brings a steady stream of new residents, from soldiers on posting to graduate nurses, who don't yet know which mechanic, physio or childcare centre to choose and start with a search.
Manufacturing and freight are the other pillar. On the Wodonga side, council's economic profile counts 25,472 local jobs in 2025 against 22,937 employed residents, so some of the workforce comes in from Albury and the surrounding shires each day. Manufacturing provides 12.4% of those jobs, against 7.3% across Victoria, and construction 14.9%, after adding 1,851 jobs since 2019/20. Invest Albury Wodonga lists Visy, XLam, Mars Petcare, Asahi, V2 Foods, Malibu Boats and Butko among the manufacturers in the region and markets industrial land at the NEXUS Industrial Precinct in Albury and the Logic estate in Wodonga. Mars said it would commission a new $112.5 million wet pouch facility at its Wodonga pet food factory in June 2026. For a contractor or supplier hoping to work for sites like these, a page setting out capability, safety systems and past jobs answers the questions a buyer asks first.
Visitors add to the mix. Invest Albury Wodonga puts 2025 visitor numbers at more than 1.5 million, spending over $1.15 billion, drawn by the Murray and Lake Hume, the trails and parks, and day trips to the mountains and the wineries, while Albury's QEII Square holds the Entertainment Centre, the Library Museum and the Murray Art Museum Albury. Visitors tend to decide on a phone, often the night before, so a cafe, motel or tour operator needs hours, prices, location and a way to book on the first screen.
We're an Adelaide team at Ste 3/110 Hutt St and work with Border businesses by phone and email, half an hour behind you all year. Our current clients include businesses in both New South Wales and Victoria, though none is in Albury-Wodonga. Accountants, NDIS providers and builders will find the state-by-state detail for their work on our Albury-Wodonga pages for accountants, NDIS providers and builders.