The Sunshine Coast's urban area takes in about 60 km of coast and hinterland, from Pelican Waters in the south to Tewantin in the north, around 100 km north of Brisbane's centre. Two councils share it. Sunshine Coast Council, which sits in Maroochydore, was created in 2008 from the City of Caloundra and the Shires of Maroochy and Noosa; Noosa residents voted on 9 March 2013 to leave, and the Shire of Noosa was re-established on 1 January 2014. Sunshine Coast Council counted 346,648 residents in 2021 and expects more than 500,000 by 2041, roughly 8,000 extra people a year, with many of the newcomers either parents aged 35 to 49 with children under 15 or people aged 65 and over. For the southern end in more detail, see our Caloundra page.
Health care and retail are the region's two dominant sectors, providing about 30% of its jobs between them. Labour force figures from May 2019 put health care and social assistance at 26,800 workers, construction close behind at 26,500 and education and training at 21,200. The public Sunshine Coast University Hospital is at Birtinya, in Kawana. More than 83,000 students study across the University of the Sunshine Coast, two TAFE campuses and more than 150 registered training organisations, and the university's Sippy Downs campus is designated a knowledge hub in Queensland Government infrastructure planning. Council's investment office names seven high-value industries it wants to grow: aviation and aerospace; health and wellbeing; clean technologies; food and agribusiness; tourism, sport and leisure; knowledge industries and professional services; and education and research.
Maroochydore is getting a new city centre built from the ground up, a priority development area delivered by Walker Corporation and the council. Foundation Place opened there in late 2020 and council's City Hall in December 2022, a NEXTDC data centre was announced in 2025, and council promotes the centre as 20 milliseconds from Asia via a new submarine broadband cable. Consultants, firms and tech businesses taking space in those buildings are usually chosen on trust rather than price, so their sites need named people, qualifications, a plain list of services and an easy way to book a first conversation.
Tourism brings more than 3.2 million visitors a year, to beaches such as Mooloolaba and Coolum, to Australia Zoo, Sea Life, Aussie World, the Big Pineapple at Woombye and the Eumundi Markets, and up to Maleny and the Glass House Mountains. Sunshine Coast Airport at Marcoola, about 10 km north of Maroochydore, opened a 2,450-metre runway on 14 June 2020 and handled close to 1.9 million passengers in 2023–24, with direct flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide among others. Someone weighing up a tour, lesson or room from interstate can't ask at the counter, so the page has to answer what a counter conversation would: price, what's included, where to meet and how to book.
We're an Adelaide team at Ste 3/110 Hutt St and work with Sunshine Coast businesses by phone and email; we don't meet clients in person. Our industry pages go further for particular kinds of business, including Sunshine Coast tradies, allied health practices, accountants and new businesses, each with the local rules that apply.