Melburnians fled the city in Victoria's biggest population loss in decades

Thousands of Victorians fled Melbourne last year as working from home became the norm and the state suffered a near catastrophic second wave of COVID-19.

An estimated 7400 Melburnians left the city with more than three-in-five moving to the regions in the three months to September, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Melbourne was not the only area experiencing a mass exodus, with 3700 Victorians fleeing to other states around country in the greatest population loss since 1995.

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Queensland received the most people from Victoria with 2400 moving north to the sunshine state.

Unsurprisingly given the pandemic, Victoria received almost no people from other states or territories in the September 2020 quarter.

While coronavirus prompted people to seek a home outside the city, the trend is not necessarily new.

The last census shows regional Australia attracted 65,000 more new residents than the capital cities as 1.2 million people moved to the regions between 2011 and 2016.

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A report comparing the latest Australian government data on all urban areas, including jobs growth, investment and welfare reliance found "goldilocks" cities - not too big, not too small - outside the capitals were topping their more congested counterparts in terms of economic growth.

Geelong and Ballarat in Victoria and Newcastle and Wollongong in New South Wales have experienced the biggest boom, a report comparing data on all urban areas, including jobs growth, investment and welfare reliance found.