Sydney's eastern suburbs have a rival: The richest postcode is elsewhere
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postcode → have → rival
From Perth's Golden Triangle to regional boomtowns, discover where Australia's real money now lives
Published: | Updated:
For decades, Australia's wealth map has looked much the same: harbourside Sydney, Melbourne's leafy east, Perth's Golden Triangle and a handful of blue-chip postcodes dominating the nation's income rankings.
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map → discover → rankings
But a closer look at Australian Taxation Office data suggests affluence is spreading far beyond the country's traditional millionaire enclaves.
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affluence → suggest → enclaves
Some of the nation's highest median incomes were found far from Sydney Harbour, with residents in Canberra's inner south, Kyneton and mining communities in Western Australia's Pilbara earning incomes that rivalled or exceeded those in many established wealthy suburbs.
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that → find → suburbs
The data suggests Australia's wealth is no longer concentrated in a small cluster of prestige neighbourhoods, with affluent households increasingly spreading into outer-suburban growth corridors, regional centres and lifestyle destinations.
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households → suggest → corridors
While Sydney continues to dominate the average income rankings, some of Australia's fastest-growing pockets of wealth are emerging in the city's north-west, regional Victoria and resource-rich communities in Queensland and Western Australia.
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some → continue → Queensland
Use our interactive map to see where your neighbourhood ranks, compare incomes across the country, and discover the unlikely postcodes joining Australia's wealthy elite.
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neighbourhood → use → elite
Melbourne's Mornington Peninsula, which includes Portsea, topped the nation with an average taxable income of $321,988.
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which → include → 321,988
By a broader measure combining income and property values, however, Darling Point remains Australia's wealthiest suburb overall.
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Point → combine → income
Portsea's result ended NSW's long-held dominance of the income rankings, marking the first time a Victorian postcode has claimed top spot and only the second time in more than a decade that Australia's richest postcode has been located outside NSW.
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postcode → end → NSW
However, Australia's richest postcode is not as wealthy as the headline figure suggests.
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figure → suggest → ?
For decades Australia's wealth map has looked much the same - harbourside Sydney (pictured) followed by Melbourne's leafy east and Perth's Golden Triangle
Swimming legend Grant Hackett and his wife Sharlene purchased this Toorak mansion for the eye-watering price of $13.4million earlier this year
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Hackett → look → 13.4million
Some of Australia's fastest-growing pockets of wealth are emerging in Canberra's inner south
While Portsea - a popular holiday destination for Melbourne's moneyed set, including the likes of Rebecca and Chris Judd - might boast Australia's highest average taxable income and a median house value approaching $2.5million, the typical taxpayer earns just $75,808 a year, highlighting how a relatively small group of ultra-wealthy residents can dramatically skew average income figures.
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group → grow → figures
The national median taxable income rose from $52,338 five years earlier to $58,739 in 2023-24.
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income → rise → 2023
The richest postcodes by median income were Rozelle and Balmain, Double Bay (where society couple Bernadette and Jordan Sukkar last year sold their $5million trophy home), Darling Point and Canberra's inner south, underscoring the difference between where Australia's wealthiest people live and where the typical resident earns the most.
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resident → sell → most
Sydney's north-west also featured prominently among Australia's emerging high-income communities, with The Ponds and Kellyville Ridge recording a median taxable income of $84,435, while the Box Hill and Rouse Hill area posted a median of $74,527.
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area → feature → 74,527
In regional Victoria, Kyneton and surrounds recorded a median income of $86,568, while Woodend reached $76,542.
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Woodend → record → 76,542
WA's mining heartland in the north remained among the nation's highest-earning regions, with Karratha recording a median taxable income of about $142,000 a year, comfortably exceeding many of Sydney and Melbourne's traditional prestige suburbs.
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Karratha → remain → suburbs
Port Hedland and Newman also ranked among Australia's top income hotspots, highlighting the continued influence of the resources sector on the nation's wealth map.
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Hedland → rank → map
KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley (pictured) said Sydney's new wealth belt now carries million-dollar price tags as high-income professional families flood the growth corridor
The richest postcodes by median income were Rozelle and Balmain, Double Bay (where society couple Bernadette and Jordan Sukkar, pictured, sold their $5million trophy home last year), Darling Point and Canberra's inner south
While Portsea - a popular holiday destination for Melbourne's moneyed set, including Bec and Chris Judd - might boast Australia's highest average taxable income and a median house value approaching $2.5million, the typical taxpayer earns just $75,808 a year, highlighting how a relatively small group of ultra-wealthy residents can dramatically skew average income figures
The income boom is increasingly being reflected in property values.
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boom → picture → values
Canberra's inner south, one of the nation's top-performing regions for median taxable income, now has a median house value of more than $2.19million, placing it alongside Sydney and Melbourne's most affluent enclaves.
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south → perform → enclaves
Sydney's emerging wealth belt is also carrying premium price tags.
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belt → emerge → tags
Homes in Kellyville are worth about $1.68million, while median house values in The Ponds and Kellyville Ridge have climbed to more than $1.5million.
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values → climb → 1.5million
Even the Box Hill and Rouse Hill district, one of the city's fastest-growing growth corridors, now has a median house value of about $1.25million.
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district → grow → 1.25million
The figures suggest Australia's newest high-income communities are no longer confined to the harbourfront mansions of Sydney or Melbourne's established blue-chip suburbs.
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communities → suggest → Sydney
KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said Sydney's new wealth belt now carries million-dollar price tags as high-income professional families flood the growth corridor.
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families → say → corridor
'Sydney's producing more high-income households, but we're not producing more housing in those traditionally richer North Shore suburbs,' he told the Daily Mail.
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he → produce → Mail
He said suburbs including Kellyville, The Ponds and Box Hill were benefiting from a concentration of highly skilled residents.
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suburbs → say → residents
'It's where that skilled workforce has ended up,' he said.
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he → end → ?
Kellyville (pictured) is a thriving suburb about 36 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD
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Kellyville → picture → CBD
'You've got a big cluster of people who are similar ages, working similar high-paying jobs in the one place.'
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who → get → place
Dr Rawnsley said improved transport links and access to high-paying jobs were helping drive the trend.
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links → say → trend
These suburbs have got good access, especially since the Metro opened, to jobs in North Sydney or the CBD,' he said.
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he → get → Sydney
They've got job access back that way, but also down to Parramatta.
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They → get → Parramatta
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Rawnsley said the data suggested some traditional prestige suburbs were beginning to age.
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suburbs → say → ?
'There's still lots of wealthy people there, but you don't have that new influx of younger people coming in because they haven't been able to afford or get into the market there,' he said.
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he → be → market
He said median income often provided a more revealing picture than average income.
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income → say → income
Improved transport links and access to high-paying jobs were helping drive the trend for Sydneysiders to move to the city's north-west
'When you look at Portsea, it's obviously got the highest income, but when you look at the median, 50 per cent of people earn less than $75,000 a year,' he said.
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he → pay → 75,000
'Portsea's got a little enclave of uber-wealthy people down that way, so that pulls up the average.
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that → get → average
But then you've got more humble retirees and local workers earning a fairly ordinary wage, and they're the ones pulling the median back down.'
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they → get → median
…and 12 more, not listed.
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