Mining towns vs The Commonwealth: Australia's highest-earning suburbs

Mining towns and suburbs of Canberra dominate the top of the ranking of the highest-earning areas in Australia. Forrest, in the Australian Capital Territory, is Australia’s highest earning area according to the 2011 Australian census. The Canberra suburb has a median household income of $2,935 per week, which equates to a household income of $152,620 each year. Of the top twenty highest earning areas in Australia, the ACT has seven of them thanks to a prevalence of senior Commonwealth public servants. 

Top 20 Australian areas, ranked by median household weekly income. Areas are defined by ABS Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) boundaries. Areas with less than 1000 people are not included.

Mining towns take up the majority of the remaining top ten areas in Australia, in positions 2 to 7 in the ranking. Karratha, in Western Australia, is just behind Forrest with a median weekly household income of $2,870. Western Australia dominates the high-earning mining town ranking, although Moranbah in Queensland and Roxby Downs in South Australia make an appearance in the ranking. These two towns leverage the economic benefits of the regional coal mining industry and SA’s Olympic Dam project respectively. 

The Northern Territory's sole representative, Nhulunbuy, in north-east Arnhem Land, comes in at 20th in the ranking. With road access only possible with a permit and via 700km of unsealed roads, the residents of this hot and humid seaport and mining town are clearly well paid to compensate for its extremities.

One interesting demographic characteristic of the wealthy mining towns is the age of their high earners. The median age is approximately 32, which is around 8 years younger than non-mining wealthy areas. It looks like Australia’s mining boom is fuelling a generation of wealthy, young Australian residents.

The cities and the rest

Composition of top 20 highest-earning area ranking

Of the city suburbs represented in the ranking, two are in Perth and one each are in Sydney and Brisbane. Floreat and the northern coastal suburbs of Iluka / Burns Beach are Perth’s two highest earning areas. Pymble on Sydney’s wealthy North Shore and Fig Tree Pocket – famed for its expensive riverfront property – in Brisbane’s inner west represent the eastern capitals in the top twenty ranking.

Victoria’s highest ranking area, the eastern part of Glen Iris, which incorporates parts of Burwood and Ashburton, has a median weekly income of $2,304. This suburb in eastern Melbourne is the 62nd highest earning area in Australia. The Cambridge, Mount Rumney, Roches Beach and Llanherne areas of Tasmania is the island state’s highest earning area with a median weekly income of $1,577 and is ranked 519th in Australia.