Revealed: Australia’s top 50 highest earning suburbs

More of the country’s wealthiest suburbs can now be found in Western Australia, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found, with the mining boom displacing traditionally well-off suburbs in New South Wales in favour of the resource-rich west.

The latest data shows four Western Australia suburbs were included in the top 10 richest areas in 2008-09, compared to just one suburb five years prior. While the New South Wales suburb of Mosmon takes the top spot, followed by Woollahra, WA’s Mosman Park comes in at number three.

Mosman Park counts an average income of $116,197, while Peppermint Grove records an average of $104,148. Cottesloe has an average of $102,847, followed by Nedlands with $91,033.

Mosman’s average income comes in at $130,637.

The average growth of income in Western Australia has been stronger than usual as well, with incomes rising 8.7% to an average of $51,614, compared to the national growth rate of just 5.6% to $46,904.

However, actual wages and salary incomes were highest in the Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia and New South Wales, at $54,747, $$50,438 and $48,793 respectively.

Average wage and salary income came to $45,246 in Victoria, $44,501 in Queensland, $41,896 in South Australia, $39,398 in Tasmania and $$48,049 in the Northern Territory.

The data revealed that income derived from salaries and wages made up 80.3% of all money earned, with investment making up another 10.9%, while unincorporated businesses took 6.3%. Superannuation made up another 1.6%.

The ABS said the highest concentration of the wealthy are found in a few key areas, including the Sydney Harbour region, and some areas of Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. Over two-thirds of statistical local areas recorded average incomes lower than the national average.

In Sydney, the five suburbs with the highest average incomes included Mosman, Woollahra, Hunters Hill, North Sydney and Ku-ring-gai, while the highest in Victoria were Prahran, Brighton, Malvern and Kew. The richest in Brisbane were Hamilton, Ascot, Bardon, Balmoral and Bulimba.

Income growth was slowest in New South Wales, just up by 4.9%, while incomes grew in Victoria by 5.3%, in Queensland by 5.6%, South Australia by 5.4% and Tasmania by 4.9%.

Here are the nation’s top 50 richest suburbs.