02-07-2025
ATO data reveals earnings in WA's top postcodes
New figures have showed just how much cash is earned in Perth's wealthy western suburbs as Western Australia's powerhouse economy pays dividends.
Topping WA's charts were leafy-green Cottesloe and Peppermint Grove, where residents enjoyed an average income of $213,621 in 2022-23, tax office data released Friday showed.
The luxury locale slipped from the country's second-richest postcode to ninth place after earnings dropped 28 per cent.
Yet average income was almost five times the farming region of Cranbrook in the Great Southern, which ranked as the poorest postcode.
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The names at the top of WA's wealthiest places remain largely unchanged and centre on the so-called golden triangle — including Mosman Park, City Beach, Dalkeith and Nedlands.
'There's no surprise when you look at which suburbs are top of the income pile,' Committee for Economic Development of Australia chief economist Cassandra Winzar said.
'WA has had a really good run of economic growth recently that's flowed through to higher wages for many people . . . really good investment returns and business profits.'
But she warned that the benefits had not been distributed evenly.
Lower income earners were hit hard by inflation — especially for basics like rents — and there was a risk inequality would grow, Ms Winzar said.
The western suburbs look set to remain entrenched at the top of the list thanks to eye-popping property values.
More expensive homes attract higher-income buyers in what KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said was a self-reinforcing cycle.
'It's a prestige location. You need a (high income) to get into the property market there,' Mr Rawnsley said.
Over the longer term, incomes have lifted on average thanks to WA's resources sector.
Mr Rawnsley said middle-ring suburbs near Perth's CBD were 'heading up the league table' compared to interstate. Yet he said a lack of density and unaffordable housing was also pricing many West Aussies out of these suburbs and forcing them further from the city.
In regional WA, some parts of the resources-rich Pilbara — towns dependent on mining and gas — were spinning out cash, led by Dampier and Pannawonica.
