The top ten places for the rich and age pensioners

ABS data shows there are 55,000 high-income earners across the nation earning $10,000 or more a week, and Sydney has the top four areas for the rich.

The view across Sydney Harbour from Mosman. Picture: AAP

There are 55,000 high-income earners across Australia earning $10,000 or more a week, with the top four areas for the rich in Sydney.

New Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows Mosman south, Woollahra, Bellevue Hill and a fourth area covering Rose Bay, Vaucluse and Watsons Bay have the highest proportion of high income earners, with more than four per cent receiving a weekly income of at least $10,000.

The fifth area is Cottesloe in Western Australia followed by Castle Cove and Northbridge in NSW, Forrest in the Australian Capital Territory, Toorak in Melbourne, Mosman north and City Beach in WA.

There were more than three times more males than females with incomes of $10,000 per week or higher – approximately 42,000 compared with 13,000.

There were also nearly 2.5 times more males than females with an income of $3,500 or more per week – approximately 484,000 compared with 194,000.

At the other end of the income spectrum, more females earned less than $1,000 per week than males – 6.08 million compared with 4.77 million.

In a new release on Tuesday, the ABS said it was able for the first time to produce new insights on the incomes of Australians by adding administrative data to the census.

Using data from the Australian Tax Office and the Department of Social Services, the ABS added new income variables to the census for people aged 15 years and older.

These variables use personal income tax returns, payment summaries, and government benefit payment information to calculate the amount and types of income that persons, families, and households received in the 2020–21 financial year.

According to the ABS, quiet coastal towns appear to be popular retirement locations for age pensioners.

The area which had the highest proportion of age pensioners was Tuncurry on the NSW mid north coast at 26.5 per cent, followed by Tea Gardens at Hawks Nest, Bribie Island is Queensland, Victor Harbor and Goolwa at Port Elliot in South Australia, and Cooloola and the Southern Moreton Bay Islands in Queensland.

Nearly one in 3 people received a government benefit payment in the 2020–21 financial year.

The age pension was the most common government payment received. Of the nearly 2.2 million people who received a government benefit payment got their largest payment from the age pension. The next most common main government benefit payment types were Newstart or Jobseeker (1.34 million or 20.3%), family tax benefits (850,000 or 12.8%), and disability support pension (585,000 or 8.9%).

Nearly half of people aged 65 years and older receive most of their income from the age pension (47.8% or 2,029,000 persons).

More age pensioners are female than non-pensioners. 56.6% of age pensioners are female, while only 50.9% of non-pensioners are female.

 

About 70 per cent of age pensioners own their home outright; while 15.6 per cent rent and 10 per cent have a mortgage.

Almost 30 per cent of aged pensioners live alone.

According to the ABS data, median personal income across Australia was $789 and median household income was $1,770.

The main source of income for most Australians was employee wages or salary – 56.4 per cent of people aged 15 years and over – while 23.4 per cent received most of their income from government benefits and allowances.