By Matt Wade and Craig Butt
The top 1 per cent of income earners in a ring of Sydney harbourside suburbs take home more than $5 million a year on average, while the best-paid 1 per cent make more than $2 million in another 25 neighbourhoods across the city.
Analysis of official personal income data by this masthead has revealed a cluster of ultra-high earners in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and lower north shore.
Topping the list was Bellevue Hill, where the highest paid 1 per cent had an average annual income of $7.5 million.
The 1 per cent in the adjacent neighbourhood of Rose Bay-Vaucluse-Watsons Bay was next with an average annual income of $6.4 million. Third was the 1 per cent living in the northern part of the CBD, which includes Millers Point and Barangaroo, with $5.2 million.
Across the whole of Greater Sydney, the average income of the top 1 per cent was $1.05 million in 2021-22. That compares with an average annual income for all earners in the city of $82,000; the median income (the middle value of all earners) was $58,200.
The top 1 per cent of earners in a ring of Sydney harbourside suburbs have an average income in excess of $5 million. Credit: Getty
Terry Rawnsley, an urban economist at KPMG, said an income “sorting effect” influences where people live in Sydney.
“Many business owners in the city who have done well and receive those uber-incomes will naturally be drawn to harbour views,” he said.
“The millionaires we have in Sydney have sorted themselves into those locations. It’s often about sending a kind of prestige signal to their clients and peers, showing they can afford to buy into those harbour views.”
The analysis draws attention to the vast spending power in some parts of Sydney; in Bellevue Hill the top 1 per cent includes only 108 earners, and they had a combined income of $812 million in 2021-22. In the large suburb of Mosman (postcode 2088), the 215 people who constituted the top 1 per cent had combined earnings of $933 million that year.
The analysis used Australian Bureau of Statistics personal income figures, which draws on Tax Office records for the 2021-22 financial year, the most recent available. The data covers only individual pre-tax income; it does not include assets owned by individuals such as housing and shares.
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Suburbs where the top 1 per cent have especially high incomes correlate closely with house prices. Bellevue Hill also had the city’s highest median house price of $9.63 million in Domain’s latest House Price Report. The Vaucluse area, which was second on the 1 per cent income list, also had the second-highest median house price at $7.3 million.
While suburbs with the highest average incomes for the top 1 per cent were mostly near Sydney harbour, several were located in the city’s north-west, including Dural-Kenthurst ($2.6m) and Glenhaven ($1.9m).
Social researcher Mark McCrindle said some high-income earners were attracted by the large residential properties available in Sydney’s north-west.
“A lot of people like the harbour and the beach, but others want space, and that acreage comes at a cost,” he said.
The personal income figures also show Sydney is Australia’s most unequal capital city: the top 1 per cent of earners received 12.8 per cent of all the city’s income in 2021-22, up from 12.2 per cent the previous year. That compares with 10.8 per cent in Melbourne and 9.1 per cent in Brisbane. Nationally, the top 1 per cent earned 10.3 per cent of all personal income.
Some regional areas of NSW also have a high concentration of income accruing to the top 1 per cent. In the Upper Hunter town of Scone, the average income of the top 1 per cent of earners was $4.2 million, the seventh highest in NSW.
Other regional areas with very high average incomes for the best-paid 1 per cent were Robertson-Fitzroy Falls ($1.6 million) and the Bangalow area near Byron Bay ($1.6 million).
The Australian suburb with the highest average income among its top 1 per cent was Cottesloe in Perth, at $16 million.
In some neighbourhoods, the average income among the top 1 per cent is skewed higher by a few incredibly high earners – the top 0.1 per cent – driving up the average.
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