Australia’s 20 poorest neighbourhoods

New data reveals the 20 poorest neighbourhoods in Australia, with residents earning a mean annual income of less than $35,000.

Eight of the 20 suburbs on the list are in NSW – QLD is shortly behind with six suburbs, Victoria and NT is home to two each and WA and ACT have 1 each.

Also read: Australia’s most unequal suburbs

Located east of Perth, WA, Malmalling - Reservoir has Australia’s lowest combined neighbourhood income of only $112,624, which translates to a tiny mean income of $16,089 for its residents in 2012-13, according to recently published data from the Bureau of Statistics.

This is a stark contrast to the country’s richest billion-dollar suburb – Mosman, on Sydney’s lower north shore – which has an ample $2.71 billion combined neighbourhood income and a mean income of $143,328 for its residents.

Also read: Australia’s billion dollar suburbs revealed

Alps – West, Acton, French Island and Shoalwater Bay made up the remainder of the top five suburbs with the lowest mean income across the country, with a mean income range of $20-245-$23,776.

The 20 poorest Aussie suburbs

 

	State	Total income ($)	Mean income ($)
Malmalling - Reservoir	WA	112,624	16,089
Alps - West	VIC	728,859	20,246
Acton	ACT	4,796,237	20,497
French Island	VIC	1,206,190	21,161
Shoalwater Bay	QLD	142,654	23,776
Elsey	NSW	7,505,097	27,592
Inverell Region - East	NSW	64,935,022	30,877
Kowanyama - Pormpuraaw	QLD	15,557,287	31,685
Inverell Region - West	NSW	84,032,653	32,209
Dorrigo	NSW	54,433,544	32,831
Gayndah - Mundubbera	QLD	121,812,382	33,529
Croydon - Etheridge	NSW	20,224,680	33,877
Tenterfield	NSW	101,992,103	34,237
Southern Downs - East	QLD	72,728,475	34,371
Casino Region	NSW	100,531,514	34,393
Aurukun	QLD	6,333,359	34,420
Thamarrurr	NT	9,952,346	34,677
Avoca	NSW	57,007,674	34,740
Sandover - Plenty	NT	4,867,733	34,770
Kilkivan	QLD	59,322,189	34,937

Source: ABS