In Australia’s capital cities, the vast majority of jobs are located in the suburbs, not the central city area. However, the central city area does contain a greater proportion of high-income workers than either middle or low-income workers.
Figure 1: Numbers of low, middle and high-income workers in central city and rest of city, 2011
In this context lower-income approximates people earning in the bottom 40 per cent of Australia’s income distribution (up to $799 per week, in $2011) middle-income those earning between 40 per cent and 80 per cent ($800–$1499 per week); and high-income those earning above 80 per cent (above $1500 per week).
In Australia’s capital cities between 19 per cent and 26 per cent of all high-income jobs are located in the central city areas. This increases the demand among high-income households for housing that is close to the central city, which in turn pushes up the price of that housing.
Figure 2: Proportion of all metropolitan jobs that are in the central city, 2011
