If you live in the 2600 postcode, it probably comes as no surprise you're among Canberra's highest-income residents.
The median taxable income in the postcode, which includes suburbs such as Barton, Deakin and Yarralumla, was $86,986 in the 2021-22 financial year, newly released data shows.
The Tax Office has released its most recent tax statistics, revealing what individuals earned and the amount of tax they paid during the 2021-22 financial year.
The second-highest earners live in 2603, which covers Forrest, Griffith, Manuka and Red Hill, where the median taxable income was $85,907.
Kingston and Narrabundah residents, who live in the 2604 postcode, were next on the list with a median taxable income on $84,603.
The top three postcodes certainly weren't a surprise to Associate Professor Ben Phillips, principal research fellow at the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods said.
"The inner city suburbs tend to be higher income, that's because they tend to be higher-wealth areas, so to get into those suburbs you have to have a higher income," he said.
"People pay a premium to live in suburbs that are close to work."
While the inner south takes the top three spots, a more surprising postcode comes in fourth. When taking into consideration some of the suburbs surrounding the ACT, Jerrabomberra has one of the highest median incomes in the region.
The median taxable income for postcode 2619 was $81,946.
Newer suburbs, or those with larger blocks of land and bigger houses, can also attract high-income earners despite being further from a CBD, Mr Phillips said.
"The size of a house in say Jerrabomberra or [nearby suburb] Googong might be 50 per cent bigger or even double the size of the houses in some of the poorer parts of Canberra," he said.
"So it tends to attract people who are higher income and higher wealth."
As can be expected in Canberra, where salaries are among the highest in the country, the median income for most postcodes was well above the national figure of $53,041.
Canberra City and Acton, postcode 2601, were the only ACT suburbs where residents earned below the national median, with the median income coming in at $51,364.
Both suburbs have a young, student-heavy population. The median age in Acton is 20, due to a high concentration of university students, while the median age in the City is 27.
How is income calculated?
The Tax Office releases income statistics by both average (mean) and median. The median is the preferred number to look at to get a picture of the typical resident, as a small number of exceptionally high wages can skew the average income higher.
Looking at average incomes, the 2603 postcode takes the top spot, with an average taxable income of $139,612, followed by 2600 where residents earn an average of $132,955.
Your taxable income is your assessable income - that is what you earn from wages or salary, interest from bank accounts, bonuses, dividends from investments, commission, pensions and rent - minus any tax deductions.
When it comes to deductions, Jerrabomberra residents had the highest median value of deductions at $1258, followed by the 2911 postcode, which includes Crace and Kenny, at $1240.
Types of employment will determine the amount and value of deductions people can claim at tax time, but generally the higher the income, the higher the deductions, Mr Phillip said.
Who pays the most tax?
Similarly, the higher your taxable income is, naturally, the more tax you pay.
The Tax Office also provides the median net tax for each postcode. Net tax refers to the amount of tax an individual owes during the income year, before refundable credits are taken into consideration.
Residents in the 2600 postcode paid a median tax of $24,558 for the 2021-22 financial year, followed by a median net tax of $23,456 in 2603 and $21,517 in 2604.
While residents in 2601 had the lowest median incomes, they sat around the middle of the pack when it came to the amount of tax they paid.
Only about 68 per cent of residents in the postcode paid tax that year, at a median amount of $16,116.
Gungahlin residents, with the postcode 2912, paid the smallest amount of tax, with a median net tax of $11,900.
