Individual Income is an indicator of socio-economic status, skills and occupations required in a particular industry. With other data sources, such as Qualifications and Occupation, it helps to evaluate the economic opportunities of people in an industry.
Income quartiles are used to condense income categories into manageable units, adjust for the effects of inflation, and allow areas to be compared over time relative to a benchmark. The incomes for the state are split into four equal groups, each containing 25% of the local labour force, and the quartiles allow users to compare changes in the local area to changes statewide, or against another benchmark. For more information on how quartiles are calculated please refer to the data notes.
As well as being related to the type of jobs and qualifications required in a particular industry, income levels can be related to the level of part-time employment, Occupations, Qualification and the Age structure of the local resident workers, so the data should be looked at in conjunction with these topics.
Data source
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Census 2016 and 2021 – by usual residence
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| Resident workers individual income quartiles | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Sydney - Persons | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||||
| Quartile group | Number | % | New South Wales | Number | % | New South Wales | 2016 - 2021 | ||
| Lowest group | 487,449 | 21.6 | 25.0 | 469,499 | 22.4 | 25.0 | +17,950 | ||
| Medium lowest | 525,368 | 23.3 | 25.0 | 489,082 | 23.3 | 25.0 | +36,286 | ||
| Medium highest | 581,811 | 25.8 | 25.0 | 541,779 | 25.8 | 25.0 | +40,032 | ||
| Highest group | 660,641 | 29.3 | 25.0 | 599,097 | 28.5 | 25.0 | +61,544 | ||
| Total Persons | 2,255,269 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 2,099,457 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +155,812 | ||
Source: Derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented .id (informed decisions). Please refer to specific data notes for more information | |||||||||
| Quartile group dollar ranges (Individuals) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quartile group dollar ranges (Individuals) | Weekly income by Census year | ||||||||
| Individual quartile ranges | 2021 | 2016 | |||||||
| Lowest group | $0 to $638 | $0 to $557 | |||||||
| Medium lowest | $639 to $1,030 | $558 to $909 | |||||||
| Medium highest | $1,031 to $1,623 | $910 to $1,435 | |||||||
| Highest group | $1,624 and over | $1,436 and over | |||||||
Dominant groups
Income quartiles allow us to compare relative income-earning capabilities across time. Analysis of the distribution of the resident workers by income quartile in Greater Sydney compared to New South Wales shows that there was greater proportion of persons in the highest income quartile, and a lesser proportion in the lowest income quartile.
Emerging groups
The most significant change for the resident workers in Greater Sydney between 2016 and 2021 was in the highest group quartile which showed an increase of 61,544 resident.