Average wage for our towns

Region’s highest, lowest salaries

THE Australia Taxation Office has revealed the Toowoomba and the Darling Downs’ postcodes with the highest and lowest salaries.

The highest average taxable income in the Darling Downs region of $54,224 was recorded in the postcode of 4417 in the Surat. The second highest postcode is 4413, Chinchilla, at $53,805, according to the 201516 tax statistics.

The third highest was recorded for the 4352 postcode, for $53,115, which takes in 68 different suburbs including Highfields, Kleinton, Cabarlah, Geham, Meringandan, Preston, Upper Lockyer, Spring Bluff, Ramsay and Ravensbourne.

The Toowoomba 4350 postcode comes in at fourth position with an average income of $52,115.

The postcode with the lowest average income is 4380 in Stanthorpe, with workers earning about $37,214.

Australia’s highest average taxable income of $192,500 was recorded in Sydney’s 2027 postcode which covers Darling Point, Edgecliff, HMAS Rushcutter, and Point Piper. Melbourne’s 3142 postcode, covering Toorak and Hawksburn, was the second highest nationally with an average taxable income of $190,777.

New South Wales was home to the lowest earning area. Postcode 2387, covering Bulyeroi and Rowena in far North East NSW, had an average tax-

able income of around $12,000. Victoria has five of the bottom 10 postcodes with 3482 recording the second lowest average incomes nationally.

The statistics also reveal Australia’s highest paid professions, with surgeons ranking first with an average taxable income of $393,467, followed by anaesthetists on $359,056, internal medicine specialists on $291,140, financial dealers on $263,309 and psychiatrists on $211,024.

According to the ATO, out of nearly 1200 occupations recorded, there were fewer than 100 where women had a higher average taxable income than men - they included receptionists, schoolteachers, beauticians and goat farmers.