For workers in Melbourne, it pays to be a bloke aged between 45 and 54.
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it → pay → 45
Men in that age group have the city’s highest median income at $96,457 a year, a little more than the next highest group (males aged 35 to 44 at $93,306).
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Men → have → 93,306
Analysis of official income data by The Age sheds light on how earnings vary by age and sex across the city.
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earnings → shed → city
Using the interactive below, you can find out the median income for your age group in your area, broken down by sex:
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you → use → sex
If you looked at the figures for your area across several age brackets, you may have noticed how earnings track.
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earnings → look → brackets
Median incomes for both men and women start comparatively low in their early twenties, before rapidly increasing and typically peaking at around 45-54 years old.
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incomes → start → twenties
For both men and women across the city, 45-54 year-olds had the highest median income in 2022-23 (the most recent year for which this data is available), at $96,547 for men and $69,620 for women.
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data → have → women
The data covers only individual pre-tax income from wages, investments, self-owned businesses and (if applicable) superannuation; it does not include assets owned by individuals such as housing and shares.
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it → cover → housing
Also, it doesn’t distinguish between part-time and full-time workers, which is one factor in the gap between men and women, since women are more likely to work part-time than men.
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women → distinguish → men
The area with the highest median income is Bayside, which includes Brighton, Hampton, Sandringham and Black Rock, where half of income earners raked in at least $86,879 in 2022-23.
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half → include → 2022
The Melbourne City area, including suburbs such as the CBD, Docklands, Port Melbourne and Parkville, had the lowest median income, at $48,382.
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area → include → 48,382
This is partly because the city is home to large numbers of younger people and university students who are predominantly working part-time and in entry-level jobs, which drives down the median.
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which → work → median
How does your income stack up?
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income → stack → ?
The age and gender breakdown of Melbourne
In every Melbourne area and in every age bracket, men have a higher median income than women, and the gap widens with age.
Rae Cooper, professor of gender, work and employment relations at the University of Sydney, said women shoulder much more unpaid domestic work during “the prime working years” in their 30s and 40s when family care is most intense.
“This can constrain their participation, working hours and career choices, contributing to a ‘motherhood penalty’ in pay,” she said.
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she → have → pay
“A gender income gap that persists and widens through working life leads to the gender wealth gap, affecting women’s economic security not only today but across their entire lifetime and into retirement.”
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that → persist → retirement
The area of Maribyrnong, which takes in suburbs such as Footscray and Yarraville, has the smallest total income gap between men and women, with a 14 per cent difference.
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which → take → difference
The biggest gap was in Macedon Ranges, which encompasses suburbs such as Gisborne and Riddells Creek, where there was a 59.2 per cent difference between the median income of men and women.
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which → encompass → men
The highest median income of any age bracket and sex is men aged 45-54 in Stonnington East, who have a median income of $169,670.
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who → have → 169,670
Stonnington East includes the suburbs of Malvern, Malvern East and Glen Iris.
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East → include → Malvern
That’s far higher than the median for all people in the area, of $82,689.
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That → ’ → 82,689
There are 40 areas that make up Greater Melbourne.
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that → be → Melbourne
In 28 of them, 45-54 year-old men have the highest median income and in 12 it is 35-44 year-old men.
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it → have → 12
The areas on the map where 35-44 year-old men have the highest median income are typically growth corridors or outer suburbs, while 45-54 year-olds are the higher earners in the inner city and leafy eastern suburbs.
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olds → have → city
Why the ‘hipster-proof fence’ in Melbourne is shifting
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fence → shift → Melbourne
Demographer Matthew Deacon of Demographic Solutions said the outer suburban areas where 35-44 year-olds were the highest income earners were home to a large number of blue-collar workers who rely more on physical labour, and who reach peak earnings earlier in life, during the 35-44 window.
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who → say → window
KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said that in the western and northern growth corridors, and in areas such as Keilor and Moreland North, a much larger share of new 35-44 year-old residents were white-collar professionals who had been priced out of the inner suburbs.
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who → say → suburbs
He said the “hipster-proof fence” of Bell Street historically marked the northern edge of Melbourne’s white-collar areas, “but housing affordability pressures are now pushing higher-income households into traditionally blue-collar suburbs such as Coburg and Pascoe Vale”.
But it should be noted that the difference between the median incomes of 35-44 year-olds and 45-54 year-olds is very slim in most areas - usually no more than 3 per cent either way – so the data does not suggest that there are large income disparities between these two age brackets.
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data → say → brackets
The areas with the biggest difference between the median income of 45-54 year-old men and 35-44 year-old men were the affluent areas of Stonnington East, Boroondara (which takes in suburbs such as Balwyn, Camberwell, Hawthorn and Kew) and Bayside, where the median income of 45-54 year-olds is more than 20 per cent higher than that of 35-44 year-olds.
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income → take → olds
Deacon said this could be because these areas are home to a large number of senior managers and business owners who have reached the peak of their careers and who could afford to buy property in these expensive suburbs.
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who → say → suburbs
In addition, he said these areas are also home to legal and medical professionals who spend longer in education and training, and so reach their highest income levels later in life.
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who → say → life
The Aporia
