Financial position

Living standards

Financial position

Income is a key measure of wellbeing as it the main financial resource used to meet daily expenses and it also provides for economic freedoms.

Level of prosperity

This measure shows the difference between weekly disposable income for households in the ACT across 10 income groups.

The measure is adjusted to consider differences in household size and composition. It does this by comparing the weekly disposable income for those households with the lowest incomes (bottom 10%) against those with the highest incomes (top 10%) and measuring the ratio of the two. This is important because it helps us to understand the different amounts of disposable income households have, and the dispersion of that income across income groups, for consumption items like:

In 2007-08, when this data series commenced, the weekly disposable income for those in the top income group was 5 times that of those in the lowest income group.

In 2019-20 (the latest year for which data is available) households with the highest income had a weekly disposable income 3.7 times that of households with the lowest income.

Since 2007-08, income has increased for all income groups except those within the highest group. Income for this group has stayed relatively stable.

As of February 2026, there was no new data available for this measure. The ABS has indicated that they will not be releasing statistics based on the 2023-24 Survey of Income and Housing (SIH), as the data did not meet the ABS’ high standards for official statistics. The ABS expects results from the 2025-26 SIH to be published from mid-2027.

The data is published on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.

A link to download the latest data is below:

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/finance/household-income-and-wealth-australia/2019-20#data-downloads

Table 1. Household income and income distribution, Australia.

Table 14. Household income and income distribution, states and territories.

Line graph of weekly disposable household income across 10 income groups in the ACT, by financial year from 2013-14 to 2019-20. In 2019-20 the income of the top group was $2,234 and $598 for the lowest group compared to $2,030 and $554 in 2017-18.

The ABS determined these results from the Survey of Income and Housing, 2019-20.

This measure shows average equivalised weekly disposable income for households in the ACT across income deciles. Equivalised income accounts for variations in household size and composition and savings in average cost that result from sharing resources in a larger household. All references to income below are for the average equivalised weekly disposable income.