Areas in regional Australia are among the nation's most disadvantaged, new data from the Bureau of Statistics has revealed. But in a sign of how the mining boom is reshaping Australia, Perth now has four of the nation's five most socio-economically advantaged council areas.
The Western Australian capital's exclusive riverside local government area of Peppermint Grove topped the national list, with Nedlands third, Cottesloe fourth, and Cambridge fifth. Yarrabah Shire in north Queensland was rated the country's most disadvantaged area.
In NSW, the local government areas of Central Darling, Brewarrina, Walgett, Coonamble, Kempsey and Richmond Valley were ranked in the top 10 per cent of Australia's most disadvantaged communities.
No suburbs outside Melbourne are in the 10 most advantaged areas, but five of the 10 most disadvantaged are in Victoria's regional cities.
The Bureau's index of advantage and disadvantage, which uses census figures to measure social and economic conditions in small geographic areas, revealed huge disparities across greater Sydney.
Where does your area rank? Red (high rank) shows most disadvantage. Green (low rank) shows least disadvantage.
The city had 42 suburbs ranked in the nation's most advantaged 1 per cent of neighbourhoods but it also had two suburbs ranked in the most disadvantaged 1 per cent. More than 30 Sydney suburbs were in the nation's most disadvantaged 5 per cent.
The index covers 25 variables, such as the proportion of households with high or low incomes, the proportion with broadband or no internet access, how many people work as professionals or labourers, the size of mortgages and rent payments, the proportion of one-parent households, the number of bedrooms and occupants' qualifications.
Sydney's 10 most advantaged suburbs were all north of the harbour including six on the waterfront - Northwood, Linley Point, Longueville, Clontarf, Balgowlah Heights and Castlecrag. The Ponds, near Kellyville, was deemed Sydney's most advantaged suburb. The south-western suburbs of Airds and Claymore were rated the most disadvantaged suburbs in the city.
Some suburbs in Sydney's west and south-west were deemed to be more advantaged than many fashionable inner-city neighbourhoods, which have significant pockets of disadvantaged people living in public housing.
In Glebe for example, small statistical areas ranked in the most disadvantaged 10 per cent of the population live next to streets inhabited by families ranked in the most advantaged 10 per cent.
The index showed Orangeville, near Camden, had a higher ranking than Rose Bay and Balmain while Rouse Hill, in the city's north-west, received a higher ranking than Woollahra.
A swathe of suburbs stretching north of the harbour to Berowra and west to Rouse Hill were in the most advantaged 10 per cent of Australian suburbs. One factor was the high quality and size of housing.
The most disadvantaged local government areas in NSW were Brewarrina, Central Darling and Walgett from the state's western region, followed by Kempsey on the north coast and Fairfield.
The index results would help governments and business with planning, the bureau said.
