The information in this release has been sourced from the Australian Tax Office (ATO). It complements the data published in the ATO's Taxation Statistics release.

This release presents regional data on the number of income earners, amounts they receive, and the distribution of income for the 2010-11 to 2014-15 financial years. An improved geocoding process has been introduced for this release. As such, previously released estimates for the 2010-11 and 2012-13 financial year have been superseded.

Data are available for the following categories:

• employee income
• own unincorporated business income
• investment income
• superannuation and annuities
• other income (income not allocated to other income categories and also excluding Government pensions and allowances)
• total income (sum of the above income categories)

These statistics provide insights into the nature of regional economies and the economic well-being of the people who live there. Data can be found by accessing the 'Downloads' tab located in the menu bar on this page.

Information is presented at the following levels of geography of the 2016 edition of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2); Statistical Area Level 3 (SA3); Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4); Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA); Local Government Area (LGA); state/territory and Australia.

When interpreting these results, it should be noted that some low income earners, for example those receiving Government pensions and allowances, or those who earned below the tax free threshold (which rose from $6,000 to $18,200 in 2012-13), may not be present in the data, as they may not be required to lodge personal tax forms. Other individuals may not lodge a tax return even if required, therefore care should be taken in interpreting the data as well as comparing the data in this publication with other income data produced by the ABS. For further information on these data, please refer to the Explanatory Notes.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics wishes to acknowledge the support of the ATO in compiling these statistics.