Domain data reveals income of $93,600 is needed to rent in the Mid West without being in rental stress

Renters in the Mid West need to be raking in an income of more than $93,000 in order to lease a property comfortably and not be in rental stress. Domain data released on Thursday reveals across Australia, regional renters require an income of $101,400 for a typical house or $91,000 for a unit to avoid rental stress. In the Mid West, that threshold is $93,600. That is higher than some other regions in WA, including the Wheatbelt north ($89,284), Wheatbelt south ($78,000) and Esperance ($78,000) but significantly lower than in West Pilbara ($225,316), Kimberley ($190,684), East Pilbara ($161, 356), Gascoyne ($156,000) and Augusta-Margaret River ($130,000). The required stress-free income for the West Pilbara is the highest in Australia along with Surfers Paradise in Queensland. In Perth to rent without stress, an income of $121,333 is needed for a house and $104,000 for a unit. Domain senior economist Dr Joel Bowman said individual earnings averaged about $80,200, which placed enormous stress on single-income renters and shut out average-earners from renting in many areas. “While it’s encouraging that no capital cities are officially under rental stress, the reality is the market remains incredibly tough heading into 2026,” he said. “Rents are still rising faster than wages, vacancy rates are at record lows, and as the analysis shows, the gap is widening between where renters want to live, and what they can actually afford. “For those single-income renters, it can be quite a struggle to be able to rent a typical-priced house in most of these markets.” The data is crunched based on the standard affordability benchmark that rent should not exceed 30 per cent of pre-tax income. In Perth, rent takes up 21.8 per cent of a typical household’s gross income in 2025, up from 13.9 per cent in 2019. The latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of WA has Geraldton’s median weekly rent at $550. That amount has remain unchanged in the three months to September 2025, but is up 14.6 per cent over the year. Research released by Anglicare last week in its annual rental affordability snapshot revealed that essential workers — from schoolteachers to firefighters and aged care workers — cannot afford a single rental property in inner Perth, and can afford only a handful across the rest of the metropolitan area. Across WA, there were only 16 rental properties — or 0.5 per cent — that were deemed affordable for hospitality workers. In the outback north region of WA, there were no affordable rentals for cleaners.