Karratha tops regional rich list

A report last week named Karratha workers as raking in the highest average total income outside of capital city regions with an average of $86,828 a year in 2010-11.

However, Shire of Roebourne president Peter Long said the finding was a double-edged sword.

"On the one hand it is good to have wealth and jobs in our community to attract people here but on the other hand we've had to work very hard to get infrastructure like our roads, footpaths and sporting facilities to a point where they can cope with our rapid growth," he said.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the average wage in Karratha had increased by 46 per cent since 2005-06 when it was $59,321.

Other areas in the Pilbara were not far behind with the second- highest income in Port Hedland ($86,079) followed by Roebourne ($80,283), the Shire of Ashburton ($79,252) and Newman ($79,208).

ABS director of rural and regional statistics Lisa Conolly said the wage estimates were numbers crunched from Australian Taxation Office data to provide a regional analysis of income received from wages and salaries as well as other sources of income.

Mr Long said the cost of living was still high in the Pilbara region.

"But with a number of new housing developments coming online we've seen house prices come down which should have flow-on effects to the price of other goods and services," he said. "We're still working to get more housing stock to market as well as trying to attract and support more small businesses in the region to increase competition.

"The past year in particular has seen us get to a point where we've opened a range of new facilities and also seen a range of new private businesses open up to give us a level of community spaces and recreational activities that are more in line with what you would find in a city."