Orange residents are on average richer than ever before.
ORANGE residents are richer than ever but mortgage repayments are outstripping increases in income.
Australian Bureau of Statistics reveal in the last six years the average income of residents increased by $225 but mortgage repayments increased by $353.
However, Orange households enjoyed one of the biggest increases to their weekly wages in NSW behind Newcastle. For the first time, the median weekly pay packet exceeds $1000 in Orange and Bathurst.
The trend follows an increase in the size of pay packets for isolated mining communities in some cases by more than 50 per cent. Orange, however, stopped short with an increase of 24 per cent.
Orange is not much better off than Bathurst.
The average weekly income for Bathurst is $1142, only $19 less then Orange. However, in 2006 people in Bathurst were earning $40 more on average than those in Orange.
The increase in average income reflects a monster jump in rental prices for the city. Rental prices jumped 35 per cent to $230 per week.
In Bathurst, residents have the luxury of paying $10 dollars less on average per week in rent than those in Orange but rent increased by 29 per cent from the 2006 census data.
While Orange and Bathurst experienced massive growth over the last six years the same cannot be said for Dubbo.
The city of 38,805 people was one of the worst performers in NSW and experienced a median income growth of under 13 per cent with people taking home $1096 per week on average.