THE gap between the Coffs Coast's richest and poorest residents is growing wider, but the coast's distribution of wealth is a lot less concentrated by suburbs compared with most other regional cities.

A suburb-by-suburb comparison of weekly median income recorded in the latest census doesn't always support the thinking that residents living in beachside localities tend to draw higher wages than households west of the Pacific Highway.

The Coffs Coast also defies a lot of other regional cities by having relatively even wage and wealth dispersal across its suburbs, villages and towns.

Over the past five years, the median wage for Coffs Harbour households rose from $847 in 2011 to $1019 last year.

There's an indication a lot of new money in the area and new housing estates over the past five years may have altered the income snapshots of local suburbs.

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The breakdown - wealth across the suburbs

How median weekly wages stack up across Coffs Coast suburbs

Red Rock $964/week - 52% rise in five years

Corindi - $1252/week (27%)

Mullaway - $1228/week (24%)

Safety Beach - $1550/week (51%)

Woolgoolga - $949/week (21%)

Sandy Beach - $1215/week (36%)

Emerald Beach - $1410/week (19%)

Moonee Beach - $1562/week (29%)

Sapphire Beach - $1544/week (22%)

Korora - $1436/week (13%)

Sawtell - $1107/week (32.1%)

Toormina - $876/week (16%)

Boambee East - $1166/week (14%)

Boambee - $1557/week (13%)

Bonville - $1453/week (30%)

Coffs Harbour - $1019/week (20%)

Upper Orara - $1394/week (40.3%)

Coramba - $1255/week (17.7%)

Nana Glen - $1231/week (20%)

Dorrigo - $775/week (11.5%)

Bellingen - $1032/week (27%)

Urunga - $931/week (27%),

Nambucca Heads - $735/week (23%)

Macksville - $886/week (29%).

Statistics sourced from the 2011 and 2016 census.