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January 26, 2026 — 5:00am
In a sleepy seaside town popular with retirees and holidaymakers, professionals spend more on driving for work than anywhere else in Greater Melbourne.
It’s an observation revealed by KPMG analysis of taxation data, which highlights the suburbs where Melburnians claim the highest average work-related car expenses.
The data uncovers clusters of above-average tax claims in affluent bayside suburbs, along with eastern inner-city suburbs including Albert Park and Malvern, plus outer suburbs on the Mornington Peninsula and in the Yarra Valley.
It follows a strong geographical and socio-economic pattern, as wealthier people tend to live in areas prioritising space and lifestyle over access to public transport, KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said.
“Some affluent suburbs, such as Brighton, Toorak and Middle Park might have public transport options. But because residents tend to have higher incomes, they can afford to travel by car rather than rely on public transport,” he said.
In the suburb of Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula, only 17 per cent of local taxpayers have work-related car expenses. However, motorists there claim another $500 above the postcode with the second-highest deductions: 3206, which covers Albert Park and Middle Park.
“Occupational mix is another key factor [in the data],” Rawnsley said.
“Some locations may have a larger share of workers, such as professionals, who often travel for work, compared to other locations that may have a greater share of workers, such as teachers, who travel less for work purposes.”
Blairgowrie Cafe owner Daryl Ferguson, a local resident of 25 years, suspects the suburb is the furthest people working in the city would be willing to live, sacrificing distance for lifestyle. Some years ago, he tried driving into the CBD for work five days a week – but found it impossibly draining.
“Driving is certainly the only form of considered transport,” Ferguson said.
“Over the summer period, it is overloaded with traffic because there is only one little road in, and one out. So it’s pretty difficult, that’s for sure.”
In terms of public transport, Blairgowrie relies on a local bus service to connect it to the wider Mornington Peninsula region – and ultimately to inner Melbourne – via Frankston train station.
The railway station is about an hour’s drive by car, and about 1½ hours by bus.
Another local business owner, who asked to remain anonymous in the tight-knit suburb, said job opportunities and infrastructure were limited in Blairgowrie, forcing people to travel.
Some people lived between two homes in Melbourne and Blairgowrie, spending half their week in the oceanside suburb, the business owner said.
“They’ve probably got more [an] executive-type job, so they might incorporate their travel into that,” she said. “It’s quite a higher socioeconomic demographic and people.”
About a quarter of Blairgowrie’s working population listed themselves as “professionals” in the 2021 Census, followed by 20 per cent who described themselves as “managers” (6 per cent more than the state average).
The median age in Blairgowrie is 58, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
As of 2024, the suburb had the most significant five-year house price increases of any suburb in Greater Melbourne, with a rise of 64 per cent to a median $1.55 million, according to Domain. However, prices in Blairgowrie slumped by almost 16 per cent the following year.
Residents of Melbourne’s inner north relied much less on cars for work-related travel, with Brunswick East and North Melbourne recording among the lowest average expenses for Greater Melbourne, according to the taxation data from the 2022-23 financial year.
They were among the areas most well-serviced by public transport, Rawnsley said.
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