Perth residents owe over $5 billion in HECS student debt

An analysis of Australian Taxation Office data from the 2023 to 2024 financial year reveals that Perth residents owe more than $5 billion in HECS student loan debt. Approximately 200,000 people in the metropolitan area are paying off an average debt of $26,900, which is lower than the national average.

The highest individual loan balances are concentrated in inner-city suburbs, such as postcode 6000, which sits nearly $8,000 above the metropolitan average. KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley noted that these high balances often correlate with highly skilled professionals in sectors like law, medicine, and technology, suggesting that high debt levels can reflect an investment in future earnings rather than purely financial stress.

While high balances are found in the inner city, the largest concentration of people making HECS repayments resides in Perth’s southern corridor. In regional Western Australia, roughly 27,000 people hold HECS debt with an average balance of $22,200. Nationally, 2.4 million taxpayers hold such debts, the majority of whom are under the age of 30.