By Stephanie Gardiner in Orange

Backyards, houses and pub meals have long been bigger in the bush.

If that hasn’t been enough to tempt Australians to move to the country, perhaps a bigger bank balance will do the trick.

Regional blue collar workers, such as childcare educators and admin assistants, are now about $8000 better off each year than those in the city, according to economic research released on Monday.

Even city professionals, such as doctors and accountants, are not exactly flush, pocketing only $700 more than their regional colleagues, despite earning higher wages.

Those figures represent a dramatic shift from 10 years earlier, when city knowledge workers were more than $10,000 ahead.

Soaring house and rent prices are behind the declining financial incentives to live in the city, according to The Lucky Country or The Lucky City report by research institute e61.

“The relative benefits of city living no longer outweigh the costs for many workers,” the report said.

Regional industrial workers, like truck drivers and labourers, are $10,000 better off per year than those in the city due to both higher average wages and lower housing costs.

That is a longer-term trend, likely due to the shrinking urban manufacturing sector and the resources boom in the regions, the report said.

Workers across all sectors are leaving Sydney and, to a lesser extent, Melbourne and mostly moving to nearby regional centres.

Young families trying to get into the housing market for the first time are most likely to be affected by the declining affordability of city life, with Sydney millennials hit the hardest.

“The fact that those in their 30s are leaving reinforces the idea that rising housing costs are a key factor in their location decision,” the report said.

“People in this age bracket will be making life decisions, such as getting married and having children, which are typically associated with demand for larger homes.”

The findings raise questions about productivity if workers are leaving the highest-paid jobs in the cities, but could also represent an opportunity for country areas, e61 research director Gianni La Cava said.

“At any rate, it should be a priority of governments to allow people to live affordably near highly productive job opportunities,” Dr La Cava said.

“This likely means easing zoning constraints, abolishing stamp duty and ensuring immigration policy aligns with housing policy.”