Looking beyond household income status: exploring the interplay of income and other drivers of neighbourhood satisfaction in the Gauteng Province of South Africa

Historic inequalities among different income groups remain a contentious issue affecting neighbourhood sustainability, particularly in South Africa. Prior studies frequently focused on the separate influence of income and other variables of neighbourhood satisfaction, failing to thoroughly explore how these variables intersect and interact with one another. The key objective of this study is to examine the interplay of income and other drivers of neighbourhood satisfaction in the Gauteng Province of South Africa to determine the net importance of household income on one’s neighbourhood satisfaction. The study analyses a sample of 8996 adult respondents interviewed in the Quality of Life 6 Survey (2020/21) conducted in the highly urbanised Gauteng province of South Africa. Bivariate and multivariable statistical techniques are employed to estimate the magnitude of the association between household income and neighbourhood satisfaction. The results show a strong association between household income and individuals’ neighbourhood satisfaction. However, neighbourhood satisfaction based on income alone does not offset the adverse roles of other non-monetary factors as individual and contextual factors. It is imperative to comprehensively understand the interactions between income and other drivers of neighbourhood satisfaction to address various disparities and inequities among income groups and create customised interventions to enhance good housing outcomes and neighbourhood satisfaction in Gauteng.