Quick answer: the Average Salary in Australia is about AUD 108,000 a year, but the typical (median) full-time worker earns about AUD 90,500 — and the typical worker overall, part-timers included, earns about AUD 74,100. That gap between the full-time mean ($108,352) and the full-time median ($90,532) is about $17,820, and it is the story of this average Salary in Australia guide: the mean is pulled up by a small number of very high earners, while the median is the middle worker. All figures are gross Australian dollars, before tax, unless labelled net.

Average Salary in Australia 2026–27 Guide — Mean, Median and Typical Pay, by Source

Average salary in Australia in 2026–27 must be read across three ABS measures from different surveys, populations and dates — and they must never be averaged together. Australia's financial and tax year runs 1 July to 30 June, so "2026–27" here means 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. There is no published 2027-specific average Salary in Australia figure: the latest hard salary data are May 2026 (means) and August 2025 (medians), and "2026–27" is framing plus the 2026–27 tax rates used in the net example. 2027 Average Salary in Australia levels are an outlook, not a published scale. ABS earnings are cash earnings before tax and exclude superannuation, salary-sacrificed amounts and non-cash benefits.

The Three Headline Measures — Never Blend Them — Average Salary in Australia

Median hourly pay for all employees was $42.90 an hour in August 2025, up from $40.00 in August 2024. Percentiles for all employees in August 2025 (ABS): 25th percentile under $900 a week, median $1,425, 75th percentile under $2,127, 90th percentile under $3,000 — a secondary source's top-25% threshold of $110,604 a year ($2,127 a week) and top-10% of $156,000 a year ($3,000 a week) are consistent with those ABS percentiles, but this average Salary in Australia guide cites the ABS percentiles, not the secondary gloss. The previous AWE release (November 2025, published 26 February 2026) put full-time adult ordinary time earnings at $2,051.10 a week ($106,657 a year); it is mentioned only as the prior release and must not be mixed with the May 2026 figure.

Mean vs Median by Sex — Average Salary in Australia

ABS AWE, May 2026 (seasonally adjusted, full-time adults, ordinary time, as reported by a secondary source — the ABS topic page gives the sector split below, not this combined figure): full-time men $2,181.00 a week ($113,412 a year), full-time women $1,934.50 a week ($100,594 a year), a gap of about 11.3%. ABS topic page, May 2026 (sector split, directly from ABS): males — public sector $2,399.30 a week, private sector $2,139.50; females — public sector $2,154.00, private sector $1,840.80. So the public sector pays more than the private sector for both sexes on this measure, and the private-sector sex gap (about 14%) is wider than the public-sector gap.

ABS Employee Earnings, August 2025 (medians): full-time men $1,841 a week (up $51 on August 2024), full-time women $1,631 (up $33); median hourly — men $44.60, women $41.70 (all employees). Do not use the older "21.8% gender pay gap / median male $80,000 vs female $67,000" figures found in secondary blogs — they are from a different basis and year and contradict the August 2025 ABS medians above.

States and Territories — Two ABS Measures, Kept Apart — Average Salary in Australia

Mean, full-time adult ordinary time earnings, ABS AWE May 2026 (secondary reporting of ABS; small differences of ±$20–45 exist between secondary reports for Victoria, Queensland and South Australia — the ranking is identical in all three, so this average Salary in Australia guide states the ranking firmly and the exact dollars with their source, not pretending all reports agree to the cent). The main set used here is LeapScholar's precise set; annual figures are weekly × 52.

Australia's average is $2,083.70 a week. The ACT–Tasmania gap is about $424 a week, about $22,000 a year. The ACT's lead is structural (federal public-service workforce); Western Australia's is resources-driven. The Northern Territory has no precise figure in the main set — the ~$1,981 figure is a rounded second-source figure, labelled as such, not presented as exact. Another secondary report rounds these as ACT $2,290, WA $2,228, NSW $2,109, VIC $2,043, QLD $2,041, NT $1,981, SA $1,970, TAS $1,846; a third gives ACT $2,290.20, WA $2,227.40, TAS $1,846.30 — differences likely reflecting original versus seasonally adjusted series and rounding.

Median, all employees, ABS Employee Earnings August 2025 (ABS direct): highest — ACT $1,600 a week, followed by NT $1,510; lowest — Tasmania and South Australia, both $1,300. Capital cities: Sydney, Brisbane and Perth highest at $1,500 a week; Melbourne and Hobart $1,400. Outside capitals: regional WA highest at $1,400 a week; regional SA lowest at $1,200. Note the median ranking differs from the mean ranking (NT is second on median, mid-table on mean) — a real distributional difference, not an error.

Highest- and Lowest-Paying Occupations and Industries — Average Salary in Australia

Occupations — medians, ABS Employee Earnings August 2025 (ABS direct, all employees including part-timers, so part-time-heavy groups look lower partly because of hours, not only hourly rates). Highest major groups: Managers $2,072 a week, Professionals $1,900; highest hourly — Professionals $59.50 an hour, Managers $58.80. Lowest major groups: Sales workers $742 a week ($30.80 an hour), Labourers $940 ($32.00). Highest sub-major groups: Chief Executives, General Managers and Legislators $3,223 a week, Specialist Managers $2,310, ICT Professionals $2,300. Lowest sub-major groups: Food Preparation Assistants $448 a week, Hospitality Workers $556, Sales Assistants and Salespersons $631, Sales Support Workers $661.

These industry means are approximate figures as reported by Woods & Co from ABS, labelled as such. A second secondary source (LeapScholar) reports lower figures for the same industries from a November 2025–May 2026 blend — for example Professional $2,239 against $2,390 here, Financial $2,183 against $2,341, Construction $1,780 against $1,985, Accommodation $1,200 against $1,510 — so the two sets are not blended; this average Salary in Australia guide uses one set and footnotes the disagreement. Mining is the highest-paying industry on every measure; accommodation and food services is the lowest. Mining's mean ($3,224 a week) blends metro, residential and remote/FIFO roles and excludes overtime — it is not the pay of an "average FIFO worker" and must not be presented as one.

Industries — medians, ABS Employee Earnings August 2025 (ABS direct): highest — Mining $2,761 a week (up from $2,594 in August 2024), Electricity, gas, water and waste services $2,000, Financial and insurance services $2,000 (up from $1,750); lowest — Accommodation and food services $700 (up from $650), Retail trade $900 (up from $895), Arts and recreation services $1,150 (up from $1,000).

Pay by Education (Medians, ABS Employee Earnings August 2025) — Average Salary in Australia

ABS text confirms the two endpoints directly: employees with a postgraduate degree earn $2,000 a week median; employees without non-school qualifications earn $1,000 a week median. A JCU economics textbook citing ABS 2025 data gives the middle rounded as about $1,700 a week for a bachelor's degree (about $88,400 a year) — presented here as "about $1,700 (rounded, textbook citing ABS)", not as an exact ABS table value, since the ABS release text does not state it.

An older SEEK article gives a different, lower set (postgraduate $1,893, bachelor $1,578, no post-school qualifications $988) — it is not used here, as it is older and conflicts with the August 2025 ABS endpoints. Safe line: postgraduates earn about double the median of workers with no post-school qualification — but that gap reflects occupation, age and hours as well as the qualification itself, not a guaranteed return on a degree.

What $100,000 Gross Means in Net Pay — Independent Estimate, 2026–27 Rates — Average Salary in Australia

Basis: Australian resident, claiming the tax-free threshold, no HECS/HELP debt, no salary sacrifice, no Medicare levy surcharge, no Low Income Tax Offset (LITO is nil above $66,667, so it does not affect these examples). 2026–27 resident brackets: 0% to $18,200; 15% $18,201–$45,000 (cut from 16% on 1 July 2026 — the only bracket change from 2025–26, worth a maximum $268 a year); 30% $45,001–$135,000; 37% $135,001–$190,000; 45% above $190,000. Medicare levy: 2% of taxable income (full rate above $35,014; no levy below $28,011 for singles, 10%-of-excess phase-in between).

Superannuation Guarantee: 12% in 2026–27, paid by the employer on top of salary — it is not deducted from gross and is not in the ABS earnings figures. On $100,000 gross, SG adds about $12,000 to the total package. These examples are independent estimates, not the site calculator's output: run the site's own Australia calculator on $100,000 and compare — if its figure differs, the average Salary in Australia guide must say so, never silently replace this split with the site's, and never present this split as the site calculator's output.

Working for $100,000: income tax 15% × ($45,000 − $18,200) = $4,020, plus 30% × ($100,000 − $45,000) = $16,500 → $20,520; Medicare levy 2% × $100,000 = $2,000; total deductions $22,520. The 2025–26 comparison (16% bracket) gives tax $20,788 and net $77,212, so the 2026–27 cut is worth exactly $268 at this income. The median and mean examples match secondary calculators to rounding ($71,041 and $83,159 respectively), a useful cross-check that the bracket maths is right. Discrepancy flagged, not hidden: one secondary tax table gives $77,800 net on $100,000 (tax $20,220, Medicare $1,980) — that implies a $1,000 deduction applied before tax.

The examples above apply no deduction, so they differ by $320; this average Salary in Australia guide states "before deductions" and does not copy the $77,800 figure alongside these examples without explaining the difference. Note also that the ATO rates page itself was not opened — brackets are corroborated by three secondary calculators agreeing identically, and no ato.gov.au URL is given because none was returned in search results; the publisher should verify against ato.gov.au before publishing.

Outlook: Wage Growth Slowing, No 2026–27 Average Figure Forecast — Average Salary in Australia

Observed (ABS, hard data): Wage Price Index +3.2% in the year to June quarter 2026 (quarterly +0.8%), down from 3.4% a year earlier and below the late-2023 peak of 4.3%, but above the 2.2% of December quarter 2019 (pre-pandemic). Private sector +3.1%, public sector +3.4% in the year to June 2026; public has outpaced private for six quarters running. March quarter 2026: WPI +3.3% annually (+0.8% quarterly, steady since September quarter 2025). AWE full-time ordinary time earnings rose 3.7% in the year to May 2026 ($2,083.70); full-time total earnings +3.5% ($2,160.00).

Real wages: WPI +3.2% against CPI about +3.8% in the year to June 2026, so real Average Salary in Australia fell about 0.6 points over that year (secondary calculation from ABS measures, labelled as such; one secondary source puts September 2026 CPI at 4.3% — a different period, not mixed with the June comparison).

Jobs with a wage change under 4% over 12 months rose to 79% in June quarter 2026 (from 75% a year earlier), the largest share since June quarter 2022, which ABS links to slower Average Salary in Australia growth.

State WPI growth, year to June 2026 (secondary): South Australia highest at 3.6%, Northern Territory lowest at 2.8%. Forecast (labelled as forecast, not observed): Treasury (March quarter 2026 release commentary) noted annual wages had grown above 3% for 15 consecutive quarters and forecast real wage growth to return in the next financial year (2026–27) — a forecast made in early 2026, not a result. No credible forecast of a specific 2026–27 average Salary in Australia figure was found: do not invent one, and do not annualise the WPI into a "2027 average Salary in Australia" — if WPI growth holds near 3%, Average Salary in Australia would be modestly higher in 2026–27 than the May 2026 figure, without stating a number.

Context (secondary, labelled): national minimum wage from 1 July 2026 — $26.44 an hour, $1,004.90 a week on a 38-hour week (first time above $1,000 a week), casual loading 25% → $33.05 an hour (2025–26 was $24.95 an hour); source is a secondary guide citing the Fair Work Commission, whose decision itself was not opened.

Related Salary Calculators and Guides — Average Salary in Australia

Frequently Asked Questions — Average Salary in Australia

Sources — Average Salary in Australia

Medians, occupations, industries, education endpoints and state medians: ABS — Employee Earnings, August 2025 (latest release). AWE May 2026 headline and sector split: ABS earnings topic page. Wage growth: ABS media release — annual wage growth 3.2%, June quarter 2026 and ABS media release — wage growth steady, March quarter. Secondary sources (labelled as such in the text): LeapScholar — average salary in Australia 2026, Woods & Co — Australia job market update, October 2026, Pay Calculator Australia — average salary in Australia and Calc.au — 2026–27 tax rates.

Forecast wording: Treasury Ministers — higher wages commentary, March 2026. Education middle figure: JCU economics textbook — chapter citing ABS 2025 education medians. No 2027-specific average Salary in Australia figure exists; 2027 is outlook only. The ATO rates page was not opened and no ato.gov.au URL is guessed. Figures are planning estimates, not salary guarantees.

Disclaimer: All figures on this page are survey benchmarks for planning only. Actual pay depends on employer, state, experience, occupation, hours and benefits. This Average Salary in Australia guide is not a salary guarantee and does not replace the source surveys or a qualified adviser.