Your break-even pay
How the verdict works
Think of it as a wage inflation calculator with a few extra checks. Your pay is checked against several measuring sticks. For each one, we compare how many times your pay has grown with how many times that thing has grown since the year you picked. Within 5% either way counts as keeping up. More than that is ahead or behind.
The verdict starts from the most important check: has your pay beaten everyday prices? That decides whether you're drowning (your buying power has shrunk), treading water (about the same), swimming (better off) or excelling (more than 30% better off). Then, if you rent and your rent has run well ahead of your pay, the verdict drops a step, because rent is usually the biggest bill a renter has.
House prices, mortgage repayments and gold are shown for interest but don't change the verdict. If you already own a home, rising prices have worked in your favour. If you don't, they show how far the goalposts have moved.
What it doesn't count
It uses pay before tax, so it doesn't account for tax changes, super, or bracket creep (when a pay rise pushes more of your income into a higher tax bracket). It also uses national averages. Prices in your city, and the things you actually spend on, will be a bit different.
What is the average salary in Australia?
This is the average wage that most news stories quote: the Australian Bureau of Statistics figure for full-time adults' ordinary time earnings, which means regular pay for standard hours, before tax and without overtime. It's an average, not a typical wage. A small number of very high earners pull the average up, so most full-time workers earn less than this. Part-time and casual workers aren't included.
Average salary in Australia by year, since 1995
| Year | A week | A year | In today's money |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (so far) | $2,083.69 | $108,352 | $108,352 |
| 2025 | $2,030.56 | $105,589 | $109,326 |
| 2024 | $1,949.60 | $101,379 | $107,945 |
| 2023 | $1,863.44 | $96,899 | $106,443 |
| 2022 | $1,788.75 | $93,015 | $107,876 |
| 2021 | $1,742.75 | $90,623 | $112,056 |
| 2020 | $1,712.75 | $89,063 | $113,279 |
| 2019 | $1,646.60 | $85,623 | $109,833 |
| 2018 | $1,595.40 | $82,961 | $108,113 |
| 2017 | $1,556.40 | $80,933 | $107,498 |
| 2016 | $1,524.69 | $79,284 | $107,359 |
| 2015 | $1,491.81 | $77,574 | $106,389 |
| 2014 | $1,465.56 | $76,209 | $106,088 |
| 2013 | $1,428.94 | $74,305 | $106,013 |
| 2012 | $1,372.60 | $71,375 | $104,311 |
| 2011 | $1,317.40 | $68,505 | $101,848 |
| 2010 | $1,262.65 | $65,658 | $100,910 |
| 2009 | $1,207.31 | $62,780 | $99,257 |
| 2008 | $1,138.81 | $59,218 | $95,305 |
| 2007 | $1,087.69 | $56,560 | $94,981 |
| 2006 | $1,034.94 | $53,817 | $92,499 |
| 2005 | $1,002.81 | $52,146 | $92,800 |
| 2004 | $952.00 | $49,504 | $90,448 |
| 2003 | $920.94 | $47,889 | $89,539 |
| 2002 | $871.10 | $45,297 | $87,030 |
| 2001 | $830.69 | $43,196 | $85,496 |
| 2000 | $788.60 | $41,007 | $84,732 |
| 1999 | $754.65 | $39,242 | $84,695 |
| 1998 | $732.60 | $38,095 | $83,426 |
| 1997 | $703.44 | $36,579 | $80,792 |
| 1996 | $679.94 | $35,357 | $78,291 |
| 1995 | $654.69 | $34,044 | $77,355 |
Yearly average of the May and November figures. In today's money uses the consumer price index.
Real wages in Australia: real vs nominal wages
Your nominal wage is the number on your payslip. Your real wage is what that number can actually buy once you take price rises into account. If you get a 3% pay rise in a year when prices go up 4%, your nominal wage went up, but your real wage went down by about 1%.
Across Australia, real wages fell sharply in 2022 and 2023 when inflation hit 7%, and have been slowly clawing back since. That's why so many people feel worse off even after getting pay rises. This calculator works out your own real wage change, which can be very different from the national average if you've changed jobs, been promoted or stayed on the same pay.
Want to see what a single amount is worth in a different year? Try our inflation calculator, which goes back to 1923.
Common questions
Has my pay kept up with inflation?
Put your pay from a past year and your pay now into the calculator. The first check, against everyday prices, answers this directly. It also tells you what your old pay would need to be today just to buy the same amount.
What pay rise do I need to keep up with inflation?
At least the yearly inflation rate, just to stand still. The latest figure is in the note under the calculator. Anything above that is a real pay rise.
Why do I feel worse off when my pay has gone up?
Often because the things that hurt most have gone up faster than average. Rent, groceries in some years, and especially housing have run ahead of everyday prices. You can be ahead on the shopping and still be falling behind on getting a home.
Where does the data come from?
Prices, groceries and rent come from the ABS consumer price index. Wages come from ABS Average Weekly Earnings. House prices come from the Bank for International Settlements' Australian residential property price index. Mortgage rates are the Reserve Bank's standard variable home loan rate. Gold is the World Bank's monthly gold price, converted with the Reserve Bank's exchange rates.
Why does it only go back to 1995?
That's as far back as the matching average wage series is available in the same form. For a single dollar amount, the inflation calculator goes back to 1923.