Recently published data from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) has revealed that the average salary in Australia is just over $60,000.
Figures from the 2018-19 financial year showed that the average salary for Australians who submitted tax returns was $63,085. This is an increase up from $1634 recorded in the previous year.
The median reported salary that provides a more accurate picture of the “average” Aussie as the figure is not pulled higher by millionaires for 2018-19 was $52,732.
The data also revealed that there was a major difference between the earnings of Australian men and women.
In 2018-19, Australian men earned a median taxable income of $55,829, compared to $40,547 for women.
During this same financial year, Australians paid a median net tax of more than $11,000.
When broken down by each state, NSW home was by the lion’s share of high-income earners.
Australia’s wealthiest suburb was Double Bay located in Sydney, where individuals had an average taxable income of $202,598.
This was closely followed by Toorak in Melbourne, a suburb which had an average income of $201,926.
The only suburb in the top 10 that was not in NSW or Victoria was Cottesloein Western Australia. Cottesloe ranked six, with its residents earning an average income of $179,376.
In terms of occupations, Surgeons were once again the country’s highest-paid individuals on average, earning $394,303.
They were closely followed by anaesthetists on $386,065 and internal medicine specialists on $304,752.
Other major inclusions on the list were financial dealers who earned an average of $275,984, mining engineers who made an average of $184,507 and chief executive officers with $164,896.
All in all, only two percent of Australia’s 14.3 million workers take over $200,000 a year. Only three percent of Australians earn $188,667.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison earns $550,000 a year. Opposition leader Anthony Albanese takes home $390,000.
Scott Morrison is the fifth highest paid world leader only behind the leaders of Singapore, Hong Kong, USA and Germany.
The large majority of Australians earn a lot less than the salary of the country’s political leaders.
The typical taxable income half earned more than it, half earned less than it was $59,538.
The top 1 percent of workers in Australia have a taxable income of greater than $350,134.
There are only 110,613 who make up the top one percent. 82,258 are men and 28,355 are women.
Only 39,209 Australians have taxable incomes of more than $500,000, and of these only 14,467 have taxable incomes of more than $1 million.
A recent survey from the ATO also showed that most Australians believe they’re ‘middle income’ when they’re really anything but that. This often stems from a confusion between average wages and average household incomes.
A couple with two full-time average wages $82,000 each or $164,000 together and two children is likely to think of themselves in the middle of the household income distribution.
In fact, they are more likely to be in the second-highest fifth of living standards. If they don’t have children, they will be in the highest fifth of living standards.
This inconsistency between perceptions and reality arises because many people don’t work full-time, average wages are greater than median wages and many households, particularly the retired, don’t have any people with earnings.