Where does your income rank
in Australia?
Your income percentile among the 13.24 million Australians who paid income tax in 2023-24, from the ATO's own percentile table — nationally, in your state, in your age band, and against men or women. Median $71,796; top 10% from $162,972; top 1% from $429,531.
Read the full answer — method, rates and figures
Quick answer: A taxable income of $85,000 sits in the ATO's 61st percentile bin ($84,286–$85,673) for 2023-24 — higher than about 61% of the 13.24 million Australians who paid income tax, i.e. in the top 39%. Published thresholds: median $71,796, top 10% from $162,972, top 1% from $429,531 (ATO Taxation statistics 2023-24, Individuals Table 16).
Individual taxable income, before tax, after deductions. General information, not financial advice.
Australia
61st pct
Top share
Top 39%
All ages
≈ 61st
Your bin
61st
$85,000 falls in the ATO's 61st percentile bin ($84,286–$85,673): higher than about 61% of Australian taxpayers in 2023-24, with about 39% earning more.
Taxable income — before tax, after deductions, individual not household. The bin is a published ATO boundary; the point inside it and every state, sex and age figure are estimates (≈). Data year 2023-24: incomes have grown since, so the same dollar figure ranks a little lower today.
Written by Ada, Richify's AI Financial Health Assessor — an AI author, presented as one · our editorial standards · Last updated 8 September 2026 · Sources: ATO Taxation statistics 2023-24, Individuals Tables 16 & 3 (data.gov.au).
Last reviewed 8 September 2026 by the Richify AI agent team.
Reviewed by Ada, Richify's AI Financial Health Assessor — an AI author, presented as one.
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The ATO publishes, once a year, the taxable-income range of every percentile of Australians who paid income tax — 100 bins of about 132,419 people each, with headcounts by state and by sex (Taxation statistics, Individuals Table 16). Your national rank is read straight off that table: the bin your income falls in is published; the point inside the one-percentile-wide bin is a linear estimate and is the only modelled part of the headline figure. “Top X%” starts at the lower bound of bin (101 − X), so the top 10% begins at bin 91’s floor, $162,972.
State and sex ranks add up each group’s headcount in the bins below your income, then interpolate inside your bin — marked ≈. The by-age layer comes from a second ATO table (Table 3) that publishes, for each age range, how many taxpayers fall in each of 27 income ranges; at a published boundary your rank is exact, and between boundaries it is interpolated on a log scale, the same method as our Canadian income-percentile page. Nothing is fitted to a curve, and nothing is projected forward from 2023-24: incomes have risen since, so a given dollar figure ranks slightly lower today than it did in the data year.
Sources: ATO Taxation statistics 2023-24, Individuals Tables 16 and 3 (returns processed to 31 October 2025; released April 2026; mirrored on data.gov.au under CC BY 2.5 AU). Verified 2026-09-08. Where sex is unknown the ATO counts the person as male; state is the residential postcode on the return; the ~0.6% with an overseas or unknown address are in the national figures but in no state.
Income percentiles in Australia — the ATO ladder, 2023-24
Every row is a published ATO boundary for taxable individuals. The right-hand column is the average net tax paid by people in that bin — the figure that shows how steep the ladder gets at the top: the top percentile paid an average of $417,987 each, against $14,794 at the median.
Median
$71,796
Top 25% from
$110,370
Top 10% from
$162,972
Top 1% from
$429,531
| Percentile bin | Taxable income range | Avg net tax paid |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $31,576 – $32,645 | $2,226 |
| 20th | $41,425 – $42,390 | $4,703 |
| 25th | $45,943 – $46,882 | $5,795 |
| 30th | $50,663 – $51,602 | $7,530 |
| 40th | $60,277 – $61,261 | $11,071 |
| 50thmedian | $70,664 – $71,795 | $14,794 |
| 60th | $82,925 – $84,285 | $19,088 |
| 70th | $98,372 – $100,177 | $24,630 |
| 75th | $108,198 – $110,369 | $28,095 |
| 80th | $119,530 – $121,836 | $31,994 |
| 85th | $134,237 – $137,986 | $37,980 |
| 90th | $156,957 – $162,971 | $47,193 |
| 95th | $194,637 – $208,280 | $64,684 |
| 96th | $208,281 – $226,506 | $71,933 |
| 97th | $226,507 – $254,651 | $82,199 |
| 98th | $254,653 – $306,053 | $99,503 |
| 99th | $306,054 – $429,530 | $135,444 |
| 100thtop 1% | $429,531 or more | $417,987 |
Bin p covers taxpayers ranked from (p−1)% to p%, so “top 10%” is everyone from the 91st bin up. Average net tax is the bin’s total net tax divided by its headcount (Table 16A). AUD, 2023-24.
Top 10% and top 1% income by state — where the bar sits
The ATO’s bins are national, but it publishes how many of each state’s taxpayers fall in every bin, which is enough to place a state’s median and top-10% start inside a bin. Those are estimates (≈) — the share of each state earning $100,000 or more is closer to exact, because $100,000 sits near a bin boundary.
| State / territory | ≈ Median | ≈ Top 10% from | ≈ Top 1% from | Earning $100k+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia (published) | $71,796 | $162,972 | $429,531 | 30.1% |
| New South Wales | $73,205 | $170,382 | above $429,531 | 31.7% |
| Victoria | $70,669 | $159,357 | $424,540 | 28.7% |
| Queensland | $70,649 | $155,933 | $397,027 | 28.9% |
| Western Australia | $76,736 | $177,688 | $428,484 | 35.1% |
| South Australia | $67,500 | $140,998 | $356,121 | 24.4% |
| Tasmania | $65,677 | $132,065 | $318,154 | 22.2% |
| ACT | $86,445 | $175,849 | $413,021 | 39.6% |
| Northern Territory | $77,273 | $153,133 | $335,752 | 31.8% |
≈ = interpolated inside the national bin from each state’s published headcount (Table 16A). “Above $429,531” means the state’s 99th percentile falls inside the ATO’s open-ended top bin, so no finer figure exists. State = residential postcode on the return.
Income percentile by age in Australia
Taxable income peaks in the 45–54 band and falls away after 55 as people cut hours, retire, and shift income into super (where it is not taxable income). Figures below are for taxpayers in each band; medians and top-10% starts are interpolated between the ATO’s published income boundaries (≈), while the share at or above $100,000 is a published boundary and exact.
| Age band | Taxpayers | ≈ Median | Earning $100k+ | ≈ Top 10% from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18–24 | 1,383,042 | $44,766 | 4.7% | $81,922 |
| 25–34 | 3,154,522 | $69,246 | 23.0% | $131,845 |
| 35–44 | 3,006,689 | $85,008 | 39.5% | $177,998 |
| 45–54peak | 2,532,775 | $87,850 | 42.0% | $196,640 |
| 55–64 | 2,009,509 | $75,647 | 33.6% | $179,367 |
| 65 and over | 1,118,894 | $58,979 | 23.9% | $166,947 |
| All ages | 13,239,874 | $71,796 | 30.1% | $162,972 |
Source: ATO Taxation statistics 2023-24, Individuals Table 3A (taxable individuals by age range and taxable-income range); all-ages row from Table 16. Under-18s excluded from the age rows; the all-ages figures include them. Compare the wealth side of the same bands on the net worth by age page.
Men and women: two different ladders
| Taxpayers | People | ≈ Median | ≈ Top 10% from | $100k ranks at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women | 6,358,642 | $63,831 | $136,622 | 77th pct |
| Men | 6,881,269 | $80,884 | $181,363 | 63rd pct |
| Everyone (published) | 13,239,911 | $71,796 | $162,972 | 70th pct |
Headcounts by sex are published per bin (Table 16A); medians and top-10% starts are interpolated inside the bin (≈). The ATO assigns unknown or indeterminate sex to male.
Why the median you read elsewhere is about $55,000
Two ATO populations, two medians, and most articles never say which one they are quoting. The percentile table ranks taxable individuals — people whose net tax was above zero — and among them the median is $71,796. Everyone who lodged a return is a bigger group, 16.58 million people, because it includes about 3.34 million who paid no net tax — students, part-year workers, retirees with small taxable incomes, people below the effective tax-free threshold — and that pulls the median down to $58,739 (published; the average is $78,127).
| Population (2023-24) | People | Median taxable income | Earning $100k+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid net tax (this calculator) | 13,239,911 | $71,796 (published) | 30.1% |
| Lodged a return | 16,584,250 | $58,739 (published) | 24.0% |
Neither base is “wrong”. Use the taxpayer ladder to compare yourself with other earners; use the all-lodger figure when the question is about the whole adult population. Neither counts people who did not lodge at all. Both medians are the ATO’s own (Table 16 and Snapshot Table 4); our interpolation of Table 3’s income ranges reproduces the all-lodger median within $50 (≈$58,691), which is the check on the by-age figures above.
How the median income in Australia has moved, 2013-14 to 2023-24
The ATO publishes the all-lodger median and average taxable income for every year since 2013-14. The median has risen 38% over the decade to $58,739; the average has pulled further ahead of it every year, which is the top tail growing faster than the middle.
| Income year | Median (all lodgers) | Average | Median, men | Median, women |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 | $42,562 | $57,134 | — | — |
| 2014-15 | $43,236 | $57,878 | $51,682 | $37,041 |
| 2015-16 | $43,877 | $58,689 | $52,316 | $37,767 |
| 2016-17 | $44,382 | $59,014 | $52,376 | $37,908 |
| 2017-18 | $45,882 | $61,217 | $54,252 | $39,058 |
| 2018-19 | $47,492 | $62,549 | $55,829 | $40,547 |
| 2019-20 | $48,381 | $63,882 | $56,746 | $41,724 |
| 2020-21 | $50,980 | $68,289 | $59,415 | $44,547 |
| 2021-22 | $53,041 | $72,327 | $61,988 | $45,813 |
| 2022-23 | $55,868 | $74,240 | $65,051 | $48,533 |
| 2023-24 | $58,739 | $78,127 | $67,904 | $51,419 |
Source: ATO Taxation statistics 2023-24, Snapshot Table 4 (“Individuals — median and average key items”), all individuals who reported at the taxable-income label. Nominal dollars, not inflation-adjusted. The percentile calculator above ranks against taxpayers only (Table 16), so its median ($71,796) is higher than this series by construction.
How to use this calculator
- Enter your taxable income for the year — your gross income minus deductions, the figure on your notice of assessment, not your take-home pay.
- Pick your state or territory to see your rank among taxpayers where you live (the national bins are exact; the state rank inside a bin is interpolated).
- Pick your age band and whether to compare with everyone, men or women.
- Read the four tiles: your national percentile, your state percentile, your age-band percentile, and which top-X% you are in — then scan the tables below for the thresholds themselves.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What percentile is a $100,000 salary in Australia?
About the 70th percentile of taxpayers. In 2023-24, a taxable income of $100,000 was higher than roughly 70% of the 13.24 million Australians who paid income tax, and about 30% earned more (ATO Taxation statistics 2023-24, Table 16).
Split by sex it is a different rung: $100,000 beats about 77% of women taxpayers but 63% of men. By age it ranges from the 95th percentile at 18–24 to about the 58th at 45–54, the band where the most people earn six figures (42.0% of its taxpayers).
What income puts you in the top 10% in Australia?
A taxable income of $162,972 or more in 2023-24 — the lower bound of the ATO's 91st percentile bin. The top 25% starts at $110,370, the top 5% at $208,281 and the top 1% at $429,531.
These are the ATO's own published boundaries for taxable individuals, not estimates. The bar moves by state: the top 10% starts at about $177,688 in Western Australia and $175,849 in the ACT, but around $132,065 in Tasmania (state figures are interpolated inside the national bins, so read them as ≈).
What is the top 1% income in Australia?
$429,531 of taxable income and above — 132,399 people in 2023-24, who paid an average of $417,987 in net tax each, against $14,794 for someone at the median. Two cautions.
This is INDIVIDUAL taxable income after deductions, so a household with two $220,000 earners is not in it while a single $430,000 earner is; and it is a taxpayer measure, not a wealth one — for the top 1% by net worth, use the net worth percentile calculator.
What is the median income in Australia — $55,000 or $72,000?
Both are real ATO numbers; they count different people. Among the 13.24 million individuals who PAID net tax in 2023-24, the median taxable income was $71,796 (Table 16).
Among everyone who LODGED a return — 16.58 million people, including about 3.34 million who paid no net tax because their income was under the effective tax-free threshold — the median is $58,739 and the average $78,127 (the ATO's published key items; our own interpolation from Table 3's income ranges lands at ≈$58,691, within $50 of it). The "$55,000" figures quoted in most articles are that all-lodger base from an earlier year — it was $55,868 in 2022-23.
This calculator ranks you against people who paid tax, because that is the base the ATO publishes percentiles for.
Is this before or after tax, and what counts as income?
Before tax. The ATO ranks TAXABLE income — salary and wages, business and investment income, net rent, capital gains and everything else assessable, minus your allowable deductions.
It is an individual measure (not household), it excludes superannuation contributions your employer makes, and it is after deductions, so a $110,000 salary with $5,000 of work deductions ranks as $105,000. To see what any of these figures leaves in hand after tax, Medicare and HECS, use the Australian income tax calculator.
What is a good income for my age in Australia?
Judge it against your own age band, because the ladder moves a lot with age. The estimated median taxable income among taxpayers in 2023-24 was $44,766 at 18–24, $69,246 at 25–34, $85,008 at 35–44, $87,850 at 45–54, $75,647 at 55–64 and $58,979 at 65 and over; the peak is 45–54.
The share earning $100,000 or more runs from 4.7% of 18–24-year-old taxpayers to 42.0% at 45–54. By-age figures are interpolated between the ATO's published income boundaries (Table 3) and marked ≈; the all-ages figures are exact.
How different are the income ladders for men and women?
Materially. Among taxpayers in 2023-24, the estimated median taxable income was about $80,884 for men and $63,831 for women, and the top 10% started at roughly $181,363 for men against $136,622 for women.
$100,000 beats about 63% of men but 77% of women. On the all-lodger base the ATO publishes the medians directly: $67,904 for men and $51,419 for women.
Note the ATO's own caveat: where sex is unknown, the individual is counted as male.
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Further Reading
Income is one number. Your net worth is the other.
Richify puts your home, super, shares and savings in one number and shows where it ranks for your age — then tracks it as your income compounds into wealth. Free, no bank linking.
See my net worth rank — Free