Age Pension Calculator
Australia 2026

How much Age Pension will I get?

The most you can receive is $1,237.70 a fortnight as a single person or $1,866.00 combined as a couple (20 Sep 2026 onwards, including the Pension and Energy Supplements). What you actually get depends on two means tests: the income test and the assets test. Services Australia works out your entitlement under each and pays whichever produces the lower figure. A single homeowner with, say, $250,000 in super and savings, a modest car and no other income comfortably passes both tests and receives close to the full rate; the same person with $700,000 in assessable assets would be reduced heavily by the assets test and could receive only a small part-pension. There is no cliff at the free areas — the pension tapers down smoothly and only reaches zero at the cut-off points ($745,750 in assets for a single homeowner from 20 September 2026, for example).

How much Age Pension will I get with $500,000 in assets?

A single homeowner with $500,000 in super and savings and no other income receives a part pension of about $736.70 a fortnight under the assets test. The table below runs the same two tests across a range of balances, on the basis selected above, so you can find the row nearest your own position. It assumes a homeowner whose assets are all financial (super plus savings), with no employment, rental or other income — the family home is exempt and is not included.

Two things the table makes visible that a single figure cannot. First, which test binds changes as you move down the rows — at lower balances the income test governs, because deemed income passes the free area while assets are still under the threshold, and the assets test takes over above it. Second, the pension does not stop abruptly: it tapers to zero at the cut-off, which is $745,750 of assessable assets for a single homeowner on the figures for 20 Sep 2026 onwards. Every row is calculated by the same code as the calculator above, on the basis you have selected.

How much did the Age Pension go up in September 2026?

The maximum rate rose $36.80 a fortnight for singles and $55.60 for couples combined on 20 September 2026, lifting the maximums to $1,237.70 and $1,866.00 — the largest rise since March 2023. The Government confirmed those figures on 20 August 2026 and Services Australia has paid them since 20 September. The rise is larger than headline inflation because Age Pension maximum rates are indexed to the higher of the CPI and the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index, then benchmarked against male total average weekly earnings. For the six months to June 2026 the CPI sat at roughly 2.0% while the PBLCI reached 3.2%, so the PBLCI governs and the increase is close to a third larger than a CPI-only reading implies. The PBLCI is a pensioner-specific basket, which is why it diverged: its biggest price movements were health (7.08%), housing (5.86%) and insurance and financial services (5.57%), and after weighting housing was the largest single contributor. The caveat that matters more than any of this: indexation lifts the maximum rate, not necessarily your payment. The same announcement raised the deeming rates, which feed the income test, so a part-pensioner assessed under the income test received less than the headline figure and could end up with less than before. Only pensioners on the full rate, or reduced by the assets test, keep the whole increase.

Will the September 2026 deeming rise cancel out my pension increase?

For some pensioners, yes — and for a minority it more than cancels out. On 20 September 2026 the deeming rates rose from 1.25% and 3.25% to 1.75% and 3.75%, the first change since 20 March 2026 and the second rise in six months. Deeming is used only in the income test, so the effect depends entirely on which test binds your payment. If you receive the full pension, or your payment is reduced by the assets test, deeming is irrelevant to you and the full $36.80 or $55.60 arrived. If the income test binds, the higher rates add 0.5% of your financial assets to your assessable income each year, and the 50-cent taper removes half of that from your pension — roughly 0.5% of your financial balance divided by 52, per fortnight. Set that against the headline rise and you get a break-even: an income-test-bound single needs about $382,700 in financial assets, and a couple about $578,200, before the deeming increase swallows the whole indexation rise. Above those balances the September package left you with a smaller fortnightly payment than you received before 20 September. This is why a national headline of “the largest rise since 2023” and a retiree seeing their payment fall are both true at once, and it is the reason this calculator runs both bases rather than quoting the increase.

Income test or assets test — which one decides my pension?

Both are calculated, and the one that gives the smaller payment is the one that applies to you. As a rough guide, retirees with large asset balances but little actual income (a common situation, because super drawdowns and deemed returns are modest) are usually caught by the assets test, while those with significant employment, rental or overseas-pension income are more often caught by the income test. Knowing which test binds is the single most useful output of this calculator, because it tells you which lever moves your pension. If the assets test binds, spending down or restructuring assessable assets (for instance, renovating your exempt family home, or gifting within the $10,000-a-year / $30,000-over-five-years limits) can lift the pension; reducing income would do nothing. If the income test binds, the reverse is true. Managing the test that isn’t binding wastes effort.

If the assets test takes your pension to zero, you may still qualify for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, which has no assets test at all: only an income limit of $105,048 a year for a single person or $168,076 for a couple, with account-based pensions deemed. And if you care for someone full time before you reach 67, Carer Payment pays the same rate under the same two tests, except that super is not counted until Age Pension age.

If the income test sets your pension, deeming is the lever: every dollar of deemed income over the free area costs 50 cents of pension. The deeming calculator shows what the 20 September 2026 rise in the deeming rates did to your pension, next to the maximum-rate increase that landed the same day.

The same income and assets test also prices in-home aged care. Full pensioners pay the lowest Support at Home contribution rates (5% of the price of independence services such as transport, 17.5% of everyday living services such as cleaning), part pensioners pay more as their deemed income or assets rise, and clinical care is free for everyone.

How does deeming work on my savings and super?

Centrelink does not look at the real interest or dividends your money earns. Instead it “deems” your financial assets to earn a fixed rate and counts that as income. The first $66,800 of a single person’s financial assets (or $110,600 combined for a couple) is deemed to earn the lower rate and anything above that the upper rate. Since 20 September 2026 those rates are 1.75% and 3.75% (they were 1.25% and 3.25% from 20 March to 19 September 2026). The thresholds are unchanged by that decision — they indexed on 1 July 2026 and next move on 1 July 2027. Financial assets include bank accounts, term deposits, shares, managed funds and account-based (allocated) pensions — but not your home, your car or your household contents, which are assessed only under the assets test. Deeming can work for or against you: a term deposit paying 4.5% still counts as though it earned 3.75%, so the extra return is free of the income test; a share portfolio yielding 2% is still deemed at up to 3.75%, so you’re assessed on income you didn’t receive. The rates were frozen through the low-rate years and have now risen twice in six months — to 1.25% / 3.25% on 20 March 2026, and to 1.75% / 3.75% on 20 September 2026. They are a ministerial decision rather than an automatic indexation, so they can move at any time; check the current figures before relying on a projection.

Assumptions and simplifications in this calculator

Labelled so you can judge the output: (1) It assumes you already meet the age (67+) and residency requirements — it estimates only the means-test outcome. (2) It does not apply the Work Bonus ($300/fortnight of employment income exempt, plus an income bank up to $11,800), so if you have wages your real entitlement may be a little higher — enter employment income in the “other income” field and add back up to $300/ft of headroom yourself. (3) Deemed income is converted to a fortnightly figure by dividing the annual amount by 26. (4) It uses the standard rates; it does not model the Transitional Rate (a small group of pre-2009 pensioners), Rent Assistance, blind pension or other supplements, or the special rules for account-based pensions started before 1 January 2015. (5) For couples it treats you as both of Age Pension age receiving the combined couple rate; the “illness-separated” and “one partner eligible” variations differ. Always confirm your actual entitlement with Services Australia, whose assessment is authoritative.

Related tools

• Retirement calculator — project the super and savings you’ll retire with, which drive these means tests.
• Super drawdown calculator — how long your balance lasts alongside the Age Pension.
• Age Pension & CGT exemption guide — the capital-gains rules when you sell assets in retirement.
• Super calculator — build the balance that these tests will assess.

Sources

• Services Australia — Age Pension: how much you can get; income test; assets test; deeming rates (servicesaustralia.gov.au).
• Department of Social Services — Guide to Social Security Law, payment rates from 20 March 2026.
• Minister for Social Services — “Changes to social security payments from September 20”, media release, 20 August 2026: maximum rates +$36.80/ft single and +$55.60/ft couple combined, and deeming rates to 1.75% / 3.75%, both from 20 September 2026, covering over 5.3 million recipients.
• Maximum rates for 20 March 2026 – 19 September 2026; income, assets and deeming thresholds indexed 1 July 2026 and unchanged by the September decision.
• National Seniors Australia — September 2026 pension indexation forecast, published 7 August 2026 (nationalseniors.com.au). Superseded by the 20 August 2026 announcement, which matched it on the maximum rates.
• Australian Bureau of Statistics — Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia (PBLCI) and Consumer Price Index, six months to June 2026.

Last updated: 20 August 2026 — the day the Government confirmed the 20 September 2026 payment rates and deeming rates.

This calculator is general educational information only — it is not financial, tax or Centrelink advice and does not consider your personal circumstances. Age Pension entitlements depend on your full situation and current legislated rates, which change every March, July and September. Confirm your actual entitlement with Services Australia and consider advice from a licensed financial adviser or a Services Australia Financial Information Service officer before acting.