Most high-income earners believe income of $454,000 makes an upper class household, while middle earners believe $280,000 is enough to be counted as upper class. However, low-income households that participated in the study believe $549,000 is enough to be considered upper class.
“Which social class would you say you belong to?” > Five classes can be identified in Australian society. > They are: 'established affluent', 'emergent affluent', 'mobile middle', 'established middle, and 'established working'.
Lower-income class refers to households with income below 75% of the median national income. Middle-income class refers to households with income between 75% and 200% of the median national income. Upper-income class refers to households with income above 200% of the median national income.
But the survey also discovered that around one in four (25 per cent) of Aussies wouldn't consider themselves rich unless they were earning at least $500,000 a year. Finder personal finance expert Kate Browne said persistently pining for more money could be a dangerous game.
Not only are individuals on $200,000 very much at the top but even households earning that much are. If we just look at all households in Australia we find that the median annual income in 2017-18 was $88,764: But that doesn't tell us very much about standards of living.
The average Australian would need to earn a salary of $326,900 per year to feel rich – nearly seven times the median wage, according to research released earlier this year. But one in four Aussies wouldn't consider themselves rich until they raked in a whopping $500,000.
More Coverage. The eye-watering wealth on display in the report is a stark difference to most Australians' perception of what it takes to be considered rich. The Finder survey which asked 1000 people what it took to be rich and found that earning $336,516 per year was the magic number.
So if you're on $100k or more, congratulations, you're in the top 20% of Aussie income earners. If not, don't worry, you're in the good company of 80% of Aussies.
$100,000/year is above an average salary and if you're frugal enough, on $100,000/year, you should be able to live a good life and save some money too. Usually if you consider living in desirable locations of cities like Melbourne and Sydney, most of your income will be consumed in the house rents.
Anyone earning $180,000 would definitely be one of the country's highest paid workers. The large majority of workers (about 75 per cent) earn less than $78,624 a year before tax.
Most high-income earners believe income of $454,000 makes an upper class household, while middle earners believe $280,000 is enough to be counted as upper class. However, low-income households that participated in the study believe $549,000 is enough to be considered upper class.
The top 20% richest individuals have annual pre-tax incomes of about $330,000, the middle 20% make about $116,000 while the lowest 20% earn $41,000. In terms of income from investments, the biggest chunk is concentrated at the topmost. Close to 70% of investment income goes to the 20% most moneyed households.
In 2019-20, a household at the 90th percentile of the distribution – that is, a household that is richer than 90 per cent of households – had a net worth of $2.26 million. A household at the 10th percentile was worth just $36,900, or 61 times less.
The working class, sometimes referred to as the labour class, includes all employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts. Working-class occupations (see also "Designation of workers by collar colour") include blue-collar jobs, and most pink-collar jobs.
Note: Salary is one of the most important contributors to the total income. As such, the average median household income (Purchasing Power Parity) in Australia was 95,371 AUD (USD 63,393) for the year 2021. This puts Australia in the top 10 countries for the highest median household income.
The Australian middle class has a median household income of AUD$80,000. This statistic is a key indicator of the financial health of the Australian middle class.
Average rent around the country
A 2023 CoreLogic rental report lists the median weekly rent as $570 across all dwellings, or $594 in capital cities. Continuing on a national scale but looking at dwelling types, we can see that median weekly rent is currently: Nationally: $582 for a house.
Only another 14.9 per cent had taxable incomes exceeding $80,000 a year. So a taxpayer with an income of $80,000 a year is therefore in the top 20 per cent of Australians.
Just 3.8 per cent of taxpayers had a taxable income that high in 2019-20. And only 25 per cent had a taxable income higher than $80,000 a year. So a taxpayer with an annual income of $80,000 is in the top quarter of Australian taxpayers.
People in the census's very top income bracket, like you, earn at least $156,000 a year — or $3,000 a week — before tax. At census time, there were about 596,531 people in Australia above that income level — or 3.8 per cent of income earners.
Telstra and retail giant Wesfarmers dropped out of the top 10 in the report released on Thursday, as BHP was revealed to be the single largest taxpayer. The company paid $7.3 billion in 2020-21, up from $4.6 billion the prior year. The company's BHP Iron Ore (Jimblebar) entity paid $2.4 billion.
Only 9,144 of the 14,467 Australians on taxable incomes of more than $1 million worked. Only 17,883 of the 222,813 Australians on more than $250,000 worked.
So, this generally excludes the investment in your family home and any toys or 'collectibles' you may have. Wealthy Individuals within Australia are generally deemed to be those with net investible assets (NIA) over $1M (or net of over $2.5M including the family home) and earning more than $250,000 per annum.
A recent Finder survey revealed the average Aussie would need to earn a whopping $336,516 per year to feel rich. That's more than six times greater than the median personal income of $52,338, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
You should generally strive for a pay that is at least average. Alternatively stated, a decent wage in Australia is anything between $90,000 and $108,000 per year, or $7,500 and $9,000 per month. A decent benchmark for how much you should be making is the median salary, which is $72,000 annually.