Four in five Australians earn less than $100,000 with new tax figures revealing the federal budget is increasingly reliant on the nation's best-paid 1 per cent to cover the cost of growing services and infrastructure.
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.
A taxable income that was $131,501 or higher was within the top 10% of earners in Australia last year. About 5% of taxpayers had incomes above $180,000.
Australians wanting to be in the country's top 1% for wealth need to have an individual net worth of US$5.5 million ($8.3 million), Knight Frank's 2023 Wealth Report has found.
The top 10 per cent of earners in Australia make $122,664 or more, with some of the best paid incomes in the country including miners who rake in $124,550 on average, school principals who take home $130,142 and dentists that are earning $131,773.
$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.
From the top 5% to the top 1%
Salaries start to jump significantly the closer you get to the top 1%. You'll start to see dramatic shifts in the top 5%, where the EPI found the average earners significantly increased to $343,000 in 2020, up from $324,000 the year before.
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 average earnings of the top 20% are 12x the average earnings of the bottom 20% and the wealth of the average household in the top 20% is 93x the average wealth of those in the bottom 20%. The average household gross income is $121,108, however the top 20% of households earn 48% of all income.
In fact, the average American household earns a median income of under $70,000, but in some places, the top 1% can earn as much as $955,000. Those annual earnings can seem far out of reach in a country where less than 10% of all households earn more than $200,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
So with 120k, you are looking at close to 7k a month take home. That is enough money to support a family so for a single person, that should be plenty. How much salary is enough to comfortably live in australia?
Yes, AUD 90k is a decent salary to live in Melbourne and have a good life, but you won't be able to save much (or anything at all). You can split your expenses as follows: Rent: $400–500 per week, depending on where you decide too live. Grocery: $150–200 per week.
The data shows Australia has 12,706 taxpayers earning more than $1m, the vast majority of whom have paid some sort of tax on their taxable income.
Earning more than $100,000 per year would put you well ahead of the median American household, which brings in $74,784 as of 2021. Assuming you're an individual without dependents, that salary would qualify you as upper class, according to three different definitions (Brookings, Urban Institute and Pew Research).
The median salary in Australia in 2023 is 6,650 AUD (USD 4,420) per month. The median salary refers to the middle value of all the salaries considered. In other words, around half of the population in Australia earns less than 6,650 AUD per month, while the other half earns more.
They found that the top 20% of all Americans earn over $130,000 in income. Thats over 5 times more than the bottom 20%. While that's interesting in and of itself, what even more important is that the top 20% are also receiving over 50% of all the income earned in the country. Now that's BIG.
How Much Income Do You Need to Be in the Top 20%? The real median household income in the U.S. is around $71,000, according to the latest Census Bureau data. In order to be in the top 20% of income, you'd need to earn nearly double that amount or an average of $130,545 per year.
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.
While 7 figures in superannuation may sound great, the reality is most people heading into retirement won't have anywhere near that amount. According to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia Limited (ASFA), Australians aged between 60-64 have a median balance of $178,808 for men, and $137,051 for women1.
The Middle – 50%
Here's another number that may surprise you – to be in the top half (50%) of all earners you need to earn somewhere between $25,000 – $29,999.99 a year (again, towards the higher end of that range). The number of people earning less than $30,000 accounts for 44.76% of the population.
In 2019, the threshold to be in the 80th percentile of households according to annual income was $131,349. Given significant differences in jobs and cost of living, the income threshold to be in the top 20% of earners varies significantly across U.S. cities, ranging from roughly $71,200 to more than $250,000.
To be in the top 50%, you need a net worth of at least $47,700. To be in the top 10%, you need a net worth of at least $464,100.