What is the average Sydney salary?
If you are looking for a single official figure for the average Sydney salary, you will not find one. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) does not publish a separate average for Sydney in its main earnings releases. The closest proxy is the New South Wales full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings, which stood at $2,108.80 per week in May 2026, or about $109,658 per year when annualised (×52). This is the figure most commonly used when discussing the average salary in Sydney.
How it compares to the national average
The national full-time adult ordinary-time average from the same ABS release is $2,083.70 per week (about $108,352 per year). The New South Wales average is about 1.2% higher, reflecting Sydney’s role as a major economic centre with a concentration of higher-paying industries such as finance, professional services, and technology. The difference is not huge, but it is consistent across recent surveys.
For context, the full-time median earnings (the middle point where half earn more and half earn less) are lower. According to the ABS Employee earnings survey for August 2025, the national full-time median was $1,741 per week (about $90,532 per year). The all-employees median (including part-time and casual) was $1,425 per week (about $74,100 per year). For Sydney specifically, the median weekly earnings for all employees were $1,500 per week (about $78,000 per year) – a median, not an average.
A resident take-home sketch
Using the NSW full-time average of $109,658 as a proxy for a typical Sydney salary, we can estimate what a resident might take home after tax and the Medicare levy under the 2026–27 tax rates.
- Gross annual salary: $109,658
- Tax-free threshold: $18,200
- Tax on next $26,800 (15%): $4,020
- Tax on remaining $64,658 (30%): $19,397.40
- Total tax: $23,417.40
- Medicare levy (2%): $2,193.16
- Total deductions: $25,610.56
- Estimated take-home: $84,047.44 per year, or about $1,616 per week
This is a rough illustration. Your actual take-home will depend on factors like HELP/HECS repayments, salary sacrifice, tax offsets, and private health insurance. The States and territories page breaks down averages for each region, and How the figures are set explains the methodology behind the ABS estimates.
What about the minimum wage?
For comparison, the national minimum wage from 1 July 2026 is $26.44 per hour, $1,004.90 per week on a 38-hour week, or about $52,255 per year. Award minimums rose by 4.75% from that date. The NSW average salary is more than double the minimum wage, reflecting the higher earnings of full-time professionals in Sydney.
Why no Sydney-specific average?
The ABS Average Weekly Earnings survey is designed to produce reliable estimates at the state and territory level. Publishing a city-level figure would require a larger sample and may not be statistically robust for all industries. The Employee earnings survey does provide capital city medians, but those are medians, not averages. For Sydney, the median weekly earnings for all employees in August 2025 were $1,500, while the median for full-time employees was higher (not separately published for Sydney).
If you need a precise figure for a specific occupation or industry in Sydney, the ABS publishes detailed data by occupation and industry in the Employee earnings release. For example, in August 2025, the national median weekly earnings for Managers were $2,072 and for Professionals $1,900. You can explore those on the Job medians page.
Key takeaways
- There is no official average Sydney salary. The NSW full-time average of about $109,658 is the best proxy.
- The national full-time average is about $108,352, so Sydney is slightly above.
- The median (all employees) in Sydney is about $78,000 per year – a different measure.
- Take-home on the NSW average is roughly $84,000 per year after tax and Medicare.
- The minimum wage is about $52,255 per year.
For more detail on how these figures are collected and what they mean, see the Guides section or the About this site page.