NZ minimum wage and Australian pay: What you need to know
A note on the New Zealand minimum wage
This site is dedicated to Australian salary data. The New Zealand minimum wage is set by the New Zealand government and is not tracked here. If you are looking for the current NZ minimum wage, please consult official New Zealand sources such as Employment New Zealand. The figures below are for Australia only.
The Australian full-time average as a benchmark
The national full-time adult ordinary-time average is $2,083.70 per week, or about $108,352 per year (ABS Average Weekly Earnings, May 2026, multiplied by 52). This is the line on our site. For a resident earning this amount, the take-home pay after tax and the Medicare levy (2026–27 rates) is roughly $78,000 per year, depending on individual circumstances. This average is the reference point for all comparisons on Average line.
Median earnings: a different picture
Averages can be pulled up by high earners. The full-time median is about $90,532 per year, and the all-employees median is about $74,100 (ABS Employee Earnings, August 2025). These medians give a clearer sense of what a typical worker earns. The full-time median is about $17,820 below the average, highlighting the skew.
The national minimum wage
From 1 July 2026, the national minimum wage is $26.44 per hour, $1,004.90 per week, or about $52,255 per year on a 38-hour week (Fair Work). Award minimums rose by 4.75% at the same time. A full-time worker on the minimum wage earns about 48% of the full-time average. After tax, the take-home pay is roughly $42,000 per year.
Take-home pay for the average earner
Using the 2026–27 resident tax rates: nil on the first $18,200, 15% on the next $26,800, 30% on the next $90,000, 37% on the next $55,000, and 45% above $190,000. Plus the Medicare levy of 2% (before any reductions). For the average earner on $108,352, the tax is about $27,000 and the Medicare levy about $2,167, leaving around $79,185. This is a rough sketch; individual offsets and deductions change the outcome.
State-by-state averages
Full-time averages vary across Australia. New South Wales is about $109,658, Victoria $106,137, Queensland $106,064, South Australia $102,450, Western Australia $115,825, Tasmania $96,008, Northern Territory $103,173, and the Australian Capital Territory $119,090. These figures are from the same ABS release. States and territories has more detail.
How your pay compares
You can place a salary on the line to see where it sits against the national full-time average. The tool shows the weekly and hourly equivalents on a 38-hour week, plus the distance from the line. It also shows the median and minimum wage for context.
A final word on the NZ minimum wage
While we cannot provide the NZ minimum wage here, the Australian figures above give a framework for understanding minimum pay in a comparable economy. If you have a specific NZ salary in mind, you can still use our line tool to see how it relates to Australian benchmarks—just enter the amount in Australian dollars. For the official NZ rate, always check the New Zealand government's website.