Personal Income in Australia

• Most persons (77.7%) received employee income as their main source (up from 76.9% in the previous year)
• Employee income was also the source with the highest median income. Median employee income was $50,861, an increase of 3.6% on the previous year
• Superannuation income was the source with the second highest median income. Median superannuation income was $21,738, an increase of 5.2% on the previous year
• Only 1.6% of persons received superannuation income as their main source of income (down from 1.7% in the previous year)

• The Australian Capital Territory continues to record the highest median total income, but the second slowest growth rate since 2011-12
• Western Australia had the third highest median total income, but the slowest overall growth rate since 2011-12
• New South Wales had the fourth highest median total income but the fastest growth rate since 2011-12
   

A selection of income indicators are presented in the table below, providing an overview of the distribution of income across Australia.

In 2017-18, the three local government areas with the highest median total income in Australia were:

• Ashburton in Western Australia,
• Roxby Downs in South Australia, and
• Peppermint Grove in Western Australia

The following median personal incomes are for areas with more than 1,000 earners.

The Gini coefficient is a summary indicator between 0 and 1 that indicates the degree of inequality among total incomes within a region. A value of 0 indicates that all earners reported the same amount of income in that region. Higher values represent relatively higher levels of income inequality. The following Gini coefficients are for areas with more than 1,000 earners living within them and excludes the Australian Capital Territory, which does not have local government areas.

In 2017-18,

the following local government areas had the least income inequality (the lowest Gini coefficients) in Australia:

• Roxby Downs in South Australia
• Brighton in Tasmania
• Playford in South Australia, Palmerston in Northern Territory and Katherine in Northern Territory

the following local government areas had the most income inequality (the highest Gini coefficients) in Australia:

• Peppermint Grove in Western Australia
• Cottesloe in Western Australia
• Walgett in New South Wales

Data from the Survey of Income and Housing (SIH) provides the most comprehensive source of information for calculating Gini coefficients and measuring income inequality. As such, estimates from Household Income and Wealth, Australia should be used wherever possible, particularly at the Australia, State and Territory, and Greater Capital City Statistical Area levels. Gini coefficients from Personal Income in Australia should be considered complementary information, which provide insights for lower geographic levels. For more information about Gini coefficient, please see Explanatory notes. 

This release previously used catalogue number 6524.0.55.002.

8 February 2022:

Table 2e.2, Table 2e.3, Table 2e.4 and Table 2e.5: A row misalignment issue caused missing or incorrect data. These tables have been replaced by the corresponding tables in Personal Income in Australia, 2016-17, which contained the correct data. 

22 January 2021:

Table 1.4: The median age of earners in Queensland in 2017-18 was corrected.

Table 3.4:

• Misaligned mean employee income numbers in 2017-18 were corrected for Queensland, South Australia, and all SA2s in Queensland
• Misaligned median age of employee income earners numbers in 2017-18 were corrected for New South Wales and all SA2s in New South Wales
• Proportion of earners with employee income as their main source of income in Victoria in 2017-18 was corrected
• SA2 Namadgi in ACT cells were updated.

Table 6.5: Misaligned median own unincorporated business income numbers in 2016-17 were corrected.

Table 7.1: Median and mean superannuation income numbers in 2017-18 were corrected for Greater Melbourne and Rest of Victoria.

Table 7.5: Proportion of earners with superannuation income as their main source of income in Tasmanian in 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16 were corrected.