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In the ABS August 2025 survey, Greater Sydney, Brisbane and Perth each had median main-job earnings of $1,500 a week across all employees. The full-time figures differ: $1,846 in Sydney, $1,750 in Brisbane and $1,923 in Perth. These are before-tax survey medians, not a cost-of-living ranking.
Compare six Greater city regions
Choose the full-time column when comparing a full-time role. The all-employee column also includes part-time work. Both describe employees' main-job earnings, and both retain the August 2025 measurement date.
The named areas are Greater city regions based on usual residence. They are not just the central business district or municipal boundary. A statewide average from another survey should not be substituted for one of these city medians.
| Greater city region | All employees | Full-time employees |
|---|---|---|
| Greater Sydney | $1,500 | $1,846 |
| Greater Melbourne | $1,400 | $1,701 |
| Greater Brisbane | $1,500 | $1,750 |
| Greater Adelaide | $1,337 | $1,646 |
| Greater Perth | $1,500 | $1,923 |
| Greater Hobart | $1,400 | $1,700 |
What the same $1,500 median can hide
The identical all-employee figure for Sydney, Brisbane and Perth does not mean every comparable job pays the same across the three cities. The full-time column already shows a different comparison. Roles, hours and the mix of workers can change a city-wide statistic.
If you have two offers, compare the offers themselves. Match responsibilities, paid hours, super and regular allowances. The occupation guide can add context, while the pay-rise calculator shows the change in cash under your chosen settings.
Would a move leave you better off?
Start with the after-tax difference between your actual salaries. Then enter the rent or mortgage payment you expect, transport costs, regular bills and any change in childcare. Keep one-off moving costs separate from the recurring monthly budget.
A higher city salary median does not establish that you would have more spending money there. Your housing choice, household size and location within the city matter. This page does not invent a standard city budget or use earnings as a proxy for living costs.
If you keep the same salary when moving, your income tax does not change just because the address changes from one Australian city to another under the same resident settings. Your costs and employment conditions may still change.
Why Canberra and Darwin are not added to this table
The source block has six Greater city rows, plus whole-territory figures for the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory. It does not publish standalone Darwin and Canberra rows in that block. We keep those territory observations in their proper geography instead of relabelling them as cities.
The state and territory hub provides the broader comparison. Its main full-time adult average comes from a different employer survey and period, so it should not be ranked beside these city main-job medians as if they were the same measure.
How to read and reuse the data
The source is ABS Employee earnings, August 2025, Table 2, Data 2. We selected Persons, Median weekly earnings and the Greater Capital City and Rest of State classification. The full-time estimates are in column G and all-employee estimates in column O. The download includes exact cells and values.
These are survey estimates. The download also includes relative standard errors from the adjacent columns. A small difference between cities is not automatically evidence of a statistically meaningful pay gap. We have not tested or claimed the significance of those differences.
No hourly rate, tax result or annual salary is inferred from the table. If you multiply a weekly figure by 52 for a personal reference, label it as a calculated annual equivalent rather than an independently surveyed annual salary. The figures are not household income or the income of every city resident.
Data and citation
Download the six city rows with both employee populations, exact source values, source cells and sampling uncertainty. These are ABS survey estimates reproduced by Paycalcmate, not Paycalcmate survey findings.
The CSV includes the data rows and a link to the JSON methods file. Keep the methods with any figures you reuse.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Employee earnings, August 2025, Table 2 city medians; presentation by Paycalcmate, checked 2 October 2026. https://paycalcmate.au/average-salary-by-city/
Common questions
Are these average salaries?
They are median weekly earnings. A mean and a median answer different questions. The page keeps the published measure and shows full-time and all-employee populations separately.
Is the data for 2026?
The source was checked in October 2026, but the earnings were measured in August 2025. No assumed growth adjustment has been applied.
Does the highest-paying city offer the best lifestyle?
The earnings table cannot establish that. Compare your actual job offers, housing choices, costs, time and household needs.
Sources you can check
Sources checked for this page on 2 October 2026. Statistics keep their own measurement dates.