On 2025-26 resident rates, a gross salary of A$90,000 leaves A$70,412 a year, or A$5,868 a month. The deduction rate is 21.8%, which is light by international standards and reflects a system that funds far less through payroll than most of Europe.
Only two deductions appear, which is unusual. There is no separate pension contribution, no unemployment insurance and no state or territory income tax anywhere in Australia. The Medicare levy at 2% funds the public health system, and the income tax does everything else.
The marginal rate at this salary is 32%, made up of the 30% bracket that runs from A$45,000 to A$135,000 plus the Medicare levy. That band is unusually wide, which means a raise from A$90,000 to A$110,000 is taxed at exactly the same rate as a raise from A$50,000 to A$60,000.
The 12% that never reaches the payslip
Superannuation is paid by the employer on top of salary, not deducted from it. At the current guarantee rate of 12%, an A$90,000 salary attracts A$10,800 a year into your super fund. It is taxed at a concessional 15% going in rather than at your marginal rate, and it is genuinely yours, preserved until retirement.
Whether A$90,000 plus super is a better package than A$100,000 without depends entirely on the jurisdiction you are comparing against, which is why cross border comparisons involving Australia are so easily mishandled.
Some employers quote a total package figure that includes super. A$90,000 package means roughly A$80,357 base plus A$9,643 super, which is a meaningfully different offer from A$90,000 base. It is worth clarifying which one is on the table before signing.
What else comes out
HELP and HECS repayments
Graduates with a HELP debt repay through the tax system once income passes the repayment threshold, which sits around A$67,000. Under the marginal repayment structure now in place, repayments apply to income above the threshold rather than to the whole salary. At A$90,000 the annual repayment lands in the region of A$3,400, taking monthly net pay to roughly A$5,585.
HELP repayments are compulsory and calculated on repayment income, which adds back reportable fringe benefits and salary sacrificed super. Sacrificing into super therefore does not reduce a HELP repayment, a point that catches out a lot of people trying to optimise both at once.
The Medicare levy surcharge
Singles without private hospital cover pay an additional surcharge of 1% to 1.5% once income passes the threshold, which sits near A$97,000. At A$90,000 it does not apply, but it is close enough that a pay rise or a bonus can trigger it, and the surcharge is charged on the whole income rather than the excess.
That produces an awkward cliff. Someone crossing the threshold by a few hundred dollars can lose more in surcharge than they gained in salary, unless they take out a basic hospital policy, which is precisely the behaviour the policy is designed to encourage.
How it compares
A$90,000 sits comfortably above the Australian median and matches an experienced registered nurse, a mid career accountant or a software engineer a few years in. The nurse, accountant and software engineer pages break down the ranges.
Against New Zealand the Australian advantage is substantial and it is mostly a gross pay story rather than a tax one, as the Tasman comparison sets out. Against the United Kingdom the two systems are closer than reputation suggests, with Australia ahead at middle incomes and the gap narrowing higher up; the UK versus Australia comparison runs the numbers.
Enter any gross figure in the Australia Salary After Tax to see income tax and the Medicare levy separated out on 2025-26 rates.
Related: New Zealand vs Australia