The data revealed that $805 a week ($41,900 a year) was the median personal weekly income for Australians across the country.
It’s important to note that this includes the adult population from 15 years to over 85 years, including those who are retired or unemployed.
This contrasts with the ABS-defined average full time worker's income of $1,748.40 per week as of November 2021.
According to the census data, 9.6 million people earn below the national median personal income or earn no income at all.
Roughly 3% of the population or 662,715 people earned $3,500 or more per week. This equates to a yearly salary of more than $182,000.
Of these high income earners, 480,000 males earned over $182,000 a year while there were 181,000 women who reached this income.
Forty-five to fifty-four year olds made up most of this upper echelon of income earners, with 217,431 in this bracket, while 35-44 year olds made up 191,822.
How your state or territory fared in the 2021 census
The Australian Capital Territory has the highest median personal income at $1,203 per week while Tasmania recorded the lowest with $701.
The data showed Northern Territory residents earn $936 per week putting them ahead of every other state and territory apart from the ACT.
Western Australian residents earn a weekly median income of $848 while NSW residents earn $813.
The four other states including Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and Tasmania fell below the median personal income rate of $805 according to the data.
Workers earned $803, $787, $734, and $701 per week in these states respectively.
ACT tops the chart with highest household income
The ACT flew past all the other states and territories with a median weekly household income of $2,373.
The Northern Territory followed with $2,061; NSW, $1,829; WA, $1815; and VIC, $1,759.
Queensland, South Australia, and Tasmania rounded out the bottom three with $1,675, $1,455, and $1,358 respectively.
On another note, 2,933,646 people conducted unpaid voluntary work which was a 19% decrease from 2016.
Twenty-seven per cent of both males and females undertook between 5 to 14 hours of unpaid domestic work per week.
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Special offer: Savings Accelerator (Kick Starter offer).
For a limited time, new ING customers can get a bonus 0.70% p.a. on their savings rate on balances of $150,000 up to $500,000 for the first 4 months. T&Cs apply.
If your balance is over $500,000 (but less than $5 million) you will earn the ongoing variable rate of 4.7%
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Harry O'Sullivan
Denise Raward
Brooke Cooper
