Median household income
The middle value of total household income in an area: half of households receive more and half receive less. At the 2021 Census, Australia's median household income was $1,746 a week before tax, or about $90,800 a year.
What it measures
The Census asks everyone aged 15 and over how much income they usually receive each week, before tax, from all sources: wages, business income, pensions and allowances, and investments. Household income adds up everyone living in the same home.
People answer in ranges rather than exact dollars, so the median is estimated from where the middle household falls within its range. Households where anyone didn't state their income are left out rather than guessed at.
The 2021 figures
Across Australia, the median household received $1,746 a week in 2021. The median for individuals was much lower, at $805 a week, because many households have more than one earner. By state and territory, the median household received:
- ACT: $2,373
- Northern Territory: $2,061
- New South Wales: $1,829
- Western Australia: $1,815
- Victoria: $1,759
- Queensland: $1,675
- South Australia: $1,455
- Tasmania: $1,358
Household, family, personal and equivalised income
The Census reports income in several ways, and they answer different questions.
- Household income combines everyone in the home. It's the best single measure of spending power at the front door.
- Family income only counts related people living together, so share houses are treated differently.
- Personal income is one person's income, which suits questions about workers and wages.
- Equivalised income adjusts household income for the number of people living on it, so a single person and a family of five can be compared fairly.
Household income isn't adjusted for size. A suburb of large families can have a high median household income while each person has less to spend than in a suburb of high-earning couples.
Why a median, and why medians don't average
Incomes are lopsided. A small number of very high earners would pull an average up, so the ABS uses the median, which the extremes don't move.
That also means medians can't simply be averaged. If one suburb's median is $1,500 a week and its neighbour's is $2,500, the median for the two together isn't $2,000: it depends on how many households each has and how their incomes are spread. Combining areas properly means going back to the income ranges and finding the middle again.
Using it for site and location decisions
Median household income is the quickest single read on an area's spending power, but it's worth a second look before relying on it.
- Income isn't wealth. Retirees who own their homes outright can have low incomes and plenty to spend. Read income alongside home ownership and age.
- Housing costs matter. Two areas on the same income can have very different amounts left over once rent or mortgage repayments are paid.
- The median hides the spread. An area with many low and many high incomes can share a median with one where everyone earns about the same. The breakdown by income range shows which you're dealing with.
- It's dated. The figures describe August 2021, and wages have risen since. They're most reliable for comparing areas with each other, not as today's dollar amounts.
Median household income in Censible
Censible shows median weekly household income for suburbs, councils, postcodes, statistical areas and catchments you draw, compared with Australia or another area. It also shows the breakdown by income range, from under $500 to $4,000 or more a week, and figures from the 2011, 2016 and 2021 Censuses, so you can see how an area has moved.
Source: ABS, Income and work: Census, 2021.
Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA)
SEIFA is a set of four ABS indexes that rank areas of Australia by relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage, using Census data. Each area gets a score, a rank and a decile, where decile 1 is the lowest-scoring 10% of areas and decile 10 the highest.
Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2)
A medium-sized area defined by the ABS to represent a community that interacts socially and economically. Most have between 3,000 and 25,000 residents.
Housing stress
When a household spends more than 30% of its income on rent or mortgage repayments. A stricter definition, the 30/40 rule, only counts households in the bottom 40% of incomes, because higher earners can usually afford to spend more.
Median
The middle value when everything is put in order: half the values are above it and half below. Census figures for age, income, rent and mortgage repayments are published as medians because a few very large values would distort an average.
Median weekly rent
The middle weekly rent paid by households renting their home, from the Census: half pay more and half pay less. It covers renting households in occupied private dwellings, private and public, on existing as well as new leases. At the 2021 Census, Australia's median weekly rent was $375.
Household and family composition
The ABS's Census classifications of who lives together. Household composition sorts each occupied private dwelling as a family, lone person or group household. Family composition sorts each family as a couple with or without children, a one parent family or another family.
Questions people ask
$1,746 a week before tax at the 2021 Census, or about $90,800 a year. The next figure will come from the 2026 Census, with first results due in mid-2027.
Before tax. The Census asks for gross income: the amount people usually receive before tax or anything else is taken out.
Household income adds together everyone living in the same home, while personal income is one person's. In 2021 the national medians were $1,746 and $805 a week.
Because incomes are lopsided. A few very high earners pull an average up, so the median, the household in the middle, gives a fairer picture of a typical household.
The ACT, at $2,373 a week in 2021. Tasmania had the lowest, at $1,358.