Australians with a six-figure salary can consider themselves among the nation’s richest earners while most Sydney homeowners are part of the global elite, it has been revealed.
The top 10 per cent of earners make $122,664 or more, tax figures show, with average coal miners ($124,550), school principals ($130,142) and dentists ($131,773) scraping into the upper echelon.
Home owners are rich too with global real estate group Knight Frank regarding anyone with $1.5million in assets a ‘high-net-worth individual’ – meaning someone who owns a home just above Sydney’s $1.25million median is considered wealthy in global terms.
The Wealth Report 2023 also found Australia’s mega-wealthy are among the richest one-per-centers in the world.
To be among Australia’s wealthiest one per cent requires $8.3million of assets – the third highest figure in the world behind only Monaco ($18.7million) and Switzerland ($9.95million).
Owning a typical house in Vaucluse in Sydney’s east – where $8.2million is the median price – would put an Australian among the nation’s wealthiest one per cent – if they also drove a $134,000 Porsche Macan SUV.
This means the likes of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who lives in a Point Piper mansion on the harbour, would be among Australia’s top one per cent.
But other baby boomers who bought a house in Sydney during the 1980s or 1990s, when homes were more affordable compared with incomes, is also rich by world standards.
Knight Frank includes someone’s principal place of residence in their ‘high net wealth individual’ definition of $US1million – or $A1.5million.
Below Australia, New Zealand was the fourth hardest place to be a one-per-center, with the top one per cent having $7.8million in possessions.
The United States – the world’s richest economy – requires assets of $7.7million ($US5.1million) for someone to be among the very wealthiest.
At least it’s easier to be among the top one per cent of income earners in Australia, going by tax office data.
Australia’s 113,850 individuals making more than $352,719 are among the top 0.8 per cent of income earners, beating 14,844,740 others.
That means anaesthetists, with an average taxable income of $388,814, are among the elite – but not backbenchers in federal Parliament on a base salary of $217,060.
To be among the top 10 per cent of Australia’s 14,958,590 income earners – based on 2019-20 Australian Taxation Office data, the latest available figures – someone would need to earn $122,664.
A coal miner, with an average salary of $124,550, scrapes in among the top 1,480,055 income earners but not a television journalist on $107,918.
Australia’s average six-figure jobs
TRAIN STATION MANAGER: Average taxable salary of $109,123
TRAIN DRIVER: Average taxable salary of $118,873
BANK MANAGER: Average taxable salary of $144,595
TELEVISION PRESENTER: Average taxable salary of $136,410
TELEVISION JOURNALIST: Average taxable salary of $107,918
ACCOUNTANT MANAGER: Average taxable salary of $109,724
AUDITOR: Average taxable salary of $142,922
FINANCIAL BROKER (INVESTMENTS): Average taxable salary of $269,064
FINANCIAL BROKER (FUTURES TRADER): Average taxable salary of $290,942
FINANCIAL BROKER (STOCK BROKER): Average taxable salary of $306,018
FINANCIAL INVESTMENT MANAGER: Average taxable salary of $331,812
ACTUARY: Average taxable salary of $194,613
ECONOMIST: Average taxable salary of $147,358
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Average taxable salary of $150,132
HELICOPTER PILOT: Average taxable salary of $123,481
TOWN PLANNER: Average taxable salary of $100,830
MINING ENGINEER: Average taxable salary of $185,568
UNIVERSITY LECTURER: Average taxable salary of $110,857
DENTIST: Average taxable salary of $131,773
GENERAL PRACTITIONER: Average taxable salary of $175,731
ANAESTHETIST: Average taxable salary of $388,814
CARDIOLOGIST: Average taxable salary of $464,243
CLINICAL HAEMATOLOGIST: Average taxable salary of $285,212
ONCOLOGIST: Average taxable salary of $321,360
GASTROENTEROLOGIST: Average taxable salary of $401,912
PAEDIATRICIAN: Average taxable salary of $240,800
NEUROSURGEON: Average taxable salary of $553,569
ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON: Average taxable salary of $436,407
OTHORHINOLARYNGOLISTS (EAR, NOSE, THROAT SURGEON): Average taxable salary of $502,800
PLASTIC SURGEON: Average taxable salary of $475,081
UROLOGIST: Average taxable salary of $442,091
GYNAECOLOGIST: Average taxable salary of $363,453
OPTHALMOLOGIST (EYE DOCTOR): Average taxable salary of $520,966
DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGIST: Average taxable salary of $417,050
PSYCHIATRIST: Average taxable salary of $252,691
BARRISTER: Average taxable salary of $138,904
JUDGE: Average taxable salary of $423,945
DREDGE OPERATORS: Average taxable salary of $139,522
RAILWAY SIGNAL OPERATOR: Average taxable salary of $117,308
PAPER MILL OPERATOR: Average taxable salary of $102,176
CRANE OPERATOR: Average taxable salary of $104,692
COAL MINER: Average taxable salary of $124,550
SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: Average taxable salary of $130,142
IT CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER: Average taxable salary of $159,339
POLICE INSPECTOR: Average taxable salary of $120,310
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Average taxable salary of $155,425
ADVERTISING MANAGER: Average taxable salary of $110,044
CONSTRUCTION MANAGER: Average taxable salary of $117,043
POWER GENERATION PLANT OPERATOR: Average taxable salary of $150,442
AERONAUTICAL ENGINEER: Average taxable salary of $114,599