10 best paid jobs in Australia

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has revealed the highest-paid jobs in Australia. Surgeons have retained the top spot, earning an average $460,356.

That only accounts for 4,170 workers in the country. And for some context, are earning more than eight times as much as the median Australian wage from the same period.

Medical professions again dominated the list, making up half of all the roles in the top 10.

Anaesthetists came in second with average earnings of $431,193, while financial dealers were the only non-medical professionals to break into the top six.

They came in third with $373,733 but had the biggest pay jump from the last reporting period, an additional $41,935.

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The largest number of people in a top 10 role by a long shot were chief executive officers and managing directors.

There are 224,856 in the C-suite, which is more than five times the number in all of the top 10 medical roles.

What are the best-paid jobs in Australia?

If you think the list sounds similar, that’s because it is. The rankings are the same as the previous reporting period, but the incomes are not.

They have all gone up.

Here are the full top 10 roles and how much their incomes have grown over 12 months.

1. Surgeon $460,356 (up $3,075)

2. Anaesthetists $431,193 (up $4,299)

3. Financial dealer $373,733 (up $31,935)

4. Internal medicine specialist $340,729 (up $6,462)

5. Psychiatrist $276, 545 ($6,133)

6. Other medical practitioners $255,754 (up $4,032)

7. Mining engineer $214,365 (up $18,187)

8. Judicial or other legal professional $204,934 (up $11,546)

9. Chief executive officer or managing director $197,720 (up $20,214)

10. Financial investment advisor or manager $185,834 (up $13,226)

How much does the average Australian earn?

The fresh ATO data, released on Friday, also detailed the average and median taxable income.

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The average wage — the halfway point if you add up every Australian’s wage – was $72,327 per year.

However, this data can be skewed by outlying high-income earners.

The median income — or the ‘middle’ which half of all wages are smaller and the other half are larger — was $53,041.

This is the first time we are seeing the data, but it was from the ATO’s 2021-2022 statistics.

The most up-to-date data on earnings was released by the Australia Bureau of Statistics earlier in the year.

The full-time adult average weekly earnings (seasonally adjusted) in November 2023 were $1,888.80, or about $98,200 annually.

The median weekly income was $1,300 (before tax) or $67,600 per year, which means half of all Australians earn less than this.

The ATO said the majority of Australians (44.1 per cent) fell in the $45,01 to 120,000 tax bracket.

Only 5 per cent of the population earned more than $180,000 but paid 40.1 per cent of net tax.