Where you should live to earn the most money for your line of work

An exclusive analysis has revealed where in Australia you can earn the highest salary for your line of work.

With Australian wage growth remaining slow, workers looking for a pay rise may need to think outside the box – or more specifically, outside their hometown.

Salaries vary widely across the country, with different occupations favoured in each city and region, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and there are several factors that influence this, according to acting head of labour statistics David Taylor.

For example, because the ACT has a large share of public sector jobs, pay packets for many office roles are higher. ABS figures show the public sector typically offers higher wage growth than the private sector – 1.6 per cent and 1.4 per cent, respectively, in the year to the December quarter of 2020.

Health professionals typically earn more in regional Tasmania than elsewhere in the country. Picture: iStock

“Sometimes remoteness can have an impact, too,” Taylor says.

“A couple (of average salaries) in Greater Darwin were higher (and) in Western Australia, you’ve got the mining so if mining is doing well – and iron ore prices have been high recently – that can lead to higher wages in some of those areas.”

He says it is worth noting that averages based on a mean rather than median can be skewed by a small number of highly-paid people; and there are a range of occupations within each group so the mix of roles may differ between regions.

So where can Aussies earn the highest salaries for their line of work?

NEW SOUTH WALES

Greater Sydney is the place to be if you are a numerical clerk or a skilled animal and horticultural worker. ABS data shows these occupational groups have a mean weekly pre-tax income of $1422 and $1182, respectively – averaged across both full-time and part-time employees.

Outside the capital, NSW’s health and welfare support workers are the best paid in Australia, averaging $1701 a week – $250 more than the next highest paid, in Brisbane.

VICTORIA

Chief executives, general managers and legislators earn more on average in Melbourne ($3620 a week) than in Sydney ($3568) – or any other part of Australia. In the rest of Victoria, food trades workers ($1321) and inquiry clerks and receptionists ($1267) are also on average the best paid.

QUEENSLAND

Legal, social and welfare professionals typically earn higher salaries in Brisbane, at $2075 a week.

Electrotechnology and telecommunication trades workers ($1906 a week), cleaners and laundry workers ($941) and “other” labourers ($1007) including freight handlers, deck hands and handypersons across the rest of the state average the highest pay packets in the country.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Most of Australia’s highest-earning blue collar workers are in this mining-driven state. It includes Perth’s automotive and engineering trades workers ($1965 a week), construction trades workers ($1882), machine and stationary plant operators ($2146), mobile plant operators ($1631), and the rest of WA’s engineering, information and communications technology and science technicians ($2383), road and rail drivers ($1915), storepersons ($1280).

Perth also pays the best average salaries for specialist managers ($2760) and design engineering, science and transport professionals ($2240) while the rest of the state has the highest-earning protective service workers ($1936) and “other” clerical and administrative workers, including logistics clerks, insurance investigators and debt collectors.

Gardeners typically nab the highest pay packets in regional South Australia. Picture: Supplied

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Some tradespeople and labourers are better paid in SA, though. “Other” technicians and tradesworkers – including hairdressers and those that work with wood, printing and textiles – average $1225 a week in Adelaide, and farm, forestry and garden workers average $974 across the remainder of the state.

TASMANIA

Hobart’s office managers and program administrators and factory process workers average the best incomes in the country at $1799 and $1239 a week, respectively.

So do health professionals ($2061) and hospitality workers ($835) in workplaces across the rest of Tasmania.

THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

Anyone planning a teaching career may want to have a stint in Darwin, as education professionals earn on average $1728 a week – $72 more than the next highest-earners, in the ACT.

Darwin also pays the highest average salaries to hospitality, retail and service managers ($1616 a week), sales assistants and salespersons ($825) and food preparation assistants ($763).

Outside of Darwin, carers and aides ($984) attract the largest average pay packets in the country.

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

The Australian Capital Territory has the strongest average salaries in Australia for business, human resources and marketing professionals ($2003 a week), ICT professionals ($2404), personal assistants and secretaries ($1528), general clerical workers ($1426) and clerical and office support workers ($1439).

Split Payments chief executive Chris Jewell is attracting IT talent to Byron Bay. Picture: Supplied

MONEY IS NOT THE ONLY FACTOR

Byron Bay fintech Split Payments is attracting top talent with more than just competitive salaries.

Established three years ago, staff numbers have ballooned from 18 to 47 since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the ACT offering the highest average pay packets for ICT and business professionals, Split chief executive Chris Jewell says many of these workers are choosing Byron Bay for its lifestyle.

The former Goldman Sachs executive left Sydney five years ago to live on a 12ha farm outside Byron with his wife and four children – running the business-to-business payment company during the week and tending to harvests on the weekend.

“We are picking up a lot of interest from people in the major cities wanting to come here,” he says. “We have this pool of talent on our doorstep now and the salary expectations are now in line with the major cities. One of my neighbours owns a consultancy in Melbourne, another is an Atlassian veteran of 10 years and another has a carbon offset company that is growing – it’s not what you imagine to be the hinterland farming community.”

Originally published as Where you should live to earn the most money for your line of work