Minimum wage aus: What you take home after tax and Medicare

Introduction

If you are looking at a job advertisement or a pay slip, it is easy to confuse the gross salary, the total package, and the amount that actually lands in your bank account. This guide focuses on the minimum wage aus – the legal floor for pay in Australia – and walks you through what you can expect to take home after income tax and the Medicare levy.

Minimum wage aus: the base rate

Fair Work sets the national minimum wage. From 1 July 2026, it is $26.44 per hour or $1,004.90 per week for a 38-hour week. This is the minimum an employer can pay an adult employee who is not covered by an award or registered agreement. Many industries have award rates that are higher. You can check your award using the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool.

How the minimum wage is quoted

Job ads often show a salary as a yearly figure or an hourly rate. The national minimum wage annualises to about $52,255 (38 hours × 52 weeks). But that is your gross pay – before any deductions.

Tax and Medicare levy for 2026-27

The Australian Taxation Office publishes tax tables for the 2026-27 income year. For a resident earning the minimum wage, the tax you pay is calculated using these brackets:

• First $18,200: tax-free
• $18,201 to $45,000: 15 cents for each dollar over $18,200
• $45,001 to $135,000: $4,020 plus 30 cents for each dollar over $45,000

Your taxable income of $52,255 falls into the third bracket. The tax before offsets is about $6,196. You then apply the Low Income Tax Offset (LITO), which can reduce your tax by up to $700. For $52,255, the LITO is $325 minus 1.5 cents per dollar over $45,000, giving a reduction of about $216. So your net tax is roughly $5,980.

Medicare levy

The Medicare levy is 2% of your taxable income. For a full-time minimum wage earner, that is about $1,045. However, if your income is below the single threshold of $28,011, you pay no levy. Between $28,011 and $35,013, the levy is phased in at 10 cents per dollar over the lower threshold. At $52,255 you pay the full 2%.

Your take-home pay from the minimum wage

After income tax (approx. $5,980) and Medicare levy (approx. $1,045), your annual take-home pay is around $45,230. That is about $870 per week or $1,740 per fortnight. This is an estimate – your actual withholding may vary slightly due to pay-cycle rounding in the ATO tax tables.

What about super?

Superannuation is not deducted from your take-home pay. From 1 July 2026, your employer must contribute an additional 12% of your ordinary time earnings into your super fund. If your salary is quoted as $52,255 plus super, the total package is about $58,525. The super amount goes into your retirement account, not your bank account.

Salary packaging and other adjustments

If you use salary packaging (also called salary sacrifice), you can reduce your taxable income by directing pre-tax dollars toward items like a car or super. This can lower your tax and Medicare levy, increasing your take-home pay. However, packaging is less common at the minimum wage level. For more details, see our guide on Salary packaging.

Benchmarks and tools

You can compare the minimum wage to other benchmarks like the average full-time adult ordinary time earnings ($2,083.70 per week) using our Benchmarks page. To calculate your own take-home pay, try the Clearance tool.