Compare pay before tax, excluding employer super with a broad occupation group.
For example: retail sales → Sales workers; nurses and teachers → Professionals; electricians → Technicians and trades workers. Choose the group for the work you do, not your employer’s industry.
Your gross pay per week
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Group median per week
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Compared with the May 2025 survey, released January 2026. A historical pay band, not your exact current rank or a recommended salary. Experience, location and hours are not matched.
Choose a group to see the published pay band and median. “Median” means the middle of the group.
What this comparison can tell you
We use published ABS percentile cutoffs, not a guessed ranking derived from an average. If your weekly pay falls between the 60th and 70th percentile cutoffs, we show that range rather than inventing a precise percentage.
The full-time comparison covers non-managerial employees paid at adult rates. People with strategic management responsibilities are excluded, even though the occupation classification itself includes a “Managers” group. Choose all employees if the narrower population does not fit; that group also includes part-time workers and younger workers.
Cash earnings are before tax and include salary-sacrificed cash earnings and overtime in the survey. Employer super is excluded from your comparison. Your entered salary may not capture all these earnings. This is a discussion starter, not evidence that an employer is underpaying you.
Choose a question. Get a plain-English answer and a useful next step.
5 questions to explore.
Answers are written in advance. Your search stays in your browser.
Pay & superWhat is the difference between gross and take-home pay?+
Gross pay is cash pay before tax withholding and other deductions. Take-home pay is what remains for your bank account; employer super is shown separately.
Pay & superIs a salary including super the same as salary plus super?+
Including super means the quoted package contains both cash salary and employer super. Plus super means the employer contribution is added to the quoted cash salary; ask for the two dollar amounts separately.
For exampleWith an assumed flat 12% employer contribution and no other benefits, an $84,000 package splits into $75,000 cash salary and $9,000 super, before tax.
Pay & superWhy is employer super separate from my bank deposit?+
Employer super goes into your super account for retirement, where the fund invests it. Howloop displays that contribution separately from estimated take-home pay; the displayed contribution is not your fund’s after-tax balance.
Pay & superIs fortnightly pay half of monthly pay?+
A fortnight is two weeks, so the calculator uses 26 fortnightly periods and 12 monthly periods per year. Two fortnightly pays cover four weeks, which is shorter than an average calendar month.
For exampleA hypothetical $2,000 per fortnight is $52,000 over 26 pays, or about $4,333 a month on average.
Pay & superWhy might the pay estimate differ from my payslip or tax bill?+
The calculator estimates regular pay within its stated payroll settings. Rounding, bonuses, salary sacrifice and personal tax circumstances can change the result; your annual tax assessment also uses the whole return.
Compare an annual package including 12% employer super with a cash salary plus 12% super.
Same quoted number · different cash salary
$90,000 including super
$80,357
Annual cash salary before tax.
$90,000 plus super
$90,000
Annual cash salary before tax.
Difference in cash salary
$9,643
Before tax; the take-home difference is smaller.
Ask whether the offer includes super before comparing jobs or planning your spending.
Flat 12% employer super only, within the example range. No other package benefits, salary sacrifice or tax. Super contributions are separate from take-home pay.
Your package is the total offer. Your gross salary is the cash pay before deductions. Your take-home pay is what remains for your bank account. Comparing two job offers is much easier once you know which number each employer is quoting.
“Plus super” and “including super” are different
An $89,600 package including 12% employer super contains $80,000 of gross cash salary and $9,600 of employer super under this example. An $89,600 salary plus 12% super contains $89,600 of cash salary before tax. Entering the same number under the wrong option can therefore make your spending budget look larger than it is.
The standard setting estimates the 2026–27 minimum employer contribution, using 12% and the $270,830 annual qualifying-earnings limit. We assume the salary entered is qualifying earnings for one eligible adult employee. If your contract specifies another contribution, enter its annual amount under payroll settings. The displayed super is an annual average allocated across the chosen period, not a prediction of the timing or after-tax balance in your fund.
A fortnight is not half a month
There are 26 two-week periods in a 52-week year, and 12 calendar months. A $2,000 fortnightly amount is therefore $52,000 over 26 pays, or about $4,333 a month on average. Some months have three paydays. Plan recurring bills using the dates you are actually paid, and treat the annual result here as a budgeting estimate.
Why the result can differ from your payslip
This tool uses the 2026–27 ATO regular-pay withholding formulas and their rounding rules. Tax-free-threshold and student-loan settings matter. It calculates weekly, fortnightly and monthly withholding separately; the annual estimate uses twelve monthly pays. Small differences across periods are expected.
It does not handle working holiday makers, foreign tax residents, missing TFNs, salary sacrifice, bonuses, termination payments, Medicare exemptions or family adjustments, the Medicare levy surcharge, seniors’ offsets, or individual withholding variations. Enter ordinary after-tax deductions separately. If your situation includes an excluded item, use the ATO calculator or ask payroll to explain the deduction.
Student-loan withholding is money withheld during the year. Your final repayment is worked out using repayment income at tax time and can differ. We do not ask for your loan balance or cap withholding to that balance.
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