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People reading this page usually work these out too.
A salary calculator for the 4 million people who work in NSW. Enter your gross pay and see the net figure that should appear on your next payslip, using ATO 2026-27 rates — then check the NSW-only things underneath: the public holiday calendar, long service leave after 10 years, and who really pays payroll tax.
Checking a payslip? Compare the fortnightly figure above with the net pay on your slip — see how to read an Australian payslip.
There is no such thing as NSW income tax. Every dollar of income tax you pay goes to the Commonwealth, on the same scale used in Perth and Hobart. What follows is the arithmetic on $109,658 — the average full-time wage in this state, and the highest of any state on the mainland east coast.
$109,658 is what a full-time adult in New South Wales earns on average before overtime — ABS average weekly ordinary time earnings of $2,108.80 a week, May 2026, over 52 weeks.
| Gross salary | $109,658 |
| Income tax | − $23,417 |
| Medicare levy (2%) | − $2,193 |
| Take-home pay | $84,048 |
That is $1,616.31 a week, $3,232.62 a fortnight or $7,004.00 a month in the bank.
Effective tax rate 23.4%. The next dollar you earn is taxed at 32% — that is the marginal bracket plus the 2% Medicare levy.
Superannuation of $13,159 at 12% is paid by your employer on top, making the package $122,817.
With a HECS-HELP debt, a further $6,020 is withheld and take-home pay falls to $78,028 — $3,001.08 a fortnight.
Change the number in the calculator above for your own salary. If you are weighing up an offer, the pay rise calculator shows what a raise is worth after tax, and the 2026-27 tax brackets show where the next threshold sits.
NSW is the highest-paying state after Western Australia and the ACT. Full-time adults here take $2,108.80 a week in ordinary time earnings. Note the gap between the first and last rows of the table — the "all employees" figure is dragged down by part-time hours, not by lower hourly rates.
| NSW average weekly earnings | Per week | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time adults, ordinary hoursBase pay only — the figure this page's worked example uses | $2,108.80 | $109,658 |
| Full-time adults, including overtimeAdds overtime, so it runs ahead of the ordinary-time figure | $2,177.30 | $113,220 |
| Full-time adult menOrdinary time earnings | $2,204.50 | $114,634 |
| Full-time adult womenOrdinary time earnings | $1,970.70 | $102,476 |
| All employees, including part-timePulled down by part-time hours, not by lower rates | $1,616.00 | $84,032 |
Full-time adults in New South Wales earn 1.2% more than the national average of $2,083.70 a week. Source: ABS Average Weekly Earnings, May 2026, released 13 August 2026 (Table 13, original series). Read on 28 August 2026.
An average is not a floor. If you suspect you are being underpaid, the floor is your award rate — see the Australian award rates guide, or the retail and hospitality rates, the two awards that cover the most NSW workers.
NSW has the leanest public holiday calendar in the country — 13 days, with no equivalent of Melbourne Cup Day, Canberra Day or the Ekka. What NSW does have is an extra day when Anzac Day falls on a weekend, and the October Labour Day that Victoria and WA hold in March.
New South Wales publishes 13 public holidays for 2026, and 6 of them are not observed Australia-wide. Those are the days a worker one state over does not get paid a penalty rate for. The days marked NSW only below are the difference.
| 2026 date | Public holiday | Observed |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 1 January | New Year's Day | Nationwide |
| Monday 26 January | Australia Day | Nationwide |
| Friday 3 April | Good Friday | Nationwide |
| Saturday 4 April | Easter Saturday | NSW only |
| Sunday 5 April | Easter Sunday | NSW only |
| Monday 6 April | Easter Monday | Nationwide |
| Saturday 25 April | Anzac Day | Nationwide |
| Monday 27 April | Additional public holiday for Anzac Day | NSW only |
| Monday 8 June | King's Birthday | NSW only |
| Monday 5 October | Labour Day | NSW only |
| Friday 25 December | Christmas Day | Nationwide |
| Saturday 26 December | Boxing Day | Nationwide |
| Monday 28 December | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | NSW only |
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, 2026 public holidays, read 28 August 2026. Regional and part-day variations apply — check with New South Wales for the list that covers your town.
Why the NSW list matters to your pay
Under most modern awards, working a public holiday attracts a penalty of 200% to 250% of your base rate, and if you do not work you are still entitled to be absent without losing pay. You are entitled to the public holidays where you are based for work, not where you happen to be standing on the day.
Work out what a holiday shift is actually worth with the overtime and penalty rate calculator, or read the penalty rates guide.
Regional NSW also has local show-day holidays declared council by council. Those are not in the state-wide list above; check with NSW Government for your area.
NSW runs on the oldest long service leave statute in the country — the Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW), which still measures the entitlement in months and defines a month as 4⅓ weeks.
Ten years of continuous service with the same employer earns 8.67 weeks — two months — of paid long service leave, then 4.33 weeks for every further 5 years. Between 5 and 10 years a pro-rata payment is only owed if the employer ends the employment for a reason other than serious or wilful misconduct, or you resign because of illness, incapacity, or domestic or other pressing necessity. Past 10 years it is paid out however the job ends.
| Governing law | Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW) |
| Service before you can take leave | 10 years |
| Leave at that point | 8.67 weeks |
| After that | a further 4.33 weeks (one month) for each additional 5 years of service |
| Pro-rata payment when the job ends | From 5 years |
| Who to ask | NSW Industrial Relations |
Long service leave is paid at your ordinary rate, so the calculator at the top of this page tells you what a week of it is worth after tax. A lump sum paid out when you leave is taxed differently — see the final pay calculator. Source: NSW Industrial Relations, read 28 August 2026.
Coming soon: NSW long service leave calculator
We are building a calculator for each state's long service leave rules. The New South Wales long service leave calculator will work out your accrued weeks and what they are worth after tax. Until it lands, use the leave calculator or go straight to NSW Industrial Relations.
Building and construction workers are covered separately by the NSW Long Service Corporation's portable scheme, which follows you between employers rather than resetting each time you change jobs.
Does NSW payroll tax come out of your pay? No.
It is a cost of hiring you, not a deduction from you. Once an employer's Australian wage bill passes $1,200,000 a year it starts paying 5.45% to the New South Wales revenue office on the excess. That never appears on your payslip and never reduces your gross salary. If you see a deduction you cannot account for, the full employer-side detail is further down this page.
Workers compensation premiums (iCare in NSW) work the same way — an employer expense, never a payslip line. The legitimate deductions are listed in the payslip guide; anything else is worth querying.
Income tax is identical everywhere in Australia. What changes is the public holiday calendar, the long service leave Act and the payroll tax your employer pays.
None of this changes an employee's net pay. It is the cost of employing someone in NSW.
NSW payroll tax is a state tax that employers pay at a rate of 5.45% on total annual wages exceeding the $1,200,000 threshold, administered by Revenue NSW.
Payroll tax is strictly an employer cost. It does not reduce employee take-home pay or appear on payslips. Employers with wage bills below the $1,200,000 annual threshold pay no payroll tax at all, which exempts most small businesses. The tax applies to wages, superannuation contributions, fringe benefits, and contractor payments in many cases.
NSW has a mid-range payroll tax rate compared to other Australian states and territories. Queensland and Western Australia offer higher thresholds, while the ACT has the highest headline rate.
| State / Territory | Rate | Annual Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 5.45% | $1,200,000 |
| Victoria | 4.85% | $1,000,000 |
| Queensland | 4.75% | $1,300,000 |
| Western Australia | 5.50% | $1,000,000 |
| South Australia | 4.95% | $1,500,000 |
| Tasmania | 4.00% | $1,250,000 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 6.75% | $1,750,000 |
| Northern Territory | 5.50% | $2,500,000 |
Employers expanding into NSW from Victoria face a higher threshold ($1,200,000 vs $1,000,000) but a higher rate (5.45% vs 4.85%). Use the Employer Cost Calculator to model total employment costs including payroll tax, superannuation, and workers compensation premiums.
Both payroll tax and workers compensation (iCare in NSW) are employer expenses. These costs do not appear on your payslip and do not reduce your gross salary or take-home pay. Employers factor these on-costs into total hiring budgets, which indirectly influences salary offers.
Income tax, the Medicare levy, HECS-HELP and superannuation are calculated with the site's federal engine for 2026-27 Australian residents; there are no state-specific individual income taxes in Australia. NSW earnings come from the ABS Average Weekly Earnings release for May 2026 (Table 13a, original series). Public holidays come from the Fair Work Ombudsman's 2026 list, and long service leave from the Long Service Leave Act 1955 as explained by NSW Industrial Relations. State payroll tax and workers compensation data are sourced from Revenue NSW and iCare, but these only affect employers, not employee net pay.
Last verified: 28 August 2026. Our content is based on the latest information from official Australian government sources.