Pay Calculator QLD: Your Take-Home Pay in Queensland

QLD pay at a glance

• Minimum wage: the national minimum wage is $26.44 an hour ($1,004.90 for a 38-hour week) from 1 July 2026; most jobs pay an award rate above it (see the minimum wage guide).
• Public holidays: 14 in 2026, 7 of them QLD-only. Working one usually attracts 200%–250% of your base rate under an award (dates in the public holiday table below).
• Long service leave: 8.67 weeks after 10 years under the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld): QLD long service leave calculator.
• Government jobs: QLD public service pay scales, QLD teacher pay and QLD nurse pay rates.
• Emergency services: QLD paramedic pay, QLD police pay and QLD firefighter pay.
• Workers compensation: if you are injured at work, the QLD scheme (WorkCover Queensland) covers weekly payments and medical costs. Your employer pays the premium; nothing is deducted from your pay for it.

Minimum wage and state awards in Queensland

The National Minimum Wage is $26.44 an hour ($1,004.90 for a 38-hour week) from 1 July 2026, and it applies to adults in the national system whatever the state. Most people earn an award rate above it: see what the minimum wage in Australia is and the award rates guide.

Queensland state public sector and local government employees are not covered by the national system and remain under the Queensland state system. Most private-sector employees in Queensland are in the national system.

The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission’s State Wage Case 2026 (Declaration of General Ruling, [2026] QIRC 281, delivered 4 September 2026) lifted state award wages for full-time adults by 4.75% and set the Queensland Minimum Wage at $1,004.90 a week, operative from 1 September 2026. An award-free part-time or casual employee in the state system gets that weekly figure divided by 38, about $26.44 an hour. The Queensland Minimum Wage applies to employees in the Queensland state system, not to the private-sector employees who are covered by the $26.44 national rate.

Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Fair Work system, read 5 October 2026. Check with Fair Work or your state industrial commission if you are unsure which system covers your employer.

Queensland Wage Calculator: From an Hourly Rate to Take-Home Pay

The calculator above takes an annual salary. If you know an hourly rate, annualise it first: hourly rate × hours a week × 52 weeks. On the national minimum wage of $26.44 an hour, a 38-hour week is $52,245 a year (1,976 hours). Casuals multiply the base rate by 1.25 before annualising: $33.05 an hour, or $65,307 a year at 38 hours.

Take-home uses the 2026-27 resident rates with the Medicare levy and no HECS. The Queensland-specific floor: state and local government employees are in the Queensland state system, whose minimum wage is $1,004.90 a week from 1 September 2026 ([2026] QIRC 280, QIRC decision). Everyone else in Queensland is on the national minimum wage of $1,004.90 a week (Fair Work Ombudsman).

For other hours-per-week patterns use the hourly to annual salary calculator; the full rate, history and junior percentages are on the minimum wage Australia page.

How much of a Queensland salary do you actually keep?

Queensland has no state income tax, and never has. The deductions on a Brisbane payslip are the same ones on a Perth payslip. Here is the arithmetic on $106,064, the average full-time wage in Queensland.

Queensland has a larger share of shift, mining and FIFO work than most states, so the ordinary-time figure often understates real earnings. If overtime is a regular part of your pay, run it through the overtime pay calculator: overtime is taxed at your marginal rate, which the calculator above reports.

Is your Queensland salary normal? What the ABS says

Queensland sits fractionally behind Victoria on ordinary time earnings but ahead of it once overtime is counted. The resources and construction sectors do that. Compare the first two rows of the table below: the gap between them is the biggest of any eastern state.

Full-time adults in Queensland earn 2.1% less 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.

Most Queensland private-sector workers are on federal modern awards; state and local government employees are covered by Queensland industrial instruments instead. Look up your minimum in the award rates guide, or read the mining and FIFO pay guide if you work a roster.

Queensland public holidays and what they do to your pay

Queensland is unusual twice over. Christmas Eve is a part-day public holiday from 6 pm (an hour earlier than the 7 pm start used in SA and the NT), so an evening hospitality shift on 24 December crosses into penalty rates midway through. And the Royal Queensland Show (the Ekka) is a public holiday in the Brisbane area only; a Townsville worker gets nothing that day.

Queensland publishes 14 public holidays for 2026, and 7 of them are not observed Australia-wide. A worker one state over is not paid a public holiday penalty rate on those days, which are marked QLD only in the table below.

Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, 2026 public holidays, read 28 August 2026. Regional and part-day variations apply, so check the Queensland government list that covers your town.

QLD public holidays 2026 & 2027: every date, regional days and public holiday pay rates →

Long service leave in Queensland

Queensland is the only jurisdiction that puts long service leave inside its general industrial statute rather than a dedicated Act. It lives in the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld), which also covers casual, regular part-time and seasonal employees subject to conditions.

Ten years of continuous service earns 8.6667 weeks of paid long service leave, rising to 13 weeks at 15 years. Between 7 and 10 years a proportionate payment is owed only in defined circumstances: death, illness or injury, domestic necessity, or dismissal for a reason other than conduct, capacity or performance. At 10 years the payment on termination becomes automatic.

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: Queensland Industrial Relations, read 28 August 2026.

Work out your own balance and payout with the QLD long service leave calculator.

Building and construction workers accrue through QLeave's portable scheme instead, which carries service between employers.

Does QLD payroll tax come out of your pay?

Queensland's mental health levy catches the same confusion: it is charged to large employers, not to employees, and it is not a second Medicare levy. The only health charge that touches your pay is the federal Medicare levy, which the calculator above already deducts.

Frequently Asked Questions