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People reading this page usually work these out too.
WA has the highest full-time earnings of any state. This salary calculator turns that gross figure into the net one using ATO 2026-27 rates — and then covers what is genuinely different in WA: your own state industrial system, WA Day, and long service leave that pays out from 7 years.
Checking a payslip? Compare the fortnightly figure above with the net pay on your slip — see how to read an Australian payslip.
Income tax is federal, so a Perth payslip is taxed exactly like a Hobart one — the difference is that WA salaries are bigger, which pushes more of them into the 37% bracket. Here is the arithmetic on $115,825, the average full-time wage in Western Australia.
$115,825 is what a full-time adult in Western Australia earns on average before overtime — ABS average weekly ordinary time earnings of $2,227.40 a week, May 2026, over 52 weeks.
| Gross salary | $115,825 |
| Income tax | − $25,268 |
| Medicare levy (2%) | − $2,317 |
| Take-home pay | $88,240 |
That is $1,696.92 a week, $3,393.85 a fortnight or $7,353.33 a month in the bank.
Effective tax rate 23.8%. The next dollar you earn is taxed at 32% — that is the marginal bracket plus the 2% Medicare levy.
Superannuation of $13,899 at 12% is paid by your employer on top, making the package $129,724.
With a HECS-HELP debt, a further $6,945 is withheld and take-home pay falls to $81,295 — $3,126.73 a fortnight.
If you work in the Pilbara, the Kimberley or the Goldfields, you may also be entitled to the federal zone tax offset, which the calculator above does not apply because it depends on your specific locality. It reduces tax payable rather than income, so it lands at tax time.
WA has the highest full-time ordinary time earnings of any state — only the ACT is higher, and that is a public service artefact. Note the size of the gap between men and women in the table below: it is the widest in the country, and it is a composition effect of the resources workforce rather than a difference in award rates.
| WA average weekly earnings | Per week | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time adults, ordinary hoursBase pay only — the figure this page's worked example uses | $2,227.40 | $115,825 |
| Full-time adults, including overtimeAdds overtime, so it runs ahead of the ordinary-time figure | $2,317.80 | $120,526 |
| Full-time adult menOrdinary time earnings | $2,378.70 | $123,692 |
| Full-time adult womenOrdinary time earnings | $1,945.10 | $101,145 |
| All employees, including part-timePulled down by part-time hours, not by lower rates | $1,692.40 | $88,005 |
Full-time adults in Western Australia earn 6.9% 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.
Overtime pushes the WA full-time figure up by more than $90.40 a week. If you work a roster, the mining and FIFO pay guide and the overtime calculator are the right tools; base salary alone will understate you.
WA moves two holidays that most of the country holds on fixed dates: Labour Day falls in early March, and the King's Birthday is held in late September rather than June, so a WA worker and a NSW worker doing the same job get penalty rates on entirely different Mondays. WA Day in June is unique to this state.
Western Australia 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 WA only below are the difference.
| 2026 date | Public holiday | Observed |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 1 January | New Year's Day | Nationwide |
| Monday 26 January | Australia Day | Nationwide |
| Monday 2 March | Labour Day | WA only |
| Friday 3 April | Good Friday | Nationwide |
| Sunday 5 April | Easter Sunday | WA only |
| Monday 6 April | Easter Monday | Nationwide |
| Saturday 25 April | Anzac Day | Nationwide |
| Monday 27 April | Additional public holiday for Anzac Day | WA only |
| Monday 1 June | Western Australia Day | WA only |
| Monday 28 September | King's BirthdaySome regional areas in WA hold the King's Birthday public holiday on a different date. | WA only |
| Friday 25 December | Christmas Day | Nationwide |
| Saturday 26 December | Boxing Day | Nationwide |
| Monday 28 December | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | WA only |
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, 2026 public holidays, read 28 August 2026. Regional and part-day variations apply — check with Western Australia for the list that covers your town.
Why the WA 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 WA sometimes observes the King's Birthday on a different date again — check with the WA Government for your town before you count on a penalty shift.
WA is the most generous state at the exit. Under the Long Service Leave Act 1958 (WA), a payment can be owed after 7 years of continuous employment when the job ends — including by plain resignation — even though the leave itself cannot be taken until 10 years. Full-time, part-time, casual and seasonal employees are all covered.
Leave can be taken after 10 years of continuous employment, when 8.667 weeks has accrued, with another 4.333 weeks every 5 years after that. WA is unusually generous at the exit: after 7 years of continuous employment a full-time, part-time, casual or seasonal employee may be owed a payment when the job ends by resignation, dismissal, redundancy or death.
| Governing law | Long Service Leave Act 1958 (WA) |
| Service before you can take leave | 10 years |
| Leave at that point | 8.667 weeks |
| After that | a further 4.333 weeks for every 5 years of continuous employment after that |
| Pro-rata payment when the job ends | From 7 years |
| Who to ask | Private Sector Labour Relations, Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety |
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: Private Sector Labour Relations, Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, read 28 August 2026.
Coming soon: WA long service leave calculator
We are building a calculator for each state's long service leave rules. The Western Australia 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 Private Sector Labour Relations, Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.
Construction workers accrue through MyLeave instead, which carries service between employers across the industry.
Does WA 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 $1,000,000 a year it starts paying 5.50% to the Western Australia 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.
WorkCover WA premiums are the same story — an employer insurance cost, priced by industry risk, never deducted from wages. The deductions that are legitimate are listed in the payslip guide.
This is the one genuinely structural difference in WA, and it changes which minimum rate applies to you. Western Australia never referred its full industrial relations power to the Commonwealth, so sole traders, unincorporated partnerships and other non-constitutional employers in WA sit in the state system with its own award rates and its own state minimum wage — not the national minimum wage.
If your employer is a Pty Ltd company, you are in the national system and the federal award rates apply. If it is a sole trader or a partnership, check the WA state award instead — the base rate can differ, and so can the penalty rate loadings the calculator above assumes.
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 is deducted from an employee. It is the cost of employing someone in WA.
WA payroll tax is a 5.50% state tax levied on employers whose total Australian taxable wages exceed $1,000,000 per year.
Payroll tax is an employer cost managed by the Department of Finance WA. Employees do not pay payroll tax, and it does not reduce your gross salary or take-home pay. The tax applies to the employer's total wage bill, not individual salaries. A tiered scale applies to larger employers with wages exceeding $100 million, where the rate increases to 6.5%.
WA's payroll tax threshold of $1,000,000 sits in the middle range nationally. The comparison table below shows rates and thresholds across all 8 Australian states and territories.
| State / Territory | Rate | Annual Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Western Australia | 5.50% | $1,000,000 |
| New South Wales | 5.45% | $1,200,000 |
| Victoria | 4.85% | $1,000,000 |
| Queensland | 4.75% | $1,300,000 |
| 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 |
WA's payroll tax rate matches the Northern Territory at 5.50% but carries a lower threshold than Queensland, SA, and the NT. For employers calculating total hiring costs including payroll tax, WorkCover, and superannuation, see our Employer Cost Calculator.
WorkCover WA insurance premiums are entirely an employer expense. Premiums vary by industry risk classification, ranging from 0.5% of wages in low-risk office roles to over 7% in underground mining. These costs do not reduce your gross salary or take-home pay.
Income tax, the Medicare levy, LITO, HECS-HELP and superannuation are calculated with the site's federal engine for 2026-27; there are no state-specific individual income taxes in Australia. WA earnings come from the ABS Average Weekly Earnings release for May 2026 (Table 13e, original series). Public holidays come from the Fair Work Ombudsman's 2026 list, and long service leave from the Long Service Leave Act 1958 as explained by Private Sector Labour Relations. State payroll tax and WorkCover data are sourced from the Department of Finance WA and WorkCover WA.
Last verified: 28 August 2026. Our content is based on the latest information from official Australian government sources.