Pay Calculator WA: Your Take-Home Pay in Western Australia

WA 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). Employees of WA sole traders, partnerships and other non-company employers are in the state system instead, where the WA State Minimum Wage is $26.27 an hour ($998.30 a week) from 1 July 2026.
• Public holidays: 13 in 2026, 6 of them WA-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 Long Service Leave Act 1958 (WA): WA long service leave calculator.
• Government jobs: WA public service pay scales, WA teacher pay and WA nurse pay rates.
• Emergency services: WA paramedic pay and WA police pay.
• Workers compensation: if you are injured at work, the WA scheme (WorkCover WA) 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 Western Australia

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.

Western Australian State public sector employers and local government entities, plus sole traders, partnerships, other unincorporated entities and non-trading corporations, are covered by the WA state system. Employees of trading companies in Western Australia are in the national system.

For employees in the WA state system, the adult State Minimum Wage is $998.30 a week ($26.27 an hour) from 1 July 2026, set by the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission (2026 State Wage Case), up 4.75%.

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.

How much of a WA salary do you actually keep?

Income tax is federal, so a Perth payslip is taxed exactly like a Hobart one. The difference is that WA salaries are bigger. The worked example below uses $115,825, the average full-time ordinary time wage in Western Australia.

If your usual place of residence is in a zone area, such as parts of the Pilbara, the Kimberley or the Goldfields, for 183 days or more in the income year, you can also claim the federal zone tax offset, which the calculator above does not apply because it depends on your specific locality. Working in a zone is not enough: a fly-in fly-out worker whose usual home is outside the zone cannot claim it. It reduces tax payable rather than income, so it lands at tax time.

Is your WA salary normal? What the ABS says

WA has the highest full-time ordinary time earnings of any state; only the ACT is higher, and that is a public service artefact. The gap between WA men and women in the table below is the widest in the country, and it is a composition effect of the resources workforce rather than a difference in award rates.

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.

With overtime included, the WA full-time figure rises by $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 understates your pay.

Western Australian public holidays and what they do to your pay

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. A worker one state over is not paid a public holiday penalty rate on those days, which are marked WA 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 Western Australia government list that covers your town.

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

Regional WA sometimes observes the King's Birthday on a different date again, so check with the WA Government for your town before you count on a penalty shift.

Long service leave in Western Australia

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.

WA employees can take long service leave after 10 years of continuous employment, when 8.667 weeks has accrued, with another 4.333 weeks every 5 years after that. 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.

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.

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

WA construction workers accrue long service leave through MyLeave instead, which carries service between employers across the industry.

Does WA payroll tax come out of your pay?

WorkCover WA premiums work the same way: they are an employer insurance cost, priced by industry risk, and never deducted from wages. The deductions that are legitimate are listed in the payslip guide.

WA has its own industrial relations system

The WA state industrial relations system is the one structural difference in WA pay, 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 that is a trading or financial corporation, you are in the national system and the federal award rates apply. If it is a sole trader, a partnership of individuals or a non-trading corporation, check the WA state award instead, as its base rate and penalty rates can differ from the federal award.

Frequently Asked Questions