Coles Pay Rates 2026 — Hourly Wage by Age & Level

Which agreement sets Coles pay

Coles supermarket and liquor store staff are paid under the Coles Retail Enterprise Agreement 2024 (AG2024/1124, AE524516). It covers wages-paid team members in Coles supermarkets — including online and home delivery and every department in store — and in Coles Liquor stores such as Liquorland, First Choice Liquor Market and Vintage Cellars. Salaried managers and Store Support Centre staff are excluded, and distribution centres fall outside it.

• Approved by the Fair Work Commission: 3 May 2024 ([2024] FWCFB 250), operating from 7 October 2024
• Nominal expiry date: 3 May 2028
• Employer: Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd and Liquorland (Australia) Pty Ltd

Next scheduled increase: First full pay period after 1 July 2027. Every level rises by the percentage the 2027 Annual Wage Review gives the General Retail Industry Award Level 1 rate (cl 3.4.1). That is the last increase the agreement provides for.

For the underlying award minimums across every employer in the industry, see Retail Award rates 2026.

Coles hourly pay rates by level (adults)

Base hourly rates before tax for adult employees. Casual rates include the 25% casual loading, paid instead of leave entitlements.

Coles pay rates by age (junior rates)

Junior employees are paid a set percentage of the adult Level 1 rate for their age. Coles pays the full adult rate from 20 (Appendix A3.3). The agreement applies the junior percentage to "the appropriate wage rate" for your level; the table below shows Level 1, where almost every junior starts.

The percentages are the instrument’s own. The dollar figures are our arithmetic — the percentage applied to the adult Level 1 rate, rounded to the cent — because the instrument does not print junior dollars. Your payslip may differ by a cent.

For how junior rates work across every award, and when you move to the adult rate, see junior pay rates in Australia.

Coles penalty rates: evenings, weekends and public holidays

Penalty rates are a percentage of the base hourly rate for your level (or, where stated, a flat amount per hour) for hours worked at the times below.

• Casual rates already include the 25% loading, and the agreement says no rates are cumulative or compounding (cl 3.1.2): Sunday casual is 175%, not 150% × 1.25.
• There is no early-morning or late-night penalty for ordinary hours. Work before 7am, after 11pm, or before 9am on a Sunday is outside the ordinary spread and is paid as overtime.
• Employees engaged as night shiftworkers (shifts starting from 6pm to before 5am) are paid 130% Sunday night to Friday, 150% Saturday and 175% Sunday (casual 155%, 175%, 200%). Baking production shifts have their own early-start loadings.
• If you do not get a 12-hour break between shifts, you are paid 200% until you do (cl 4.3).

Overtime

To price a mix of weekday, weekend and overtime hours, use the overtime and penalty rate calculator.

How much Coles pays a week

Gross weekly pay for an adult at Level 1, with every hour at the ordinary weekday rate. Weekend and evening shifts push these figures up; tax comes off them.

A full-time year (38 hours × 52 weeks) at $28.43 is $56,178 before tax. See take-home pay on $55,000 (the nearest salary we publish) and $28.44 an hour as a yearly salary (the nearest hourly rate we publish).

Enter your hourly rate and hours in the weekly pay calculator to see tax withheld and what lands in your account. Casual or part-time with a second job? Check the second job tax calculator.

What this page does not show

We publish only what we could read from a primary source. Left off rather than estimated:

• Coles Express, Coles Local and distribution centre pay — not named in the agreement; we have not confirmed which instrument covers them.
• Legacy Liquorland rates — some long-serving liquor staff keep higher 2014 rates under Appendix A4.3 until the Coles rate overtakes them.
• Allowances — see the agreement itself.

Coles pay questions

Pay rates at other employers