The study found that the share of people in middle-income households fell from 64 per cent to 61 per cent between the mid-1980s and the mid-2010s. “In Australia, it's even lower, at 58 per cent,” says Jason Pallant, marketing lecturer at Swinburne University.
How has the Australian middle class changed over the past few decades? Over the past few decades, the Australian middle class has experienced growth in size, shifts in income distribution, and increased diversity in ethnicity and lifestyle choices.
Between 1970 and 2021, the share of U.S. aggregate income earned by the middle class shrunk from formerly 62% to just 42%. At the same time, aggregate earnings by those considered high income increased from 29% to 50%.
It then goes on to describe those middle income Australians as individuals earning between $120,000 and $160,000 a year.
The share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2021, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data.
Disparities across educational, geographic, ethnic, and generational lines persist. And even as jobs become available, a middle-class lifestyle remains difficult to obtain or sustain because incomes are not growing as fast as the costs of healthcare, housing, childcare, education, and other monthly expenditures.
The share of aggregate U.S. household income held by the middle class has fallen steadily since 1970. The widening of the income gap and the shrinking of the middle class has led to a steady decrease in the share of U.S. aggregate income held by middle-class households.
The median salary in Australia in 2023 is 6,650 AUD (USD 4,420) per month. The median salary refers to the middle value of all the salaries considered. In other words, around half of the population in Australia earns less than 6,650 AUD per month, while the other half earns more.
According to the ATO, the top 1% of income earners in Australia start at $237,300 but average $438,100.
Australians wanting to be in the country's top 1% for wealth need to have an individual net worth of US$5.5 million ($8.3 million), Knight Frank's 2023 Wealth Report has found.
The middle class is shrinking
As is often cited, the share of adults who live in middle-class households is shrinking. Now, 50% of the population falls in this group as of 2021, down from 61% 50 years earlier, according to Pew.
“Broad societal changes and technology and the decline of unions and the role of globalization — all these things have fit into what we observe as the shrinking of the middle class and the shift of income to upper-income households.”
More than two-third part of the country only receives less than 500 mm annual rain. This arid, uninhabitable part of Australia lies in the middle of the continent (the Outback), away from the coasts.
The amount of money it takes to make it into the top 1 per cent of the wealthiest Australians has doubled to $8.25 million since 2021, according to a new report. The increase means the amount of money you need to be part of Australia's top echelon of wealth ($US5.
Median Earnings
In 2023 the median Australian wage is expected to reach about USD 4,420 or 6650 AUD per month.
$100,000/year is above an average salary and if you're frugal enough, on $100,000/year, you should be able to live a good life and save some money too. Usually if you consider living in desirable locations of cities like Melbourne and Sydney, most of your income will be consumed in the house rents.
So if you're on $100k or more, congratulations, you're in the top 20% of Aussie income earners. If not, don't worry, you're in the good company of 80% of Aussies.
So a taxpayer with an income of $80,000 a year is therefore in the top 20 per cent of Australians.
Officially, the average wage is $75,000 a year, but that is skewed by a small number of very high income earners. In reality, around 70 per cent of tax payers actually earn less than the average wage. If pensioners are included in this count, four out of five Australians earn less than the average.
If you make $75,000 a year living in Australia, you will be taxed $16,342. That means that your net pay will be $58,658 per year, or $4,888 per month.
From 1 July 2022 you may be eligible for the low income tax offset only, if you earn up to $66,667. Between 2018–19 and 2021–22, you may have been eligible to receive one or both of the: low income tax offset – if you earn up to $66,667. low and middle income tax offset – if you earn up to $126,000.
Today, China is the largest middle class* market globally, with over 900 million people.
The upper middle class are able to get high paying jobs because they have the highest level of education, and they tend to have a skill set that other people do not have. They tend to occupy white-collar jobs, have university degrees, have comfortable houses with mortgages, go on holiday yearly, and drive nice cars.
Based on some new social and political theories upper class consists of the most wealthy decile group in society which holds nearly 87% of the whole society's wealth.