United Kingdom vs Australia: take-home pay compared
This is one of the relocation comparisons UK professionals reach for most often. Nurses, doctors, engineers and tradespeople have been moving from the UK to Australia for decades, and the take-home figures go a long way toward explaining it.
Net salary side by side
Figures are calculated using this site's own tax engine for each country - click through to the full calculator to adjust for your exact situation.
| Gross salary | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom net/mo | 🇦🇺 Australia net/mo |
|---|---|---|
| 40,000 / 70,000 | £2,693/mo (19.2%) | A$4,734/mo (18.8%) |
| 55,000 / 95,000 | £3,538/mo (22.8%) | A$6,151/mo (22.3%) |
| 75,000 / 130,000 | £4,505/mo (27.9%) | A$8,134/mo (24.9%) |
| 100,000 / 175,000 | £5,713/mo (31.4%) | A$10,451/mo (28.3%) |
"Gross salary" is shown in each country's own currency at matching nominal amounts, not currency-converted - useful for comparing two job offers quoted in local currency. Effective rate shown in brackets.
Australia pays more and taxes a little less
This is a real two-sided effect rather than a currency trick. Once converted, Australian gross salaries for similar roles tend to run 20% to 40% above UK equivalents, and on top of that Australia's effective tax rate sits a point or two under the UK's at the matching levels shown here. Neither the 2% Medicare Levy nor the Australian income bands hurt the way the UK's personal allowance taper does, which manufactures a 60% effective marginal rate between £100,000 and £125,140 with nothing similar in Australia.
What the UK gives back that take-home does not capture
For public-sector roles such as nursing and medicine, the UK's NHS pension is a defined-benefit scheme noticeably more generous than Australia's compulsory superannuation guarantee (12%, defined-contribution and exposed to the market). Closeness to family, cultural familiarity, easy travel to Europe and shorter flights home are genuine non-financial pulls that keep many UK professionals put despite the pay gap. But for anyone judging on take-home alone, Australia is the stronger financial call at almost every stage of a career.
Frequently asked questions
Australia, at every level shown. It wins on two fronts: Australian gross salaries usually run higher for equivalent roles, and its effective tax rate lands 1 to 3 percentage points below the UK's at matching income.
Mostly pay. Australian nursing and specialist salaries tend to beat UK NHS equivalents in both gross and take-home terms, and that gap has been a well-documented driver of UK healthcare workers heading to Australia for years.
For public-sector roles, generally not. The NHS Pension Scheme is defined-benefit with guaranteed payouts, whereas Australian superannuation (a 12% employer contribution) is defined-contribution and market-exposed. Outside the NHS, most UK pensions are also defined-contribution, so the comparison tightens considerably.
No, these are nominal take-home figures with no purchasing-power adjustment. Housing in Sydney and Melbourne is broadly on a par with London, while many other Australian cities come in cheaper.