Top 10 highest-earning jobs in Australia
We all know money isn’t everything when choosing a career path, but it is a factor that most people consider at some point.
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has released its most recent set of income statistics that reveal the country’s top earners according to their average taxable income. The rankings are based on 13.9 million individuals who submitted their tax returns for the 2016–17 income year.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the top three occupations come from the medical industry, while finance and engineering also feature prominently.
So, which jobs in Australia pay the most?
Of the 1,100 occupations listed by the ATO, the following top 10 have the highest average taxable income:
| Rank | Profession | Individuals in profession | Average taxable income |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surgeons | 4,000 | $394,866 |
| 2 | Anaesthetists | 3,000 | $367,343 |
| 3 | Internal medicine specialists | 8,500 | $299,378 |
| 4 | Financial dealers | 4,500 | $261,008 |
| 5 | Psychiatrists | 2,800 | $216,075 |
| 6 | Other medical practitioners | 28,000 | $204,387 |
| 7 | Judical and other professionals | 3,500 | $195,703 |
| 8 | Mining Engineers | 8,000 | $167,345 |
| 9 | CEO and managing directors | 174,000 | $157,643 |
| 10 | Engineering managers | 25,000 | $147,451 |
To find out more about Australians’ income characteristics, such as the country’s highest-earning postcodes, head to the ATO’s Taxation statistics web page.