Are you wondering how to estimate your salary in Australia before you make the big move?
I’ve put together a list of five salary calculators to help you determine what your salary in Australia might be.
You can then use my cost of living calculator to work out whether your expected salary will cover our expenses and give you the lifestyle you would like to have after you move to Australia.
Estimate Your Salary in Australia with These 5 Salary Calculators
PayScale Salary Survey
The PayScale Salary Survey includes a comprehensive selection of questions regarding your job. While some of the questions are mandatory, others are optional. It is not necessary to answer every question in the survey, but you’ll get a more accurate result the more detail you include.
You could go even further and look at the free and paid versions of PayScale for individuals. The free version allows you to get data on 3 jobs only. The paid versions require you to fill in a form to even get pricing so I’d start with the free version and see if you’re happy with the data quality before considering a paid version.
You can also look up generic stats on average salaries for a range of job titles and then filter these by country, state and city to get a range and an average salary. It will push you to sign up after a search or two though.
Hays Salary Check
One of the best salary estimators you can use is the Hays salary checker tool. It’s updated annually so you know you’re getting the latest data available. This is especially handy when you’re moving to Australia and are unsure whether the salary you have been offered is reasonable or not – a big worry for many migrants is that they are going to be underpaid compared to locals.
You can enter your area of expertise, category, position type, job title, region and salary on offer. Then you need to enter your email address to get the results.
Hays says that their salary checker covers thousands of jobs in 28 different sectors and is further customised by location across 11 geographic regions across Australia.
This tool can also help you if you are already working in Australia and want to see if you’re being remunerated at a similar level to others in your position. Who knows, you could negotiate a successful pay rise if you find you’re being underpaid compared to others with your skills and experience!
Robert Half Salary Calculator
Robert Half is another recruiter that has their own salary calculator tool – they have several versions for countries around the world so the first thing you need to do is check you’re on the right one!
The US version is easy to find but the Australian one less so. I did find it tucked away on their website on this page (please let me know if you can’t find it so I can update the link if needed in future!).
Once in, it shows a range of options for each job title depending on the level of skill required and job experience. It also gives you projected salaries for related positions.
Like Michael Page, they tend to focus on a few key areas – technology, business support, financial services, finance, and accounting. So, unless you’re in these fields, the calculator won’t be of much use to you.
Michael Page Salary Comparison Tool
Michael Page claims to have built the definitive Salary Comparison Tool that will allow you to see how your salary compares to industry standards as well as the average wage in Australia.
Simply enter your job title and the tool will show you exactly what a professional in a comparable role is earning.
It does seem to be a little limited to certain industries, as I tried to enter things like estimator and surveyor, and no job titles came up for those. They seem to focus on roles in marketing, HR, IT, accounting, business development, sales, software and production, so it may only be helpful for people researching jobs in these fields.
Glassdoor
Now this is one of the most frustrating tools to use if you just want to get a quick estimate of your potential salary, but could be worth looking into Glassdoor for extra verification from real humans of what they are being paid and what companies are actually like to work for.
Firstly, you can’t access any information without signing up. You have to provide your current employer’s name, your location, your name and your email. Once you’re in and have verified your account with a code, you can do a salary search, but are immediately shown a pop up you can’t close, asking you to share a company review or salary to ‘unlock access to millions of reviews, salaries and interview questions shared by other job seekers’.
It is understandable though – they are relying on real people to share real information to ensure it is both accurate and fair. It would be easy for people to make fake profiles and give fake information so I can see why they have so many hoops for new users to jump through to prove they are real and not being malicious when using the site.
I hope these salary calculators hope you work out much you might be able to earn in Australia, or help you ensure that you are being offered or paid a fair wage for your skills, experience and location.
Using my cost of living calculator will then be super helpful to ensure that your expected salary will cover your living expenses and hopefully your lifestyle needs too! Shop my full range of emigration tools here now.
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