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Sydney
$77,480
A$100k · rank #5 · 22.5%
- Income tax
- $20,520
- Medicare levy
- $2,000
- COL index
- 145
🇦🇺🇦🇺2026–27
Sydney vs Melbourne Take-Home
At $100,000 resident PAYG (2026–27), Sydney and Melbourne model the same take-home ($77,480) — federal income tax + Medicare levy only. COL indexes 145 vs 125: Melbourne wins on cost of living / purchasing power. Australian metros do not add a state or city wage tax.
By Sammy S. · Founder · AuthorUpdated for 2026
Purchasing-power winner
Same take-home — Melbourne wins on cost of living
Both model about $77,480 at A$100k (federal PAYG). Melbourne has the lower COL index (125 vs 145).
Same federal stack — COL indexes (145 vs 125) drive purchasing power when take-home ties.
Side-by-side scoreboard
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Melbourne
$77,480
A$100k · rank #4 · 22.5%
- Income tax
- $20,520
- Medicare levy
- $2,000
- COL index
- 125
Key takeaways
- At $100,000 resident PAYG (2026–27), Sydney and Melbourne model the same take-home ($77,480) — federal income tax + Medicare levy only. COL indexes 145 vs 125: Melbourne wins on cost of living / purchasing power. Australian metros do not add a state or city wage tax.
- Sydney and Melbourne share the federal ATO PAYG stack — expect matching take-home and different COL.
- Income tax ≈ $20,520; Medicare levy ≈ $2,000 on both sides.
- Ranks: Sydney #5 · Melbourne #4 among 5 metros (take-home DESC, then COL ASC).
- Personalize HELP, MLS, and residency in the Australia paycheck calculator.
How to read Sydney vs Melbourne
Both columns use the same $100,000 resident PAYG vignette for 2026–27: federal income tax + Medicare levy (private hospital cover → MLS 0; no HELP).
Sydney and Melbourne model identical take-home because Australian personal income tax is federal only — no state or city wage levy. Melbourne wins on cost of living (COL 125).
COL indexes (145 vs 125) are the practical differentiator for purchasing power when take-home ties.
What drives Australian metro paycheck gaps
Residents use ATO federal income-tax brackets (Stage 3) plus the Medicare levy. States and cities do not add a personal wage income tax on this model.
Sydney models about $20,520 income tax and $2,000 Medicare levy — identical to Melbourne.
Medicare levy matches on both sides — any ranking difference is COL, not tax.
All five metros on this hub should match take-home at every ladder rung; corridors are COL stories, not tax-nation stories.
Why the income ladder matters
At A$50k the modeled cash gap between these metros is $0; at A$200k it is $0 — both should be zero on this federal-only model.
Use the ladder to confirm identical take-home at every band before treating COL as the only relocator lever.
Open the Australia paycheck calculator to personalize HELP, MLS, residency, and super.
Cost of living vs take-home
Sydney COL index 145 · COL-adjusted proxy $53,434. Melbourne COL index 125 · proxy $61,984.
COL-adjusted take-home is a purchasing-power hint from relocation indexes — not ATO withholding and not a substitute for rent quotes or a budget.
When cash take-home ties, Melbourne is the purchasing-power winner on this hub.
How these figures were validated
Headline locks: Sydney take-home $77,480 (IT $20,520 + Medicare $2,000); Melbourne matches.
Bands match ATO resident rates and Medicare levy for 2026–27. Standard vignette: resident, private hospital cover, no HELP.
Engine review 2026-08-15. Educational vignettes — not advice.
Limitations of this compare
Resident PAYG, standard LITO, private hospital cover, no HELP / MLS / salary sacrifice.
State stamp duty, land tax, and housing costs are outside the PAYG vignette.
Tax stack layers
Income tax
ATO federal resident brackets (Stage 3). Modeled: Sydney $20,520 · Melbourne $20,520.
Medicare levy
Federal 2% levy (MLS 0 with private hospital cover on this vignette). Modeled: Sydney $2,000 · Melbourne $2,000.
State / city wage tax
Not modeled — Australian personal income tax is federal only; states and cities do not levy wage PIT like some US cities.
COL ranking context
Sydney COL 145 (rank #5) · Melbourne COL 125 (rank #4). Ranking uses take-home first, COL ASC as tiebreak. Purchasing-power winner: Melbourne.
Worked paycheck examples
A$100k resident PAYG — all metros
- Tax-free threshold $18,200; Stage 3 brackets + LITO apply.
- Income tax ≈ $20,520; Medicare levy ≈ $2,000 (2%, MLS 0 with PHI).
- Take-home ≈ $77,480 — identical in Sydney through Adelaide.
$77,480 take-home
Matches our Australia tax-insights engine and ATO 2026–27 resident rates.
A$40k resident hand-check
- Lower band with LITO — income tax and Medicare levy both smaller than the A$100k vignette.
- Income tax ≈ $2,695; Medicare ≈ $800.
- Take-home ≈ $36,505.
$36,505 take-home
Lower-income vignette — validates threshold + Medicare shading path in the engine.
Validation notes
- A$100k take-home locks to $77,480 (income tax $20,520 + Medicare $2,000).
- All five metros share identical take-home, income tax, and Medicare levy on every ladder rung.
- COL indexes locked from AUSTRALIA_CITIES: Sydney 145, Melbourne 125, Brisbane 110, Perth 112, Adelaide 98.
- Official bands from ATO resident rates and Medicare levy (2026–27).
- Sydney vs Melbourne: tax tie — Melbourne wins on COL at A$100k; ladder gaps A$50k $0 · A$200k $0.
Income ladder comparison
Same gross bands, resident PAYG — cash gaps stay zero on this federal-only model; COL still differs.
| Gross | Sydney | Melbourne | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $43,730 | $43,730 | $0 |
| $75,000 | $60,480 | $60,480 | $0 |
| $100,000 | $77,480 | $77,480 | $0 |
| $150,000 | $110,430 | $110,430 | $0 |
| $200,000 | $140,130 | $140,130 | $0 |
Decision guides
Interstate move (same tax)
Focus on rent, commute, and COL (145 vs 125) — income tax will not move the needle between Sydney and Melbourne on this model.
Job offer negotiation
Ask about HELP debt, salary sacrifice, and private hospital cover — those change take-home more than the city name on the offer letter.
High COL destination
If relocating to the higher-COL metro (Sydney), stress-test rent against take-home — a tax tie does not automatically fund housing.
What this compare excludes
- HELP / HECS / VET study-loan repayments
- Medicare Levy Surcharge (no private hospital cover)
- Concessional super / salary sacrifice
- Fringe benefits / company car / equity
- Foreign-resident or working-holiday brackets
- Non-PAYG income (dividends, capital gains, sole trader)
Myths vs reality
"Sydney has a city income tax like New York."
Sydney does not add a municipal or state wage tax on this model. Same for Melbourne — both use federal ATO PAYG + Medicare.
"Moving from Sydney to Melbourne changes my income tax."
Both use the same federal stack — modeled take-home matches. Housing and COL (145 vs 125) change; the PAYG calculation does not.
"Sydney taxes more than Adelaide."
Cash take-home ties at $77,480 on A$100k. Adelaide ranks higher only because COL 98 is lower than Sydney 145 — not a different tax schedule.
"COL-adjusted take-home is my real paycheck."
It is a purchasing-power proxy only. The ATO cares about taxable income and offsets — not our relocation COL index.
"Medicare levy is higher in Sydney."
Not on this resident model — both sides show $2,000 Medicare levy at A$100k (2% with PHI → MLS 0).
How to use this comparison
Step 1
Read the scoreboard
Compare take-home, effective levy, and the income-tax / Medicare split for both metros.
Step 2
Scan the income ladder
Confirm take-home still matches at A$50k, A$150k, and A$200k.
Step 3
Check COL when take-home ties
Expect a tax tie — Melbourne wins on cost of living (lower COL index).
Step 4
Personalize
Run custom gross, HELP, MLS, and residency in the Australia paycheck calculator.
Compare another pair
Compare any two metros
Take-home on $100,000 resident PAYG — federal tax only; COL decides ranking when take-home ties.
Related tools
Sydney vs Melbourne FAQs
They tie at about $77,480 — same federal PAYG stack. Melbourne ranks higher on COL (index 125).
No. Australian personal income tax is federal only. States and cities do not levy a separate wage income tax on this model — take-home ties at equal gross; COL drives ranking.
COL indexes here are 145 (Sydney) vs 125 (Melbourne). When take-home ties, Melbourne wins on purchasing power. COL is not subtracted from take-home — use it alongside rent quotes.
Resident PAYG, $100,000 gross, 2026–27 — income tax + Medicare levy. Private hospital cover assumed (MLS 0). No HELP/HECS repayment.
Income tax ≈ $20,520 in both; Medicare levy ≈ $2,000 in both — the federal stack is identical.
Cash take-home stays identical across metros at every ladder rung on this federal-only model. Ranking order can only change if COL indexes change — not from state wage tax.
HELP/HECS repayment, Medicare Levy Surcharge (no PHI), concessional super / salary sacrifice, fringe benefits, and non-PAYG income. Not tax advice.
Glossary
- Take-home
- Gross salary minus federal income tax and Medicare levy (no HELP / MLS / super sacrifice on this vignette).
- PAYG
- Pay As You Go — Australian employer tax withholding for income tax and Medicare levy.
- Tax-free threshold
- $18,200 resident threshold for 2026–27 (ATO Stage 3 brackets).
- COL index
- Relative cost-of-living index from our relocation / move-out data (AUSTRALIA_CITIES). Not a tax rate.
- COL-adjusted take-home
- takeHome × (100 ÷ colIndex) — purchasing-power proxy only, not an ATO figure.
- Federal-only PIT
- Australian personal income tax is levied by the Commonwealth — states and cities do not add wage income tax on this hub.
- Medicare levy
- Federal 2% levy on taxable income (with low-income shading). MLS is separate and is 0 on this private-hospital-cover vignette.
- Effective levy
- (Income tax + Medicare levy) ÷ gross on the vignette.
- COL tiebreak
- Same modeled take-home for all metros — ranking then uses COL ASC (cheaper COL = higher rank), then population rank.