Australia vs Singapore: salary after tax and cost of living

Do you take home more in Australia or Singapore?

The same salary, shown in US dollars and converted to each country at market exchange rates, so take-home is compared on the same real money.

How much tax do you pay on $80,000 in Australia vs Singapore?

Is Singapore cheaper than Australia, and what is your pay really worth?

On World Bank price levels (United States = 100), Australia sits at 94.2 and Singapore at 76.6, so Singapore costs about 18.7% less to live in. Adjusted for those prices, a A$121,232 salary in Australia has the same buying power as about SGD 86,953 in Singapore. After both tax and cost of living, take-home on an $80,000 salary is worth more in Singapore.

Same 24% deduction, completely different make-up

An Australian resident earning A$121,232 pays A$27,158 in income tax plus the 2% Medicare levy of A$2,425, and keeps A$91,650. The tax comes from the 2025/26 resident scale: 16% from A$18,201, 30% on everything between A$45,000 and A$135,000, then 37% to A$190,000 and 45% above. At this income every extra dollar loses 32 cents once the levy is included, and the low income tax offset ran out long ago.

Singapore's SGD 106,896 gives up SGD 25,643, an almost identical 24.0%, but only SGD 6,443 of it is income tax. Resident rates start at 0% on the first SGD 20,000, sit at 7% between SGD 40,000 and SGD 80,000, and reach 11.5% on the slice up to SGD 120,000. The bigger line is employee CPF: 20% of ordinary wages up to SGD 8,000 a month, which caps the contribution at SGD 19,200 a year. At SGD 106,896 the cap is already binding. CPF lands in a retirement and housing account in your own name, so the amount you lose outright to the state is far smaller than the 24% headline implies. The figures model a citizen or permanent resident aged 55 or under; foreigners on work passes pay no CPF at all and keep correspondingly more.

Employer contributions are excluded on both sides. Australia's 12% superannuation guarantee and Singapore's 17% employer CPF are paid on top of salary rather than out of it.

The crossover between $60,000 and $80,000

Lower down the ladder Australia is the better keeper. On $40,000 an Australian takes home A$50,522 of A$60,616 (83.3%), helped by the A$18,200 tax-free threshold, while Singapore returns SGD 41,267 of SGD 53,448 (77.2%) because CPF starts from the first dollar. In US dollar terms that is $33,339 against $30,884. At $60,000 the margin narrows to 78.1% versus 75.8%.

The lines cross before $80,000. From there Singapore's capped CPF and gentle tax bands pull away: on $100,000 it keeps SGD 104,427 of SGD 133,620 (78.2%) against A$111,101 of A$151,540 (73.3%) in Australia. On $150,000 the gap becomes a chasm. Singapore hands back SGD 159,998 of SGD 200,430 (79.8%); Australia hands back A$154,336 of A$227,310 (67.9%), with the 37% band doing the damage. Converted to a common currency, $119,741 in Singapore versus $101,845 in Australia is a 17.6% difference from the same gross pay.

Real cost of living: Singapore wins, with a housing caveat

On the World Bank price level scale (United States = 100) Australia scores 94.2 and Singapore 76.6, so the Singapore basket costs 18.7% less. The PPP equivalent salary makes the point concrete: SGD 86,953 in Singapore buys what A$121,232 buys in Australia, and an Australian would need A$149,036 to match a Singapore salary of SGD 106,896.

Adjusting each take-home for local prices gives $79,385 of buying power in Singapore against $64,203 in Australia on the $80,000 benchmark, roughly 24% more. Even at $40,000, where Australia's take-home is 7.9% higher in cash, that lead is smaller than the 18.7% price gap.

One caution. The price level describes the whole economy. Rent on a central Singapore condominium and the cost of owning a car under the certificate of entitlement system run far above the national average, and Australia's figure blends Sydney with much cheaper regional cities. A household renting centrally in Singapore and running a car should treat the 24% figure as the upper end of the advantage rather than the expected one.

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