The latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (Hilda) Survey released on Thursday provides vital details on the lives of Australians. It also helps answer the question of how much you need to earn to be a middle-income Australian.

The Hilda survey by the Melbourne Institute is a longitudinal study that follows the same group of about 17,000 people to get a sense of how Australia is changing across a range of economic and social measures.

For example, the latest survey, which covers 2024, found there has been a slight decrease in the share of Australian households made up of couples with either dependent or adult children, but an increase (from 20.4% to 22.1%) of couples without children:

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The survey also found households now spend more on childcare than they did in 2002 – but the costs have stabilised over the past decade.

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The report also reveals that wages have become more equal, which has helped counter the increased inequality of non-wage income (such as investments):

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This poses the question of how we measure income and what is the “middle”, as opposed to the “average”, income of Australian households.

This is a tricky, but important subject.

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