Where is Middle Australia?

Another good one from Andrew Leigh.

As we draw near to budget time, there has been plenty of talk about what “middle Australia” will get. But where exactly is the middle? To provide a more precise sense, I’ve tabulated the pre-tax annual income distributions for individuals and households, in the 2008-09 tax year. My raw data is the 2006 HILDA survey, which was roughly coincident with the 2006-07 tax year.

Those numbers are then inflated by 8%, which is roughly what the budget papers suggest nominal wage growth has been over the past two years.

Households
1% $10,389
5% $18,036
10% $25,920
25% $46,252
50% $80,826
75% $122,040
90% $172,152
95% $217,555
99% $388,368
Mean: $95,542

Individuals
1% $0
5% $0
10% $0
25% $1,620
50% $19,440
75% $48,600
90% $75,686
95% $97,416
99% $175,532
Mean: $32,337

In other words, half the households in Australia have a pre-tax income of less than $80,826, while 35% of households and 5% of individuals have pre-tax incomes over $100,000.