Official inflation data + RBA forecast
A $60,000 salary in January 2021 needs to be ~$75,600 today to match the same real purchasing power. Most Australians have not seen their pay rise that much — see your exact gap.
ABS CPI history, RBA forecast through end-2028, and Stage 3 tax-cut overlay — instant, private, free.
Inflation doesn't stop at your pay — it also indexes your HECS debt and eats into what your savings are really worth.
How much your salary needs to have risen, by starting income — using national CPI compounded across the five financial years. The last column shows how much the July 2024 income tax cut adds back.
| Jan 2021 salary | Needed May 2026 | Worth in Jan 2021 dollars | Gap | Tax cut adds back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | $56,686 | $35,718 | −$11,686 | +$804 |
| $60,000 | $75,581 | $47,624 | −$15,581 | +$1,179 |
| $80,000 | $100,775 | $63,499 | −$20,775 | +$1,679 |
| $100,000 | $125,968 | $79,374 | −$25,968 | +$2,179 |
| $135,000 | $170,057 | $107,154 | −$35,057 | +$3,729 |
| $190,000 | $239,341 | $150,810 | −$49,341 | +$4,529 |
Calculated by compounding ABS All Groups CPI annual rates: 2021 (3.5%), 2022 (7.8%), 2023 (4.1%), 2024 (2.4%), 2025 (3.8%), 2026 (3.8%, year to June). The tax-cut figure uses the income tax brackets that took effect 1 July 2024. For Jan 2021 baselines, your real take-home gap is the cash gap MINUS the tax-cut restoration.
The math, plainly: for each year between your last pay rise and your comparison date, the calculator multiplies your salary by (1 + that year's CPI). Partial years use a daily fraction. The tax-cut figure is the difference between the income tax you would have paid under the pre-1-July-2024 brackets and the brackets that apply now at your current income — capped at the maximum legislated $4,529 per year for incomes above $190,000.
The calculator compounds Australia's annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate across each year between your last pay rise and your comparison date, using ABS All Groups CPI data (catalogue 6401.0) for historical periods and the RBA Statement on Monetary Policy forecast for future periods. The result is the salary you would need today to have the same real purchasing power as your original salary on the pay-rise date.
CPI (Consumer Price Index) measures changes in the prices of a basket of goods and services households consume — it tells you how much more expensive living got. WPI (Wage Price Index) measures changes in employer wage rates — it tells you how much more your peers got paid. When CPI rises faster than WPI, average real wages fall. From 2022 to 2024, Australian CPI rose by roughly 11.4% while WPI rose by 8.5% — a real-wage cut of roughly 2.9 percentage points for the average worker. Sources: ABS catalogue 6401.0 (CPI) and 6345.0 (WPI).
Partially. The Stage 3 tax cuts (in force since 1 July 2024) increased after-tax income by roughly $804 at $45k, $2,179 at $100k, and a capped maximum of $4,529 for incomes above $190k. For someone whose last pay rise was early 2021, inflation has eroded purchasing power by roughly 20-21% (ABS CPI index, 2021 to mid-2026), while Stage 3 has restored 2-4% depending on income. The Stage 3 saving helps, but for most workers below $150k it does not fully offset the cumulative CPI hit between 2021 and 2026. The calculator toggles the Stage 3 overlay automatically when your last pay rise date is before 1 July 2024.
The most recent CPI annual rate published by the ABS is 3.8% (year to June 2026, released 29 July 2026), down from 4.6% in the year to March 2026. Trimmed mean (underlying) inflation was 3.6%. This is above the RBA target band of 2-3% and reflects a rebound from the 2.1% trough in mid-2025. The RBA's February 2026 Statement on Monetary Policy forecasts CPI to remain near 4% through end-2026, falling to around 2.4% by end-2027 as restrictive monetary policy continues to take effect. At its 11 August 2026 meeting the Board held the cash rate at 4.35% and said inflation is not expected to return to around the midpoint of the 2-3% band until late 2027, with upside risks to that projection — adding that it would raise the cash rate further if those risks materialise. The forecast track used by this calculator remains consistent with that guidance. Always verify with the ABS direct release (abs.gov.au, catalogue 6401.0) for the latest quarter.
Three steps backed by data: (1) Calculate your inflation-adjusted salary above — that's the dollar figure you'd need to be at parity. (2) Pull the Fair Work annual wage review and your industry's WPI growth (ABS 6345.0 publishes by industry) as a comparative reference. (3) Frame the request as real-income restoration, not a "rise". Present the year-on-year CPI accumulation alongside any productivity contribution you've made. Velofy doesn't provide industrial-relations advice — for complex situations consult your union (if covered) or Fair Work Commission free resources at fairwork.gov.au.
Yes — and it's a common surprise for graduates crossing the repayment threshold for the first time. Under the marginal system, HECS repayment starts at 15c per $1 above the threshold ($69,528 for 2026–27 income; it was $67,000 for 2025–26 returns). A pay rise from $69k to $79k triggers a roughly $1,420 annual HECS repayment that wasn't there at the lower salary. The next band kicks in at $129,717 (17c per $1 above it), and above $186,050 you pay 10% of total income. Run the exact dollar impact at your post-rise income with the Velofy HECS repayment calculator — it shows annual repayment, monthly PAYG withholding, and payoff timeline at current 2.8% indexation.
The CPI gap is one input. The full picture also includes super contribution rate (Job A 12% SGC vs Job B 13% can be worth $30,000+ over a 30-year career), bonus reliability (a "$10k bonus" target with 60% historical hit rate is worth $6k, not $10k), salary packaging (FBT-exempt healthcare workers get up to $11,660 tax-free; PBI charity workers up to $18,550), and commute / leave / flexibility deltas. Velofy's Job Offer Comparison Calculator runs the full after-tax + super + bonus-weighted + packaging maths side-by-side and outputs the 30-year retirement-balance gap from the difference. Pair it with this CPI calculator to see whether either offer keeps up with inflation in real terms.
The Fair Work Commission's 2026 Annual Wage Review lifted the National Minimum Wage by 6% to $26.44 per hour ($1,004.90 for a 38-hour week), effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. Modern award minimum rates rose by a separate 4.75%, covering approximately 2.8 million award-reliant workers — about 21% of the workforce. With CPI at 3.8% for the year to June 2026, the award increase is a real-terms gain of roughly 0.95 percentage points. If your rise landed this July, enter it above to see the real-income result — and check what the higher salary does to your tax with the Velofy Tax Calculator.
Yes, and by a wider margin than earlier in the year. CPI eased to 3.8% for the year to June 2026 (ABS, released 29 July 2026), so a 4.75% award rise beats current inflation by about 0.95 percentage points — up from just 0.15 points when CPI was 4.6% in the year to March. But for workers whose last real pay rise was before 2022, cumulative inflation from early 2021 to mid-2026 is roughly 20-21% (ABS CPI index) — a single 4.75% increase leaves a substantial real-income shortfall against that baseline. Use the calculator above with your actual last pay-rise date to see your personal gap.