Average Net Worth by Age in Australia: Median, Top 10% and Couples
"Am I behind?" is one of the most common questions people ask about money, and net worth benchmarks are how most of us try to answer it. So here is what the typical Australian household is actually worth, by age and by household type, according to the most recent official figures, along with the context that makes those numbers useful rather than anxiety-inducing.
Want a benchmark for people who actively invest, measured this month rather than in the last survey? See our own data in what Australian investors actually own by age.
The short answer: the average Australian household has a net worth of about $1.04 million, while the median, a far better guide to a typical household, is about $579,000 (ABS, 2019–20). By age, average household net worth climbs from about $242,000 at 25–29 to a peak of about $1.84 million at 65–69. A typical couple with children under 45 holds about $475,000; a typical lone person the same age about $133,000. The top 10% of households starts at about $2.26 million. Every table is below, and you can put your own number against them with the net worth calculator.
Average vs median: read this first
Two numbers describe "the typical household," and they tell very different stories.
- The average (mean) adds everyone's wealth and divides by the number of households. A handful of very wealthy households drags it upward.
- The median is the household exactly in the middle: half are above, half below. It's a far better picture of a typical family.
In its most recent published survey (2019–20), the Australian Bureau of Statistics put average household net worth at about $1.04 million, but the median at about $579,000. That roughly $460,000 gap is the clearest possible illustration of how concentrated wealth is: the average describes a household that doesn't really exist in the middle of the pack.
When you compare yourself to a benchmark, compare to the median.
What is the average net worth by age in Australia?
Average household net worth in Australia ranges from about $242,000 for households aged 25–29 to about $1.84 million at the 65–69 peak, according to the ABS Survey of Income and Housing (2019–20). The figures below are average (mean) household net worth by the age of the main income earner.
| Age of household | Average net worth |
|---|---|
| 25–29 | $242,000 |
| 30–34 | $441,000 |
| 35–39 | $555,000 |
| 40–44 | $841,000 |
| 45–49 | $1,055,000 |
| 50–54 | $1,212,000 |
| 55–59 | $1,453,000 |
| 60–64 | $1,601,000 |
| 65–69 | $1,835,000 |
| 70–74 | $1,509,000 |
| 75+ | $1,167,000 |
Wondering where your own number lands? The net worth calculator places it against Australian households from a few rough totals, in under a minute, no account needed.
The shape is the real lesson here. Wealth builds slowly through your 20s and 30s, accelerates through your 40s and 50s as mortgages get paid down and super compounds, peaks around 65–69, and then gently declines as retirees draw on what they've built. The steep climb between 35 and 55 is mostly two forces working together: home equity and superannuation.
Remember these are averages. The median household at every age holds meaningfully less, which is why the next section matters more than this one.
What does a typical household your age actually hold?
The ABS does not publish a plain median-by-age table, but it does publish medians by household type and age, which is a fairer mirror anyway: a couple with two kids and a single renter the same age are not living the same financial life. These are the medians, so half of each group holds more and half holds less.
| Household | Under 45 | 45–64 | 65 and over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Couple with children | $475,000 | $1,141,000 (45 and over) | — |
| Couple, no children at home | $226,000 | $1,112,000 | $1,067,000 |
| Lone person | $133,000 (under 25: $30,000) | $456,000 | $560,000 |
| Single parent | $62,000 | $363,000 (45 and over) | — |
The ABS publishes one figure for couples with children and single parents aged 45 and over, hence the blank cells. Two things jump out. The gap between a couple and a lone person is enormous at every age, which is mostly two incomes buying one home. And the jump from under-45 to 45–64 is the biggest move on the table: it is the years when the mortgage shrinks fastest and super has had two decades to compound.
What is a good net worth at 30 in Australia?
The average household aged 30–34 holds about $441,000; a typical lone person under 45 holds about $133,000 and a typical couple without children about $226,000.
At 30 the number itself matters less than almost any other age. Most of your lifetime wealth has not been built yet, and the decisions that build it (whether you buy, how much goes into super, whether your surplus is invested or spent) are all still ahead of you. If you own a home with a large mortgage, your net worth can look thin while your position is actually strong. The average super balance at 30 is about $52,700, which tells you how early in the compounding curve this really is.
What is a good net worth at 40?
The average household aged 40–44 holds about $841,000; a typical couple with children under 45 about $475,000, and a typical single parent about $62,000.
Forty is where the averages start to run away from the medians, because it is the age at which the households who bought property a decade earlier and the households who did not begin to diverge sharply. It is also the last decade in which small, boring changes (an extra 2% into super, an investment plan that actually runs) still have twenty-five years to work.
What is a good net worth at 50?
The average household aged 50–54 holds about $1.21 million; a typical couple with children aged 45 and over about $1.14 million, and a typical lone person about $456,000.
This is the age where the composition of your wealth starts to matter more than the total. Two households with $1.2 million can be in completely different positions: one with the whole figure in the family home and a mortgage nearly gone, another with $500,000 in accessible investments and a bigger loan. The first has a comfortable home. The second has options. Net worth vs usable equity works through that difference.
What is a good net worth at 60?
The average household aged 60–64 holds about $1.60 million; a typical couple aged 45–64 about $1.11 million, and a typical lone person about $456,000.
By 60 the question has changed from "how much do I have?" to "how long will it last, and when can I stop?". That depends on your spending, whether you own your home outright, how much is in super versus outside it, and how much Age Pension you will receive. The FIRE number guide works through the target itself, and how much you need to retire in Australia covers the retirement side.
What net worth puts you in the top 10% in Australia?
The ABS also publishes where each band of the population starts. This is the table people are usually looking for when they search "average net worth", because it answers the real question: where would I sit?
| Band | Household net worth starts at |
|---|---|
| Top 10% | $2,257,700 |
| Top 20% | $1,447,800 |
| Top 30% | $1,052,400 |
| Top 40% | $789,100 |
| Top 50% (the median) | $579,200 |
| Top 60% | $411,500 |
| Top 70% | $248,300 |
| Top 80% | $113,400 |
| Top 90% | $36,900 |
About 2% of Australian households have a net worth below zero. From the survey's wealth-range histogram, the top 5% starts at roughly $3.5 million and the top 1% at roughly $10 million, though those upper figures are less precise than the ones in the table.
To place your own household on this curve without doing the maths, the net worth calculator takes rough totals for what you own and owe and gives you the band, the typical household like yours, and the average for your age, on exactly these figures.
A few honest caveats
- 2019–20 is the most recent official release. The ABS ran a 2023–24 survey but decided not to publish it, as the data didn't meet its quality standards. So these remain the latest authoritative by-age figures.
- Wealth has grown since. Broader ABS measures put average household wealth at roughly $1.6 million in 2025, driven largely by rising house prices; housing makes up close to 70% of household assets nationally. The age pattern and the shape of the distribution still hold; the dollar levels are higher today, so your own standing is probably a little lower than these tables suggest.
- These are household figures. If you are half of a couple, compare your combined position, not your own share.
- The family home is in every number. The ABS counts it, net of the mortgage. That is the right basis for a comparison, and the wrong basis for deciding what you can spend.
What to actually do with a benchmark
A benchmark is a mirror, not a scoreboard. It's useful for one thing: noticing whether your trajectory is heading where you want it to. Two households with identical net worth can be in completely different positions: one with most of it locked in the family home, another with accessible investments and growing super.
That's why the number that matters most isn't where you sit today, it's the direction and composition of your wealth: what you own, what you owe, what's actually accessible, and whether the trend line points toward the future you want. (We dig into the "accessible" part in Net worth vs usable equity, into the cash slice of the picture in Average savings by age in Australia, and into setting a target in How to calculate your FIRE number.)
New to this? How to track your net worth in Australia is the step-by-step version. That's what a net worth tracker is for: property, super, shares, cash and every debt in one place, so the number you compare against these tables is your real one, kept current rather than guessed at once a year.
Benchmarks tell you where the middle of the pack sits. Your own trend line tells you whether you're moving, and that's the one you can change.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Household Income and Wealth, Australia, 2019–20: Table 1b (median and mean household net worth), Table 2.1 and 2.3 (net worth at the top of selected percentiles and the wealth-range distribution), Table 4.4 (median net worth by household type and age of reference person), and mean net worth by age of reference person. ABS national balance sheet measures, 2025. All figures are household net worth in 2019–20 dollars. General information only, not financial advice.
Where do you sit?
Enter rough totals for what you own and owe, and Compound shows your estimated net worth and roughly where it lands among Australian households, on the same ABS survey these figures come from. About two minutes of questions.
See where you stand →