Plumber salary in Australia
Plumber earnings move with licensing and endorsements, the type of work, call-outs and overtime, and whether the job is residential maintenance or a major commercial or civil project.
38,027 people reported under the ATO occupation “Plumber (general)” for 2023-24. The published median salary or wage income was $89,052.
What this page measures
The observed median uses the specific ATO occupation 334116, Plumber (general). State, full-time and trend comparisons use the broader Plumber unit group, which also covers gasfitters, drainers, roof plumbers, mechanical services plumbers and fire protection plumbers. Because the source measures salary or wage income, self-employed plumbers reporting business income rather than wages are largely outside this population.
The ATO count includes everyone who reported this classification. Its public table does not publish the exact non-zero-income population used to calculate the median.
Related titles and specialisations
- Plumber (general)
- Gasfitter
- Drainer
- Roof plumber
- Mechanical services plumber
- Fire protection plumber
A modelled pay guide
- Lower guide
- $59,900
- Modelled low
- $70,300
- ATO median
- $89,052
- Modelled high
- $121,000
Only the median is a published statistic for this occupation. The lower and upper markers are a guide created by applying earnings-distribution ratios for technicians and trades workers as a whole to that median. The upper guide is $162,800. These are not observed percentiles for this occupation.
Why individual salaries vary
- Licence class and endorsements such as gasfitting or backflow
- Call-outs, overtime, on-call rosters and site allowances
- Residential maintenance, commercial fit-out, civil or resources work
- Employee, subcontractor or self-employed arrangement
What full-time work pays
The tax-return median above can include part-year and part-time workers with non-zero salary or wage income. The ABS full-time benchmark is published for the broader occupation group “Plumber”. It covers full-time, non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate and puts them at $1,990 a week, or about $103,500 a year (May 2025), over roughly 44 hours. 7% of workers in the published “Plumber” occupation group work part-time.
Modelled plumber pay by state
These guides apply each published state-to-national ratio for the Plumber group to the observed national median above. They are not observed state medians for the specific plumber occupation.
| State | State-adjusted guide | vs national |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | $82,800 | −7% |
| Victoria | $92,400 | +4% |
| Queensland | $90,300 | +1% |
| Western Australia | $100,800 | +13% |
| South Australia | $82,400 | −7% |
| Tasmania | $83,400 | −6% |
| Australian Capital Territory | $91,200 | +2% |
| Northern Territory | $100,100 | +12% |
How the broader pay measure has moved
Average salary income for the “Plumber” occupation group went from $54,382 in 2010-11 to $86,502 in 2023-24 - 3.6% a year over 13 years. That is an average rather than a median, and it moves with hours worked and who is in the occupation as well as with pay.
Other occupation guides
Explore other salary guides built from the same ATO and ABS sources.
Turn the benchmark into a decision
Estimate take-home pay from the observed median, or compare a live job advertisement with the broader occupation evidence before applying.
To search another title or change the state, return to the Australian Salary Search.
Sources: ATO Table 15, ATO Table 14B, ABS Employee Earnings and Hours and Jobs and Skills Australia occupation data. Data retrieved 17 August 2026. Page reviewed . Full method on the methodology page.
Explore our other free tools
Australian Pay Calculator
Estimate your take-home pay after income tax and Medicare levy
Try itJob Ad Analyser
Discover salary ranges for SEEK job listings
Try itATS Resume Checker
Check whether your resume survives applicant tracking systems
Try itIncome Percentile Calculator
See where your income ranks among all Australian taxpayers
Try itHECS Payoff Calculator
Estimate when your HECS/HELP debt will be paid off
Try it