Salary percentile calculator: where your pay sits in New Zealand
Half of the 2,840,300 people paid wages or a salary in New Zealand in the year to 31 March 2026 earned less than $61,958, by Inland Revenue's count. Put in your pay a year, a week or an hour: the calculator shows the share of earners you are ahead of, your decile and what the next one would take.
Worked out for the example. Change the boxes to make it yours.
| Your pay a year, before tax | $75,000 |
|---|---|
| Where it sits | Decile 7 of 10 |
| Median: half earn less | $61,958 |
| Your pay against the median | +$13,042 (21.0% more) |
| Decile 8 starts above | $85,546: $10,546 more |
| 10 points higher would take | $88,610 a year: $13,610 more |
| The top 10% starts above | $134,568 |
| The top 1% starts above | $289,186 |
| Stats NZ median a week, June 2026 quarter | $1,419 (yours: $1,442) |
- Inland Revenue counts everyone who was paid any wages or salary in the year to 31 March 2026, including part-time and part-year workers and children with a holiday job, so a full-time salary sits higher here than among full-time workers alone.
- Before tax. The table has no breakdown by age, sex, region or job, so this compares you with every wage and salary earner.
- Pay has moved since March 2026: Stats NZ's median hourly earnings rose 2.7% in the year to the June 2026 quarter.
Your Career, on the Career and Timesheets plan. Your account adds this pay to Pay in Your Career, after asking, where your pay is tracked over time and against prices.
Where the figures come from
Inland Revenue publishes the number of people with wage and salary income in each income band every year, from the PAYE information employers file. It is a count of everyone, not a survey: 2,840,300 people in the year to 31 March 2026, in bands $1,000 wide up to $200,000 and wider above that. It covers pay from any employer that went through PAYE, including paid parental leave and shares received as pay. It leaves out New Zealand Superannuation, benefits, student allowances, ACC weekly compensation, self-employed income and shareholder-employee salaries. The latest tables used data extracted on 17 August 2026.
How the percentile is worked out
The calculator adds up everyone in the bands below your pay, plus an even share of the people in your own band, and divides by the total. Worked this way, the table gives back Inland Revenue's own published decile boundaries to within two hundredths of a point, and those boundaries are shown exactly as Inland Revenue publishes them. A weekly figure is counted for 52 weeks, and an hourly rate for your hours over 52 weeks. Everything is before tax; the New Zealand pay figures page shows the same distribution with take-home pay beside it.
Why the median looks low
Inland Revenue counts anyone paid any wages or salary during the year: people working part-time, people who started or left a job partway through, students with a summer job and children with a few hours of work. All of them pull the middle down, so a full-time salary sits higher here than it would among full-time workers alone. Stats NZ measures pay a different way, from what employees usually earn in a week: its median weekly earnings from wages and salaries were $1,419 in the June 2026 quarter (released 26 August 2026). Neither source breaks the figures down by job, so to see whether your pay is right for your role, read how to check your pay against the market.
Edge cases
The table is for a past year, and pay has moved since: Stats NZ's median hourly earnings rose 2.7% in the year to the June 2026 quarter. Above $300,000 the bands are $50,000 wide, so the share there is less precise, and over $1 million there is one band of 980 people. Inland Revenue's table has no breakdown by age, sex or region, so this compares you with every wage and salary earner in the country. To see whether your own pay has kept up with prices, the pay and inflation calculator works it out.
Questions
What is the median salary in NZ?
Half of the people paid wages or a salary in the year to 31 March 2026 earned less than $61,958, by Inland Revenue's count. Stats NZ's survey measure, median weekly earnings from wages and salaries, was $1,419 in the June 2026 quarter.
What salary puts me in the top 10% in New Zealand?
More than $134,568 in the year to 31 March 2026, and more than $289,186 for the top 1%, by Inland Revenue's figures for everyone paid wages or a salary.
Is $100,000 a good salary in NZ?
On Inland Revenue's figures for the year to 31 March 2026, $100,000 is more than about 78% of people paid wages or a salary earned. Whether it is good for your job depends on the role, your experience and where you work.
Why is the median salary lower than I expected?
Inland Revenue counts everyone paid any wages in the year, including part-time workers, people who worked only part of the year and students. Their lower annual pay pulls the middle down.
What happens when I save this?
Your account adds the pay to Pay in Your Career, after asking, on your current job, where your pay is tracked over time and against prices. Your Career is part of the Career and Timesheets plan.
Sources
- Inland Revenue: wage and salary distributions for individuals.
- Inland Revenue: wage and salary statistics datasets (the spreadsheet).
- Stats NZ: Labour market statistics (income), June 2026 quarter.
More free tools: see all the calculators.