Income and finance of First Nations people

Web article

Release Date: 16 Oct 2025

Section: First Nations people

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2025) Income and finance of First Nations people, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 5 June 2026.

Higher household income and lower financial constraints have well-established associations with:

lower risk of disease
better mental health
longer life expectancy
lower infant mortality
reduced stress in meeting basic living costs
greater choices and increased access to quality food, housing, physical activity, social participation, healthcare, and
greater ability to maintain a sense of control or security in lives (Braveman et al. 2011; Finkelstein et al. 2022; Kiely et al. 2015; Mackenbach 2015, 2020; Marmot 2002; Marmot and Wilkinson 2001; Subramanian et al. 2002; Wilson et al. 2019).

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2021–2031 also recognises that addressing inequities in income and other social determinants of health is key to achieving health equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people.

This page presents information on the income of First Nations households and people and examines changes between 2016 and 2021. It also presents statistics on income support payments received by First Nations people, and on experiences of financial stress among First Nations households.

Employment is usually the main source of household and personal income. For more information, see Employment of First Nations people.

Income

This page reports on both the household and personal weekly incomes for First Nations people, primarily using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census of Population and Housing (the Census) 2016 and 2021 (ABS 2016, 2019, 2021a, 2023).

About Census income data Expand

The Census computes total weekly household income as the sum of total personal weekly income of each resident aged 15 or over who was present in the household on Census night (ABS 2019, 2023). Household income is measured as equivalised gross weekly household income – income adjusted for differences in household size and composition. Equivalised gross household income is an indicator of the economic resources available to a standardised household (ABS 2021d, 2021e).

The Census also reports data on weekly personal income (including from wages and salaries, pensions, allowances, interest, and dividends) of all individuals aged 15 years and over based on their usual place of residence, and this data can be used to compute the median weekly personal income of all First Nations people.

Median income is the income level that separates a population into 2 equal halves: one half with incomes more than the median, and the other half with incomes less than the median. The Census collects weekly personal income in ranges (and not specific amounts), but the ABS derives medians using additional information from the Survey of Income and Housing.

For comparisons of median income across years, incomes are inflation adjusted using ABS Consumer Price Index data for June 2016 and June 2021 (ABS 2022). The incomes are presented in 2021 dollars equivalents. When income quintiles and ranges are presented, these are based on income as at the time of specified Census (2016 or 2021), unadjusted for inflation.

Household income

In 2021, for First Nations households:

median weekly equivalised household income was $830
across states and territories, the median weekly equivalised household income was highest in the Australian Capital Territory ($1,379) and lowest in the Northern Territory ($578)
27% had an equivalised household income of under $500 per week, 32% between $500 and $999 per week, and 41% with an income of $1,000 or more
income was lower in remote than non-remote areas. For example, in remote areas, nearly half (46%) had an equivalised household income of under $500 per week, compared with about one-quarter (26%) of households in non-remote areas. About 28% of households in remote areas had an income of $1,000 or more, compared with 42% in non-remote areas (Figure 1, ABS 2016, 2021a).

Between 2016 and 2021, based on inflation-adjusted weekly household equivalised incomes, for First Nations households:

median household income increased in all states and territories
nationally, median household income grew by 18%, from $701 to $830 per week (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Household income for First Nations households by state and territory, and remoteness

Personal income

In 2021, among First Nations people aged 15 and over:

27% had a gross weekly personal income of under $300 per week, 21% between $300 and $499, 25% between $500 and $999, and 28% of $1,000 or more.
The proportion with a gross weekly personal income of $1,000 or more in 2021 was lower for females (23%) than males (32%), and lower in remote than non-remote areas (17% compared with 30%).
The median gross personal income was $540 per week in 2021, an increase from $482 per week in 2016 (expressed in 2021 dollars) (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Personal income for First Nations people aged 15 and over by sex, and remoteness, 2021

About Government income support payments data Expand

On this page, the information on income support payments is sourced from the DSS Income Support Recipient - Monthly Time Series April 2025 (DSS 2025).

‘Recipients of income support payments’ refers to those who had received any of the income support payment type/s: Age Pension, ABSTUDY (Living Allowance), Austudy, Youth Allowance (student and apprentice), Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment, Newstart Allowance (closed 20 March 2020) or JobSeeker Payment (from 20 March 2020), Youth Allowance (other), Parenting Payment Partnered, Parenting Payment Single, and Special Benefit (that is, for those in severe financial hardship due to circumstances beyond their control and are ineligible for any other income support payment) (DSS 2025).

On this page, counts of income support recipients includes people of all ages, but excludes income support payments that have been closed and discontinued, for example, Bereavement Allowance, Partner and Widow Allowance (which closed in January 2022). Therefore, the number of income support recipients presented on this page might differ to that published elsewhere.

For more information about income support payments, see Income support payments for the working age population and Income support for older Australians.

Indigenous status identification

Indigenous status identification in Services Australia (Centrelink) is voluntary and self-identified. This may influence the quality and completeness of the data and subsequent reporting on the number and proportion of First Nations people receiving income support payments, especially among older First Nations people.

As at 28 March 2025, a total of 341,270 First Nations people received income support payments, equating to an estimated 49% of the total population of First Nations people aged 16 years and over (Table 1). The JobSeeker Payment was the most common income support payment for First Nations people, with 115,655 recipients, followed by the Disability Support Pension (69,505 recipients), and the Parenting Payment Single (57,100).

**Table 1: First Nations recipients of income support payments, March 2025**
Payment Type	Number	Proportion of population aged 16 and over^(a)(b)
JobSeeker Payment	115,655	16.5
Disability Support Pension	69,505	9.9
Parenting Payment Single	57,100	8.2
Age Pension	30,575	4.4^(c)
Youth Allowance (other)	29,280	4.2^(d)
Carer Payment	23,165	3.3
ABSTUDY (Living Allowance)	7,170	1.0
Parenting Payment Partnered	6,185	0.9
Youth Allowance (student and apprentice)	2,285	0.3^(e)
All payment types	341,270	48.7

(a) The total Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population aged 16 and over has been used as the denominator (using population estimates published in ABS 2024a, 2024b, 2024d). Note that the eligible age group varies by payment type.

(b) The numerator for the percentages includes recipients of all ages, including those under 16, as data disaggregated by both Indigenous status and age were not publicly available. Nationally, there were 1,610 Australians aged under 16 who were receiving income support in March 2025 – data supplied by DSS shows that 48% of these recipients were First Nations people. Given these relatively small numbers, the inclusion of people aged under 16 in the numerator is expected to make minimal difference to the proportions shown here.

(c) When calculated as a proportion of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population aged 65 and over (rather than 16 and over), this proportion is 46.6%.

(d) When calculated as a proportion of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population aged 16 to 21 (rather than 16 and over), this proportion is 23.4%.

(e) When calculated as a proportion of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population aged 16 to 24, this proportion is 1.3%.

Sources: AIHW analysis of DSS 2025 and ABS 2024a, 2024b, 2024d.

The number of First Nations people receiving income support payments increased from 235,335 in June 2016 to 341,270 in March 2025 (Figure 3). The proportion of First Nations people aged 16 and over receiving a payment decreased from 42% in June 2016 to 41% in December 2019, and then increased to 49% in June 2020, primarily due to increases in the number of recipients during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (AIHW 2023). The proportion between June 2020 and March 2025 remained above pre-pandemic levels.

Figure 3: First Nations recipients of income support payments by payment type, June 2016 to March 2025

Financial stress

The higher the level of financial stress on a household, the lower its ability to cope when faced with unexpected shocks that lead to a fall in income or rise in expenditure. Financial stress is a complex subject that affects households differently. This section presents information on 3 indicators of financial stress: food security, housing costs, and cash flow.

Food security

In the 2022–23 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS), households were classified as food secure or food insecure based on whether one or more members of the household had enough food, or money to buy food, needed for an active, healthy life at all times in the 12 months preceding the survey (ABS 2024c).

Measuring food security Expand

Food security status was assessed through the Adult Food Security Survey Module, which consists of a set of 10 questions developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The food security status assigned to a household may not reflect the experience of each individual within the household. The specific experiences of children in the household do not form part of this measure. This is the first time questions about food security have been included in the NATSIHS, so no time trend information is available. For more information see the Assessing health risk factors section in NATSIHS Methodology (ABS 2024c).

In this analysis, the proportions are based on the denominators that include households for which food security status is unknown (3,000 households, 0.6%). Also, note that numbers and proportions are randomly adjusted by the ABS to avoid the release of confidential data, and so components may not sum to totals (ABS 2024c).

In 2022–23, based on NATSIHS data:

41% (198,800 of 479,900) of First Nations households experienced food insecurity due to not having enough money for groceries in the previous 12 months
the households in the lowest income quintile were around 8 times as likely to experience food insecurity (66% or 64,800 of 98,600 households) as those in the highest income quintile (8.4% or 4,000 of 47,400 households) (based on weekly household equivalised income quintiles)
First Nations households who were renters were 2.6 times as likely to experience food insecurity (55% or 157,000 of 284,600 households) as households who were homeowners (21% or 39,900 of 188,400 households)
First Nations households in remote areas were more likely to experience food insecurity (51% or 25,200 of 49,700 households) than those in non-remote areas (40% or 173,500 of 429,500 households) (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Food security status of First Nations households by income quintiles, tenure type, cash flow, and remoteness, 2022–23

Housing costs

Expenditure on housing (such as rent payments or mortgage repayments) constitutes a major component of a household’s total living costs. Households that spend a high proportion of their income on housing are more likely to be in financial stress. Housing affordability and financial stress are typically measured by assessing the proportion of a household’s gross income that is spent on housing costs – like rent payments or mortgage repayments (ABS 2021b, 2021c; AIHW 2025).

A rented household is often considered under rental stress if it spends more than 30% of household gross income on rental payments. A mortgaged household is often considered under mortgage stress if mortgage repayments are more than 30% of household gross income. While these are useful indicators of financial status, rental or mortgage stress may not necessarily indicate that a household is in overall financial stress (ABS 2021b, 2021c). There can be reasons other than financial stress that households spend more than 30% of gross income on housing costs – for example, people with higher incomes may choose to spend more than this on housing.

Rental and mortgage stress for First Nations people decreased between 2016 and 2021:

27% (65,400) of First Nations people aged 15 years and over in 2021 were living in a household that was experiencing rental stress, a decrease from 30% (54,900) in 2016.
12% (13,400) of First Nations people aged 15 years and over in 2021 were living in a household that was experiencing mortgage stress, a decrease from 18% (14,100) in 2016 (ABS 2019, 2023).

For more information on housing costs among First Nations people, including among people receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA), see Housing circumstances of First Nations people.

Note that more recently, Australia has been experiencing high levels of inflation, with increased cost of living and higher interest rates impacting on housing costs and household disposable income (RBA 2025).

Cash flow

Ability to raise emergency funds and cash flow problems

An individual’s inability to raise emergency funds or manage cash flow are typically used to assess financial stress and income vulnerability (Breunig and Cobb-Clark 2006; Breunig et al. 2017; Saunders et al. 2007; Whiteford 2013).

The ABS NATSIHS data (ABS 2021a, 2024c) is used to measure First Nations household’s ability to raise emergency funds and cash flow between 2018–19 and 2022–23. The proportions are based on the denominators that exclude households for which information on cash flow indicators are unknown.

In 2022–23:

46% of First Nations households could not raise $2,000 within a week for an emergency, a decrease from 50% in 2018–19
44% of First Nations households ‘had days without money for basic living expenses in the last 12 months’, an increase from 38% in 2018–19 (ABS 2021a, 2024c).

Comparisons with non-Indigenous Australians

First Nations households had a lower median weekly equivalised household income than other households in 2021 ($830 compared with $1,080).

However, growth in median weekly equivalised household income between 2016 and 2021 was higher for First Nations households (18% compared with 11% for other households), and the gap decreased from $268 to $250 per week, in 2021 dollars.

Analysis of DSS data (DSS 2025) on income support payment recipients shows that at March 2025, First Nations people accounted for:

6.4% of all income support payment recipients in Australia
30% of all recipients of Youth Allowance (other)
17% of all recipients of Parenting Payment Single
13% of all recipients of JobSeeker Payment
10% of all recipients of Parenting Payment Partnered.

In comparison, an estimated 3.2% of all Australians aged 16 and over in March 2025 were First Nations people.

Key data gaps and data improvement activities

The lack of regular collections of data for First Nations people on income and financial stress makes it difficult to track changes over time. Analysis of the linked data asset Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA) could help fill this data gap. For example, the Productivity Commission analysed PLIDA data to look at how the distribution of incomes changed over the COVID-19 period, to assess the state of economic inequality in Australia (PC 2024).

References Expand

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Income and finance of First Nations people

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