'What Is A Good Salary?' TikTok Creator Sparks Viral Debate On Financial Happiness

A good salary should not only be enough to cover a person's basic living expenses, but also allow them to save, invest and enjoy discretionary spending.

In a recent TikTok post, financial content creator Hannah sparked an interesting conversation with her followers, asking, "What is a number that if you slapped it on your salary you would be like 'I am happy with this, I don't mind if it never goes up again. This is a good salary?"

The question led to an overwhelming wave of responses, with the video going viral as more and more people commented.

"Because I think everybody's opinion is different in this, I know mine certainly was," Hannah explained. "Somebody told me the other day that their good salary was AU$270,000. I would say that's extreme for me, but that's just my personal opinion."

The answers were as varied as they were revealing. While some felt AU$80,000 was a solid salary, others dreamed much bigger, with some figures climbing as high as AU$500,000. One commenter shared that they'd be "happy" with a salary between AU$80,000 and AU$90,000, while another said AU$120,000 would feel like a "good salary" for them, reported News.com.

For many, the ideal salary wasn't just about the number itself, but also came with conditions.

Several respondents said AU$110,000 to AU$130,000 would be ideal, but only if they didn't have to manage people or carry any HECS debt.

Interestingly, some people already earning within this range felt they would need a substantial pay boost to reach what they consider a "good" income.

One commenter shared, "I'm currently on AU$110k-AU$120k and honestly I struggle to have any fun money while having savings, good super and investments which is why I want more! So my preference would be AU$250k."

For others, the presence of children influenced their ideal figure. One person mentioned their "ideal amount" would be AU$180,000, but with kids, they will need AU$220,000. Another commenter added, "Single AU$180k, if I had kids probably AU$250k."

The AU$250,000 figure was commonly mentioned, but even that did not satisfy everyone.

"$300k minimum," one person said, while another insisted that they wouldn't settle for anything less than AU$500,000.

According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average annual salary for full-time workers in Australia is currently AU$103,812, while the median salary – the figure that represents the "middle" earnings – is AU$88,920.