Cost of government per Australian
In 2024-25, Australia’s federal, state, territory and local governments together spent $1,030.5 billion running services, paying benefits and funding the public sector — $37,622 for every resident.
Your calculation, not an official household figure. It applies national per-person averages; real households differ in income and tax paid.
Up 50.8% since 2015-16 — 16.4% after inflation
Per-person cost was $24,952 in 2015-16. In today’s dollars (CPI-adjusted to 2024-25) that is $32,313, so the real rise is to $37,622. The pandemic year 2020-21 remains the real-terms peak ($40,669 in 2024-25 dollars).
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One question per view. Every figure is from ABS Government Finance Statistics 2024-25.
Official sources. No spin.
We publish one number family — general government Total GFS expenses, divided by population — and show our working. We never add federal and state spending together (that would double-count $152 billion in grants), never estimate missing years, and label anything illustrative.
Total GFS expenses (accrual), general government sector, all levels consolidated.
ABS Estimated Resident Population at 31 December (mid-financial-year).
CPI financial-year average, rebased to 2024-25 dollars.