Pharmacy Award Pay Rates 2026-27: Every Level
Minimum rates under the Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 (MA000012), effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026.
The short answer
A Pharmacy assistant level 1 is paid $27.81 an hour or $1,056.80 a week full-time. A casual at the same classification is paid $34.76 an hour, including the 25% casual loading. On that full-time wage, take-home pay after income tax and the Medicare levy is $46,848 a year, or $1,802 a fortnight.
MA000012 rates by classification.
All 14 classifications, with the casual rate the award publishes and what each one actually takes home after tax.
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pharmacy assistant level 1 | $1,056.80 | $27.81 | $34.76 | $46,848 |
| Pharmacy assistant level 2 | $1,081.00 | $28.45 | $35.56 | $47,704 |
| Pharmacy assistant level 3 | $1,119.10 | $29.45 | $36.81 | $49,051 |
| Pharmacy assistant level 4 | $1,165.10 | $30.66 | $38.33 | $50,678 |
| Pharmacy student—1st year of course | $1,056.80 | $27.81 | $34.76 | $46,848 |
| Pharmacy student—2nd year of course | $1,081.00 | $28.45 | $35.56 | $47,704 |
| Pharmacy student—3rd year of course | $1,119.10 | $29.45 | $36.81 | $49,051 |
| Pharmacy student—4th year of course | $1,165.10 | $30.66 | $38.33 | $50,678 |
| Pharmacy intern—1st half of training | $1,291.50 | $33.99 | $42.49 | $55,147 |
| Pharmacy intern—2nd half of training | $1,335.50 | $35.14 | $43.93 | $56,703 |
| Pharmacist | $1,586.30 | $41.74 | $52.18 | $65,572 |
| Experienced pharmacist | $1,737.40 | $45.72 | $57.15 | $70,914 |
| Pharmacist in charge | $1,778.40 | $46.80 | $58.50 | $72,364 |
| Pharmacist manager | $1,981.60 | $52.15 | $65.19 | $79,549 |
Take-home is an estimate for a single Australian resident for tax purposes with no study loan debt and no Medicare levy surcharge, calculated with the same Wage Calculator used across this site. Superannuation is paid by your employer on top of these rates and is never deducted from them.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Award
- Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 (MA000012)
- Effective from
- 1 July 2026
- Consolidated to
- 1 July 2026
- Determinations
- PR810422, PR799280, PR799293, PR799450
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-09
- Cross-checked
- 14 of 14 rates against Schedule B
Every rate above was read from the award text at the Fair Work award library and then checked a second time against Schedule B of the same award, which republishes the hourly rates. Casual rates are the award’s own published figures rather than our multiplication, because the award rounds differently from a calculator. Nothing here is copied from another pay site.
What this page does not cover.
Listed as plainly as what it does, because a rate page that hides its gaps is how the wrong number ends up on a payslip.
Penalty rates
Evening, weekend, public holiday and overtime work is paid above the rates above.
Junior rates
The award sets junior percentages for pharmacy assistants at levels 1 and 2 only.
Allowances
Allowances the award sets on top of these rates are published separately.
Pharmacy Award Pay Rates questions, answered.
What are the pharmacy award pay rates for 2026?
The Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 runs from $27.81 an hour for a pharmacy assistant level 1 to $52.15 an hour for a pharmacist manager, from 1 July 2026. All 14 classifications are in the table above, including the student, intern and pharmacist scales.
What is the current award rate for a pharmacist in NSW?
The same as everywhere else in Australia. This is a national instrument, so a pharmacist is paid at least $41.74 an hour, $1,586.30 a week full-time, in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and every other state and territory. There is no separate NSW pharmacy award rate. The award covers community pharmacy, so if you work somewhere else, a hospital pharmacy for instance, check coverage before using these figures.
How much do pharmacists get paid in Australia per hour?
The award floor for a pharmacist is $41.74 an hour. It rises to $45.72 for an experienced pharmacist, $46.80 for a pharmacist in charge and $52.15 for a pharmacist manager. A casual pharmacist is paid $52.18 an hour. Every one of those is a minimum. An employer may pay above it, and many do, but none may lawfully pay below it.
Is pharmacy oversaturated in 2026?
This page will not answer that, because nothing on it measures it. What it publishes is the legal floor read from the award: the least a community pharmacy may lawfully pay each classification. Graduate numbers, vacancy counts and what employers actually pay above the floor are labour market questions, and no figure here speaks to them. Read the pharmacist rate above as a minimum, not as a market rate.
Do pharmacy students and interns have their own rates?
Yes. The award pays a pharmacy student by year of course, from $27.81 an hour, and an intern by half of the training year, from $33.99 an hour. Both scales sit in the table above, between the assistant levels and the pharmacist rates, so a student is not paid an assistant rate by default.
See what an award rate leaves you with.
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