Self-employed electricians in Australia are pulling an average taxable profit of $110,000 a year, putting them equal top of the trades in financial services firm Hnry’s first Sole Trader Earnings Report 2025-26. Plumbers follow on $100,000, with tradies across the board averaging $78,800.
The figures were published by Electrical Connection, which reported that Hnry analysed anonymised taxable income data from tens of thousands of Australian sole traders using its platform, covering 115 types of work. Carpet layers and tilers share the $110,000 mark with sparkies. Earthmoving services came in at $105,000.
The number that matters most in that list is the one people skip over: these are profit figures, not turnover. What a sole trader bills out and what lands in their pocket at tax time are two very different numbers.
Profit, not what’s on the invoice
An electrician charging a healthy hourly rate isn’t earning that rate. Out of it comes the van, the fuel, public liability and tool cover, test gear and its calibration, the accountant, the phone, and the unbilled hours spent writing quotes that go nowhere.
Hnry Australia managing director Karan Anand said that’s exactly the gap the benchmark is meant to expose.
“Once you’re on your own, you’re not just pricing your labour. Your rate needs to cover tools, vehicles, fuel, insurance, tax, admin, superannuation and the hours spent quoting for work you may never win,” he said.
There’s also the part the comparison with a PAYG wage hides. A sole trader on $110,000 of profit has no employer super going in behind it, no paid annual leave, and no sick pay. A week off at Christmas is a week with no income, and a crook back is the same.
How it stacks against everyone else
For context, the average taxable income for Australian individuals was $78,127 in 2023-24, according to the latest Australian Taxation Office Taxation Statistics. On Hnry’s numbers, a self-employed sparkie is running roughly $32,000 a year ahead of that national average.
Anand said the benchmark is there to be argued with.
“Having a benchmark like this matters. We want tradies to be able to look at what people with similar skills are earning and ask themselves: Am I actually charging what I’m worth?” he said.
Worth reading the sample before you take the figures to the bank. The data covers Hnry’s own users in Australia, not the whole trade workforce, and it’s drawn from people who already run their invoicing and tax through a service built for sole traders. Bigger contracting outfits with staff on the books aren’t in it. Neither is anyone still doing the shoebox-of-receipts method.
Fuel and supplies are eating the margin
The report lands while running costs keep climbing for anyone with a vehicle in the business. Travel between sites is dead time that still burns diesel, and the cost of it has to come out of somewhere.
“Tradies have been hit by rising fuel, supplies and operating costs, and those costs ultimately have to be factored into their rates if they’re going to maintain their margins,” Anand said.
That’s the mechanical problem with a rate you set three years ago and never touched. Costs have moved since, and a rate that doesn’t move with them quietly turns into a pay cut. The sole traders at the top of Hnry’s table aren’t necessarily working more hours than the ones at the bottom. Often they’ve just repriced.
Anand also made a point about where skilled physical work sits as office jobs face automation.
“Despite this, they also have an advantage that’s becoming increasingly important. The physical, skilled nature of the work means they’re less exposed to the immediate disruption from AI facing some knowledge-based industries and have stronger job security,” he said.
What to do with the number
The useful exercise isn’t comparing your income to $110,000 and feeling good or bad about it. It’s working backwards. Take your last financial year’s profit, divide it by the hours you actually charged out, and see what you’re really earning per billable hour once the ute, the insurance and the quoting time come off the top.
If that figure is well under what you think your hourly rate is, the problem usually isn’t the rate. It’s the ratio of billable hours to everything else: travel, pricing jobs, chasing invoices, and trips to the wholesaler.
Two things to watch over the next few months. One is whether Hnry publishes trade-by-trade ranges alongside the averages, because the spread inside a trade tells you more than the midpoint does. The other is your own fuel and materials costs since the last time you repriced. If it’s been more than a year, that’s the number to run before you quote the next job.
Frequently asked questions
Is the $110,000 figure profit or turnover for electricians?
It’s taxable profit, not what’s billed out. The figure reflects what’s left after business costs like the van, insurance, tools and admin come out, according to Hnry’s data.
How does that compare to the average Australian income?
The ATO’s latest Taxation Statistics put average taxable income for Australian individuals at $78,127 in 2023-24, meaning a self-employed electrician earns roughly $32,000 a year more than that average on Hnry’s numbers.
Does Hnry’s data cover every tradie in Australia?
No. It covers Hnry’s own sole trader users across 115 types of work, not the whole trade workforce. Larger contracting outfits with staff, and tradies not using a service like Hnry, aren’t included in the sample.
Sourced from Electrical Connection, Hnry, Australian Taxation Office. Original article.
