Considering a career change and keen to earn a higher wage? The highest-paying jobs in Australia have been revealed and the top job is raking in a whopping $600,000 a year.

The Monarch Institute has compiled a list of the 15 top-paying jobs in Australia. This was based on the tax returns from more than 14 million Aussies from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in 2020-21.

Medical professionals unsurprisingly dominated the list, given the amount of study and high-pressure work involved. Neurosurgeons were named the highest-paid job in Australia with an average salary of $604,582.

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Neurosurgeons beat out plastic and reconstructive surgeons with an average salary of $568,439, along with ophthalmologists at $592,414. Anesthetists came in second with average earnings of $426,894.

There are hundreds of specialties in the medical field, so the Monarch Institute lumped a few together to give you a better understanding of the range of occupations that pay the best.

Other fields, including finance, law and mining also made the cut. Financial dealers came in third place with earnings of $341,789 per year, while judicial and other legal professionals were found to rake in $193,388 a year.

Becoming a CEO or managing director was also lucrative with average earnings of $177,506 a year, while mining engineers made the top 10 with average salaries of $196,178 a year.

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Here are the top 15 higher-paying jobs in Australia:

1. Neurosurgeon $604,582

2. Anaesthetist $426,894

3. Financial dealer $341,789

4. Internal medicine specialist $334,267

5. Psychiatrist $270,412

6. Other medical practitioners $251,722

7. Judicial and other legal professionals $193,388

8. CEO or managing director $177,506

9. Mining engineer $196,178

10. Financial investment adviser or manager $169,608

11. Engineering manager $161,514

12. ICT manager $138,614

13. Director $154,358

14. Enterprise and software architect/manager $38,933 to $142,355

15. Computing professional – security specialist $135,739

The average full-time worker earns $1,923.50 per week on average, or $100,016 per year, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data.

Mining was the highest-paid industry overall, with average weekly earnings for full-time staff of $3,015 or $156,780 per year.

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