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Estimate your basic Youth Allowance rate from your assessed situation and income.
This estimate uses Services Australia rates for 20 September 2026 to the day before 1 January 2027. Supplements and Rent Assistance are excluded.
Choose the rate situation Services Australia has assessed for you. This tool does not decide eligibility for a special rate, living-away rate or principal-carer exemption.
Enter assessable income before tax. Enter zero if you have none.
Leave blank for no credits. Enter the opening balance for this fortnight, up to $13,500.00. This is not a bank ledger.
Select your assessed independence and enter your fortnightly income.
A dependent full-time student in the assessed Single, 18 or older, living at home situation, with the parental income test applying, has $646.00 assessable income per fortnight. Their parents' adjusted annual income is $79,722.00. They are the only child counted in the parental test and their parents or guardians receive no child support or other maintenance for them.
The maximum basic rate is $482.40. The personal reduction is $53.50 and the parental reduction is $100.00. The greater reduction applies, giving $382.40 per fortnight before supplements or other assessments.
Estimates only. Not financial or tax advice. Full disclaimer for your rights and our limitations of liability.
This calculator exists to show you the arithmetic. It applies published Australian rates, thresholds and formulas to the numbers you enter and shows the working, so you can check it. That is all it does — it produces a number and describes what the number is. It does not recommend anything and it holds no opinion about any financial product.
What can move this result
This calculator is not intended to be relied on for the purposes of making a decision in relation to a financial product. Before you make a financial decision, consider obtaining advice from someone who holds an Australian Financial Services Licence. We do not, and we cannot advise you.
Youth Allowance has separate student or apprentice and job seeker income tests. Select the activity and rate situation Services Australia has assessed for you. The personal income-free area for students and apprentices is $539.00 per fortnight; for job seekers it is $150.00.
Dependent students and apprentices can also have a parental income test. This tool supports only the sole-child case where parents or guardians receive no child support or other maintenance for the child. If Services Australia has told you the parental income test does not apply, select that option; your own income is still tested. Otherwise, it compares the personal and parental reductions and uses the greater. Other children in the family pool need a weighted calculation that a sibling count cannot represent.
Independence depends on Services Australia's decision. It generally becomes permanent from age 22. A younger person can qualify in other ways; one full-time work route involves an average of 30 hours a week for 18 months within 2 years. Living away alone does not establish independence.
| Assessed situation | Maximum basic rate | Rate effective from |
|---|---|---|
| Single, under 18, living at home | $418.90 | 1 January 2026 |
| Single, under 18, approved away-from-home rate | $677.20 | 1 January 2026 |
| Single, 18 or older, living at home | $482.40 | 1 January 2026 |
| Single, 18 or older, approved away-from-home rate | $677.20 | 1 January 2026 |
| Single with children | $854.20 | 1 January 2026 |
| Partnered without children | $677.20 | 1 January 2026 |
| Partnered with children | $733.20 | 1 January 2026 |
| Job seeker, exempt single principal carer rate | $1,068.20 | 20 September 2026 |
| Student or apprentice, approved higher rate at home | $567.50 | 1 January 2026 |
| Student or apprentice, approved higher rate away | $799.70 | 1 January 2026 |
| Student or apprentice, approved higher partnered rate | $733.20 | 1 January 2026 |
This calculator is not intended to be relied on for the purposes of making a decision in relation to a financial product. Before you make a financial decision, consider obtaining advice from someone who holds an Australian Financial Services Licence. We do not, and we cannot advise you.
Youth Allowance is an income support payment for eligible younger students, Australian Apprentices and job seekers. This calculator applies a user-selected basic rate and the supported income tests.
The result is not an eligibility decision. Assets, waiting periods, child support or other maintenance received by your parents or guardians, family-pool complexity and supplements need separate assessment.
This calculator starts with the basic rate for the situation you select, then applies the relevant income tests. The basic rate excludes Energy Supplement, Pharmaceutical Allowance, Youth Disability Supplement and Rent Assistance. Services Australia assesses eligibility and the final payment.
For students and apprentices, the first $539.00 per fortnight is free of the personal income test. The next band ends at $646.00; its excess reduces the rate by 50 cents per dollar, then 60 cents per dollar above that band. Job seekers instead have a $150.00 free area and a first band ending at $250.00, with the same two tapers. See the student income test and job seeker test.
If Services Australia assesses you as dependent, its parental income test may reduce your amount. The annual free area in this table is $66,722.00. For one child in the family pool, the excess is reduced by 20 cents per annual dollar, then divided across fortnights and rounded under the parental rule. The greater of the personal and parental reductions applies. Other pool children require rate-weighted shares; child support or other maintenance received by a parent or guardian for the child, including cash or in-kind support, needs an individual assessment under the maintenance rules.
Services Australia assesses independence. It generally becomes permanent at age 22. Younger people may qualify through other circumstances, including a full-time work route. Living away alone does not establish independence. See the independence rules.
Full-time students can build Student Income Bank credits up to $13,500.00. Australian apprentices use a separate Australian Apprentice Income Bank capped at $1,000.00. Credits can offset income above the free area in a later fortnight. This tool models one fortnight from the opening balance you enter. Job seekers use a different credit system. See the student bank rules and apprentice bank rules.
Youth Allowance for students and Australian Apprentices generally applies up to age 24, while Austudy generally begins at age 25. Continuing-study exceptions and other eligibility rules need a Services Australia decision. Compare the Austudy calculator.
No. This is a basic-rate estimate only. Rent Assistance has separate payment and accommodation rules. Use the Rent Assistance calculator for a separate rent-based estimate; Services Australia decides whether it is payable.
Estimate housing support separately with the Rent Assistance Calculator. For the older student payment, see the Austudy Calculator.