Age Pension maximum rate in today's dollars: how the values are worked out

The chart Age Pension maximum rates since 2009 can show each quarter's Age Pension maximum rate in June 2026 quarter dollars, by the CPI and Pensioner and beneficiary living cost index. This page sets out the rule, the series used, the rounding and what is left out.

Worked out by Retirement Wealth from the official rates and the published index numbers. Not published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics or Services Australia. The official rates are the ones on the chart's page, from Services Australia and Department of Social Services. The index numbers are the Australian Bureau of Statistics' published quarterly series, recorded in this site's statistical series.

The rule

For each quarter from the September 2009 quarter to the June 2026 quarter, take the maximum rate in force on the last day of that quarter, and multiply it by the June 2026 quarter index number divided by that quarter's index number:

value in June 2026 quarter dollars = rate in force at the end of the quarter × (June 2026 quarter index ÷ that quarter's index)

For example, the single rate in force on 30 September 2009 was $671.90 a fortnight, from 20 September 2009. The CPI for the September 2009 quarter is 65.16 and for the June 2026 quarter it is 102.31. So $671.90 × 102.31 ÷ 65.16 = $1,054.97, which the chart shows as $1,055.

• A quarter's value uses the rate in force on the last day of the quarter, so each quarter maps to one rate. On this chart the rates changed on 20 March and 20 September, and no quarter holds more than one change. The chart marks the quarters that hold a rate change date.
• Nothing between quarters is interpolated or smoothed: the chart joins the quarterly values with straight lines and plots nothing in between.
• The June 2026 quarter is the latest quarter for which every index series in the view has a published number. The latest quarter's value in its own dollars is the rate itself.

The series used

• CPI. Consumer Price Index, All groups, weighted average of eight capital cities, quarterly index numbers, original (Australian Bureau of Statistics, Consumer Price Index, Australia, series A2325846C). Reference base September 2025 = 100.00. From the June 2026 quarter's release: Consumer Price Index, Australia, June 2026. The quarter-by-quarter values, with the table each was read from, are at /api/v2/series/cpi_quarterly.json.
• Pensioner and beneficiary living cost index. Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index, All groups, weighted average of eight capital cities, quarterly index numbers (Australian Bureau of Statistics, Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia, series A4116572J). Reference base September 2025 quarter = 100. From the June 2026 quarter's release: Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia, June 2026. The quarter-by-quarter values, with the table each was read from, are at /api/v2/series/pblci_quarterly.json.

Why two indexes

The Social Security Act 1991 (compilation No. 234, 20 September 2026, legislation.gov.au) provides for pension indexation in Part 3.16: by the CPI in Division 2 (sections 1191 to 1194) and by the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index in Division 3 (sections 1196 to 1197). Its section 1197(2) says: "For the purposes of this section, the living cost index number, in relation to a quarter, is the All Groups Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index number that is the weighted average of the 8 capital cities and is published by the Australian Statistician in respect of that quarter."

The Social Security Guide, 5.1.8.50 Common provisions affecting indexation of pensions (Department of Social Services, last reviewed 20 September 2022) says: "On pension indexation dates after 20 September 2009, the pensions mentioned above continue to be indexed by the greater of the movement in the CPI and the movement in PBLCI." The list the quotation refers to begins with the age pension. The Guide describes the CPI as a general measure of changes in the prices of consumer goods and services purchased by Australian households, and the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index as a measure of the effect of changes in prices on the out-of-pocket living expenses of a subgroup of the Australian population: age pensioner households and other government transfer recipient households.

The chart offers both, so a reader can see the rate in the dollars of either index. It does not model the indexation itself: the Act's rules include a benchmark to wages (section 1195) that the chart does not apply.

Why the reference base does not matter

Each value is a rate multiplied by the ratio of two index numbers from the same series. Re-referencing a series multiplies every index number by the same factor, so the ratio, and the value, do not change except by the rounding of the published index numbers. The Australian Bureau of Statistics re-referenced both series from the December 2025 quarter and says the percentage movements were not revised, apart from rounding: Consumer Price Index, Australia (September 2025 = 100.00); Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia (September 2025 quarter = 100).

Rounding

• Index numbers are used as published, to 2 decimal places.
• The data files keep each value to the cent.
• The chart shows values to the nearest dollar.

Revisions

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says it revises these index numbers only in exceptional circumstances, and that re-referencing is not a revision (Consumer Price Index, Australia methodology; Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia methodology). A value on this chart changes only when a rate on the chart's page changes or a new quarter's index number is published, when every value is worked out again in the new latest quarter's dollars.

The current rate

• Single: Current rate from 20 September 2026: $1,237.70 a fortnight. Its value in September 2026 quarter dollars will appear when both September 2026 quarter index numbers are published, expected by 4 November 2026.
• Couple combined: Current rate from 20 September 2026: $1,866.00 a fortnight. Its value in September 2026 quarter dollars will appear when both September 2026 quarter index numbers are published, expected by 4 November 2026.

The data

• The values in June 2026 quarter dollars, both households, both price indexes, as CSV and as JSON, each row with the quarter, the rate in force, the index number, the value and derived: true.
• The chart, with the rates in dollars of the day and their sources.

Price indexes: Australian Bureau of Statistics (June 2026) Consumer Price Index, Australia, ABS Website, accessed 14 October 2026; Australian Bureau of Statistics (June 2026) Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia, ABS Website, accessed 14 October 2026. CC BY 4.0.

Retirement Wealth provides selected factual information about Australian retirement rules and rates. It does not provide personal or general financial product advice or recommend financial products. Summaries may not cover every condition or exception. Check the linked official sources and obtain advice appropriate to your circumstances before making financial decisions.