What’s a typical podiatrist salary in Australia? Of course, it depends on the level of your experience and qualifications.
Read on to our guide for podiatrist salaries in Australia in 2026.
What do graduate podiatrists earn in Australia?
Most newly qualified graduate podiatrists in Australia earn about $85-90,000. This could be at the lower end of the scale in regional areas. You might even earn a sign-on bonus of $3,000-$5000 at some clinics. If you’re located interstate or internationally, a lot of Australian podiatry clinics will cover some or all of your relocation costs.
What we look for when hiring graduate podiatrists:
- impressive academic performance
- enthusiasm to apply academic learning to a clinical environment
- open, adaptable and willing to learn and be mentored
- strong people skills with empathy and care for patients
- able to show initiative, collaborate with our team and contribute to the success of our clinics
- willingness to conduct at-home patient visits
When you gain experience, your podiatrist salary will increase
With fewer than five years of clinical experience, podiatrists can earn between $90,000-$120,000 in Australia.
That’s a pretty wide margin, so what makes the difference? As a clinic owner regularly hiring podiatrists at this level, we’re looking for:
- demonstrated improvement and depth of skills
- dedicated to delivering good care and proactive about ongoing professional development
- rebooking rates, with a good percentage of patients returning to see you for ongoing care
- a reliable and valuable team player who doesn’t give us stress as an employer
- a friendly caring nature that adapts well to different patient needs with good conflict resolution skills
- a good breadth and depth of expertise across a variety of conditions and modalities
Australian podiatrist salary beyond five years of experience
Once you have five or more years of experience, you can command a salary between $120,000 and $200,000+. At this level, you should have a strong grasp on several clinical practices, excellent patient outcomes and the beginnings of expertise in a specialist technique, surgery or podiatric condition.
Senior podiatrists can look for equity in clinic revenue, as well as bonuses and rewards for patient retention. Your future could be to further specialise in a particular area of podiatry or move into an allied health centre as the resident podiatrist. Or, you can do what we did and open your own clinic.
What kind of bonuses can podiatrists earn?
Most clinics offer bonuses to podiatrists, this can vary greatly between clinics
- Sign on bonus, typically $3,000-$5,000
- Patient rebooking bonuses, for signing a percentage of patients on for subsequent treatments, typically a flat monthly fee or percentage of the rebooking patient spend
Relocating to Australia as a podiatrist?
For many qualified podiatrists it can be a fun adventure to live in Australia for a few years. You can work flexibly and see the country at the same time. Australia is a great base to live and travel to New Zealand, Fiji and South Asia. We have hired many international podiatrists mostly from Europe or Southern Africa. Due to the shortage of qualified podiatrists in Australia, many employers are willing to cover your relocation costs.
International podiatrists qualify for the SID — Skills in Demand Visa
This visa, otherwise known as the 482 visa, allows skilled podiatrists to work in the country under employee sponsorship. You can live and work in Australia for up to four years, which is the perfect amount of time for an overseas adventure. You can work for the podiatry clinic that sponsors you, and you are fully protected under Australian Fair Work laws. If you wish to change jobs, you have 60 days to secure sponsorship with another employer.
The visa application fee costs $3210 which is usually covered by your sponsor employer.
Graduate podiatrists can also qualify for the Subclass 407 Training Visa
This visa allows new podiatry graduates to work in Australia to gain valuable clinical skills with a structured training program provided by your employer. As your employer, we provide a full graduate training program detailing how we are going to support our candidate to gain experience as a podiatrist. Basically we have to promise (in detail) how we will build the employee’s career as a podiatrist. If we succeed, the candidate will be able to work for us for up to two years.
Will an employer cover relocation costs?
Some clinics will offer to cover all or some of your costs, or offer you a flat fee to take care of your flights, luggage transfers and potentially cover temporary accommodation for a few weeks.
When hiring international podiatrists we have typically covered their flights and accommodation until they can get settled into their own rental accommodation.
In summary: podiatrists salary in Australia in 2026
- Graduate podiatrists can earn $80-90,000 or a bit less in regional areas
- Podiatrists with 1-5 years of experience can earn $90,000-$120,000
- Podiatrists with five+ years of experience can earn $120-$250,000+
- Most clinics offer additional bonuses for client rebooking and retention
- Experienced international podiatrists can apply to be sponsored under the Skills in Demand 482 Visa
- Graduate podiatrists can apply to be sponsored through the Subclass 407 Training Visa
