Sydney Is Still Australia's Most Expensive Place To Live, but Melbourne and Brisbane Are Not Far Behind. Singapore and New York have tied for the title of world's most expensive city in this year's Worldwide Cost of Living report.
Gold Coast is one of the cheapest places to live in Australia (89th globally). It is known for its high-standard education and academia and its budget-friendly living. International students will find the Gold Coast the perfect combination of study and social life, with its magnificent beaches and nightlife.
Overall, Canberra remains the most expensive capital city to rent a house in, with median weekly rents sitting at $690. Sydney takes second place at $640 per week, followed by Darwin ($620 per week), Hobart ($540 per week), and Brisbane ($525 per week).
Cost of Living Comparison Between Sydney and Canberra
You would need around 8,193.7A$ in Canberra to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 8,900.0A$ in Sydney (assuming you rent in both cities). This calculation uses our Cost of Living Plus Rent Index to compare cost of living.
The worst performing states are Tasmania, with incomes 26% below the national income and wealth average, as well as South Australia which is 19% below the average household income and 20% below the national net wealth.
So why is the cost-of-living in Australia so high? One of the major reasons is inflation. A measure for household inflation, the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, increased by 2.1% in the first quarter of this year and 5.1% annually, according to data compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Melbourne homes cheapest to rent
Melbourne now takes the crown for the cheapest rental market, with a typical dwelling renting for $480 a week.
New data from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has revealed where Australia's highest-paid professionals live, with Perth taking the crown as home to the country's most affluent people after a surge in income over the 2019-20 tax year.
The city of Perth has the best weather/climate in Australia. The city enjoys a temperate Mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers and mild but wet winters. Perth is also the sunniest capital city in Australia and is considered one of the hottest experiencing over 250+ days of sunny blue skies.
Alabama. Alabama is the third-lowest cost of living state—about 12.1% lower than most of the U.S. The exception? Utility bills run close to the national average. The cheapest part of Alabama isn't a single city—it's a whole county!
2. Kansas. The great state of Kansas is the second cheapest state to live in with a score of 86.5. Housing is particularly affordable, coming in as the third-cheapest housing costs in the nation with the median cost of a single-family home at around $176,898.
Most affordable suburbs in 2022
Kambalda East in Western Australia was named the most affordable suburb for houses, with a median value of $118,525. For units, the most affordable suburb was Laguna Quays in Queensland, with a median value of just $72,076.
Melbourne is considered by some to be the best city to live in Australia, and has even been ranked as the world's most livable city more than once. It's home to a thriving live music scene, late-night bars and laneways dotted with cafés and coffee shops.
Survey finds Canberra to be the happiest city in Australia.
Part of: Australia's welfare 2021
Governments across Australia fund services to support people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness.
Rent is often more affordable than mortgage payments on the same kind of property. You can afford to live in areas you may otherwise be priced out of as a buyer. You don't have to save up for a deposit.
According to Numbeo, Australia ranks 14th for highest cost of living in the world. This places this warm nation higher on the list than the United States, United Kingdom and even Canada (at least when you exclude rent costs). If you do include rent costs, Australia drops down slightly to 15th.
According to numbers, Australia is around 23.5% costlier than the US. Given below is a table that shows how much you have to pay more for each head in Australia as compared to the US. Hence if we talk about the cost of living in Australia vs the US then, Australia is expensive and costlier than the US.
This very low vacancy rate has been sustained for most of 2022, a situation not seen in the last 20 years. Such pressure for rental housing pushes up rents, and as a result national combined rents (i.e. that is for houses and apartments) are the highest they have ever been: $542 per week (for November 2022).