The most expensive place for housing in Australia is Sydney. Including utilities, it's 48.51% higher than the cost of Adelaide, which is the least priciest capital city.
Monthly rent in a 2 bedroom apartment* is likely to cost you around $671 more a month in Sydney than in Melbourne. That increases to $1,015 if you want to live in an expensive area. You can save a small amount when it comes to utilities, however. Gas, electricity and water are $23 cheaper a month in Sydney and broadband costs are around the same.
The cheapest major city for housing in Australia is Adelaide. Overall, it's 61.19% less expensive than in Sydney with rent being on average $1,338 cheaper a month. Almost all of the money you save is down to cheap rent though because utilities, Internet and other household goods in Adelaide are among the most expensive in Australia.
Note: The figures in this guide are based on the combined average of pricing found on 2 cost-of-living websites: Expatistan and Numbeo.
The most expensive major city for housing and utilities is Sydney. To give you a comparison of how much more it is, check out how it compares to the other big cities in Australia:
| Sydney | Melbourne | Perth | Brisbane | Adelaide | Hobart | Darwin | Canberra | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly rent for 85m2 furnished accommodation in an expensive area | $3,526 | $2,511 | $2,239 | $2,680 | $2,118 | $2,210 | $2,355 | $2,985 |
| Monthly rent for 85m2 furnished accommodation in a normal area | $2,508 | $1,837 | $1,719 | $2,068 | $1,621 | $1,699 | $1,353 | $2,288 |
| Utilities (1 month) for 2 people in 85m2 flat | $226 | $249 | $342 | $319 | $339 | $262 | $300 | $323 |
| Monthly rent for a 45m2 furnished studio in an expensive area | $2,752 | $1,931 | $1,843 | $1,998 | $1,536 | $2,376 | $2,021 | $1,917 |
| Monthly rent for a 45m2 furnished studio in a normal area | $1,864 | $1,482 | $1,258 | $1,589 | $1,103 | $1,420 | $1,397 | $1,640 |
| Utilities (1 month) for 1 person in a 45m2 studio | $182 | $170 | $147 | $250 | $140 | $243 | $337 | $179 |
| Internet 8 mbps (1 month) | $74 | $75 | $73 | $80 | $76 | $81 | $81 | $79 |
| 40" flat screen TV | $728 | $892 | $563 | $493 | $506 | $739 | $628 | $470 |
| Microwave 800/900 watt | $222 | $286 | $222 | $333 | $233 | $413 | $206 | $267 |
| Laundry detergent (100 oz.) | $13 | $12 | $11 | $14 | $9 | $10 | $11 | $11 |
| Hourly rate for cleaning help | $42 | $36 | $31 | $34 | $31 | $43 | $30 | $35 |
| Response | 75+ yrs | 65-74 yrs | 55-64 yrs | 45-54 yrs | 35-44 yrs | 25-34 yrs | 18-24 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I don't have life insurance | 82.76% | 69.14% | 54.65% | 48.7% | 39.59% | 33.49% | 47.42% |
| No | 8.62% | 8% | 11.63% | 11.4% | 9.14% | 18.81% | 13.4% |
| Yes | 6.9% | 14.29% | 25% | 26.94% | 30.96% | 24.77% | 24.74% |
| I don't know | 1.72% | 8.57% | 8.72% | 12.95% | 20.3% | 22.94% | 14.43% |
Canberra is the most expensive city for food in Australia. On average, it's 8% more expensive than Melbourne which comes in second place and 26% more expensive than Darwin, the least expensive capital for food costs.
That said, the price of food across the country doesn't vary anywhere near as much as housing and rental prices.
In most cities, there's fairly little difference overall. For example, there's a 68c difference between the most expensive city for milk (Perth) and the cheapest (Syndey).
Here's a ranked list of the most expensive major cities for food.
| Sydney | Melbourne | Perth | Brisbane | Adelaide | Hobart | Darwin | Canberra | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic lunch (including drink) in the business district | $20.50 | $22.50 | $23.50 | $23.50 | $24.25 | $22.50 | $18.50 | $28.5 |
| 500 g of boneless chicken breast | $8 | $6.85 | $6.82 | $6.03 | $6.20 | $5.14 | $7.10 | $6.48 |
| 1 litre of milk | $1.50 | $1.96 | $2.18 | $2.07 | $1.86 | $1.59 | $1.63 | $1.93 |
| 12 large eggs | $5.33 | $6.25 | $6.14 | $6.67 | $5.33 | $5.24 | $5.66 | $6.24 |
| 1 kg of tomatoes | $7 | $7.38 | $6.26 | $6.46 | $6.21 | $7.94 | $5.25 | $6.01 |
| 0.5 litre domestic beer in the supermarket | $5.66 | $6.28 | $6.03 | $5.90 | $5.86 | $6.84 | $5.87 | $6.00 |
| Bread for 2 people for 1 day | $2.49 | $2.30 | $1.79 | $2.46 | $2.07 | $2.27 | $1.97 | $2.85 |
Sydney is also the most expensive city for transport. Public transport in the country's most populated city is more expensive than in Adelaide by almost double (48%) although you'll pay about the same for a taxi. There's just a 4c difference between fuel in Sydney and Melbourne but the same car, simply bought in different cities, is likely to cost you almost $2,000 more.
Darwin and Hobart are much cheaper, particularly when it comes to public transport. They're 68% and 58% cheaper than in Sydney. You can get around both cities via public transport for less than $100 a month, which puts Sydney's staggering $200 bill into perspective.
| Sydney | Melbourne | Perth | Brisbane | Adelaide | Hobart | Darwin | Canberra | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Volkswagen golf 1.4 tsi (or equivalent) | $33,743 | $31,870 | $30,968 | $33,465 | $32,258 | $30,529 | $30,632 | $27,699 |
| 1 litre (1/4 gallon) of fuel | $2.03 | $2.07 | $1.88 | $2.05 | $2.01 | $1.90 | $1.79 | $1.79 |
| Monthly ticket public transport | $200.20 | $164.00 | $160.00 | $197.35 | $103.25 | $86.23 | 63.48 | $99.94 |
| Taxi trip on a business day, 8 km | $21 | $21 | $23 | $25 | $21 | $24 | $21 | $24 |
The table below gives you an idea of the differences between the overall costs of living in Australia's state capital cities. Sydney is still the most expensive city in Australia — you'll pay around a quarter more for living expenses in Sydney than if you lived in Darwin or Melbourne, and even more if you stayed in Adelaide or Hobart.
The overall costs of living in Adelaide and Hobart are very similar. According to Finder stats, Hobart is marginally the cheapest capital city to live in, followed closely by Adelaide.
| The cost of living in Sydney is | 22% more expensive than in Melbourne | 25% more expensive than in Perth | 1% more expensive than in Brisbane | 49% more expensive than in Adelaide | 21% more expensive than in Hobart | 41% more expensive than in Darwin | 13% more expensive than in Canberra |
| The cost of living in Melbourne is | 18% cheaper than in Sydney | 3% more expensive than in Perth | 8% cheaper than in Brisbane | 9% more expensive than in Adelaide | 12% more expensive than in Hobart | 16% more expensive than in Darwin | 8% cheaper than in Canberra |
| The cost of living in Perth is | 20% cheaper than in Sydney | 2% cheaper than in Melbourne | 14% cheaper than in Brisbane | 2% more expensive than in Adelaide | 4% more expensive than in Hobart | 15% cheaper than in Darwin | 9% cheaper than in Canberra |
| The cost of living in Brisbane is | 1% cheaper than in Sydney | 9% more expensive than in Melbourne | 16% more expensive than in Perth | 19% more expensive than in Adelaide | 21% more expensive than in Hobart | 15% more expensive than in Darwin | 8% cheaper than in Canberra |
| The cost of living in Adelaide is | 33% cheaper than in Sydney | 8% cheaper than in Melbourne | 2% cheaper than in Perth | 16% cheaper than in Brisbane | 2% more expensive than in Hobart | 13% cheaper than in Darwin | 24% cheaper than in Canberra |
| The cost of living in Hobart is | 34% cheaper than in Sydney | 10% cheaper than in Melbourne | 4% cheaper than in Perth | 18% cheaper than in Brisbane | 2% cheaper than in Adelaide | 12% more expensive than in Darwin | 25% cheaper than in Canberra |
| The cost of living in Darwin is | 29% cheaper than in Sydney | 14% cheaper than in Melbourne | 13% cheaper than in Perth | 13% cheaper than in Brisbane | 11% cheaper than in Adelaide | 11% cheaper than in Hobart | 21% cheaper than in Canberra |
| The cost of living in Canberra is | 12% cheaper than in Sydney | 8% more expensive than in Melbourne | 10% more expensive than in Perth | 9% more expensive than in Brisbane | 31% more expensive than in Adelaide | 34% more expensive than in Hobart | 26% more expensive Darwin |
Figure out how much your everyday essentials such as groceries and bills are costing you, and how much you spend on extra things like eating out, entertainment purchases, and holidays/travel spending. Budgeting apps like the Finder app can help you do this, by letting you see all your money in one place. Once you have a rough idea of your spending habits, you can then figure out where there's room to cut back.
Making a few changes to how you do your usual grocery shopping can help you save a decent amount each week. Here's some of them:
If you have some extra cash laying around that isn't going towards bills, you can make your money grow even more.
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