InsightsCity totals July 2026
Sydney vs Melbourne cost of living for a family
Side-by-side family monthly baselines for Sydney and Melbourne, in Australian dollars, from the same cube as the Cost of Living Calculator.
Average monthly spending for a family household is $12,840 in Melbourne and $13,730 in Sydney. Sydney sits $890 higher. These are the same city baselines the Cost of Living Calculator uses. Adelaide is still the lowest family total among our eight Australian capitals.
Key takeaways
- 01
Average monthly spending for a family household is $12,840 in Melbourne and $13,730 in Sydney.
- 02
Of the $890 monthly gap, about $410 is housing and about $480 is everything else.
- 03
Utilities are slightly higher in Melbourne, and food, health, and entertainment and leisure are lower.
- 04
Among eight Australian capitals, Melbourne is rank 6, Sydney is rank 8, and Adelaide is still rank 1.
- 05
Open the calculator and type your rent. Empty fields start as your inputs.
How to read this: a family household, in Australian dollars per month. City totals are average spending, not a median household. Housing uses published rent tables (usually medians). City totals are from the July 2026 cube (file 2026-09). Indicative estimate, not advice.
Sydney and Melbourne, family household, AUD / month
Of the $890 monthly gap, about $410 is housing and about $480 is everything else. Housing is the largest single line, but it is not most of the spread.
| City | Rank among eight capitals | Total | Housing | Rest of basket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne | 6 | $12,840 | $3,250 | $9,590 |
| Sydney | 8 | $13,730 | $3,660 | $10,070 |
Rank 1 is the cheapest family total among our eight capitals in Australia. Rest of basket is full household consumption after housing: food, utilities, transport, insurance, health, family and education, plus recreation, alcohol, tobacco, and clothing. City names open the calculator for a family household.
Category split
Utilities are a little higher in Melbourne ($910) than in Sydney ($850). Food, health and personal, family and education, and entertainment and leisure are lower in Melbourne. Transport and insurance are close. Entertainment and leisure here is ABS recreation plus alcohol, tobacco, and clothing, not a coffee-and-movies line.
| Category | Melbourne | Sydney | Gap (Sydney minus Melbourne) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $3,250 | $3,660 | +$410 |
| Utilities | $910 | $850 | -$60 |
| Food | $2,120 | $2,280 | +$160 |
| Transport | $1,340 | $1,380 | +$40 |
| Insurance | $870 | $880 | +$10 |
| Health and personal | $650 | $760 | +$110 |
| Family and education | $750 | $820 | +$70 |
| Entertainment and leisure | $2,950 | $3,100 | +$150 |
What drives the gap
If you rent, start with housing: $3,660 in Sydney and $3,250 in Melbourne. Then look at the rest. If you already own, or you pay school fees that dwarf the family-education default ($750 in Melbourne, $820 in Sydney), those two lines will decide more than these two city averages.
Transport is nearly the same in both cities. A longer commute is a suburb story, not a city total story. Do not read the $890 gap as take-home pay you will keep after tax.
How we calculated this
Housing is a rent-style occupancy cost from the state rent table for that capital, using the three-bed default for a family household. Non-housing starts from the ABS CPI 17th series capital-city expenditure (opens the source page), then CPI (opens the source page) and the Monthly Household Spending Indicator, May 2026 (opens the source page).
City totals in this file are from July 2026. NSW rent (opens the source page) is 2025-Q4. The Victorian Rental Report (opens the source page) is 2025-Q3. The full notebook is How Justools estimates cost of living.
Sources
Every row is a deep permalink we could open when this page was drafted. Method is carry-forward: city totals in file 2026-09 were copied from July 2026. The Period column is the rent or survey vintage for that row.
| Owner | Dataset | Period | Method | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Bureau of Statistics | CPI 17th Series Weighting Pattern Table 5 (capital-city household expenditure) | 2017-11 | Carry-forward | ABS CPI 17th series weighting pattern (opens the source page) |
| Australian Bureau of Statistics | Monthly Household Spending Indicator, May 2026 | 2026-05 | Carry-forward | ABS Monthly Household Spending Indicator, May 2026 (opens the source page) |
| Australian Bureau of Statistics | Consumer Price Index, latest release | 2026-05 | Carry-forward | ABS Consumer Price Index (opens the source page) |
| NSW Communities and Justice | Rent and Sales Report | 2025-Q4 | Carry-forward | NSW rent and sales statistics (opens the source page) |
| Homes Victoria (DFFH) | Rental Report, quarterly moving annual rents by suburb | 2025-Q3 | Carry-forward | Victorian Rental Report dataset (opens the source page) |
When this number is wrong for you
- Suburbs inside each capital can differ more than these two city totals. Type your rent.
- The housing line is a rent-style occupancy cost. If you own outright, your housing cost may be lower.
- Family and education is a survey default, not your school invoice.
- We do not model tax, benefits, or visa costs. Do not use a pair on an application.
Try it with your numbers
Empty cost fields in the calculator start as your inputs, not as a prefilled budget. Compare against the city baseline, then change the lines that do not match your life.
Related reports
Cost of living in Australian capitals, 2026 is the eight-city rank. How Justools estimates cost of living is the method.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Sydney vs Melbourne cost of living on this page?
This page is an average monthly spending estimate for a family household in Sydney and Melbourne, in Australian dollars, using the same city baselines as the Justools Cost of Living Calculator. Housing comes from published state rent tables. Everything else comes from ABS capital-city expenditure, then a CPI and Monthly Household Spending Indicator bridge so the survey is not stuck in 2017. Average monthly spending is $12,840 in Melbourne and $13,730 in Sydney, so Sydney sits about $890 higher. Adelaide is still the lowest family total among our eight Australian capitals. This page is the pair, not the full rank table.
Why compare Sydney and Melbourne this way?
These are the two cities people actually weigh for a job, a lease, or a move inside Australia. Both sit in Australian dollars, on the same family household, and on the same snapshot as the calculator, so the gap is a like-for-like spend estimate rather than two unrelated indexes. Housing uses published state rent tables. Everything else uses ABS capital-city expenditure, then CPI and the Monthly Household Spending Indicator so the 2017 survey is not frozen in time. The category table shows whether housing or the rest of spending is doing the work. The method page is the notebook. This page is the side-by-side result.
Are these averages or medians?
The city totals and the rest-of-basket column are average spending, not a median household. An average (mean) adds amounts and divides. A median is the middle household if you lined them up from low to high. High spenders pull an average up, so a typical household often sits below. Housing for Sydney comes from NSW rent statistics, and housing for Melbourne from the Victorian Rental Report. Those rent tables are usually medians, not asking prices, and they are not the same quarter. Inner Sydney and outer Melbourne can differ more than these two city averages. Type your rent in the calculator.
Does housing explain the whole Sydney and Melbourne gap?
No. Of the $890 monthly gap, about $410 is housing and about $480 is everything else. Utilities are slightly higher in Melbourne. Food, health, family and education, and entertainment and leisure are lower. Entertainment and leisure here is ABS recreation plus alcohol, tobacco, and clothing, not a coffee-and-movies line. If you already own in one city, or you pay school fees that do not match the family-education default, type those lines. The housing default is the three-bed band for a family household.
Does Single or Couple change the gap?
Sydney stays above Melbourne for a single, couple, or family household in this snapshot. The gap is smaller for a single household (about $440) and a couple (about $600) than for a family household (about $890). A family household adds a family-education line. Single and couple set that line to zero. The calculator uses one-bed housing for single, two-bed for couple, and three-bed for family. If your household is not that shape, type the rent.
What should I not use this pair for?
Do not use it as a visa, immigration, tax, mortgage, or benefit application figure. Do not treat Melbourne's lower total as proof that your suburb, your commute, or your school fees will cost less. Inner Sydney and outer Melbourne can differ more than these two city averages. Justools is not affiliated with the ABS, NSW Communities and Justice, or Homes Victoria.
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