Plan your weekly budget and identify surplus or deficit across all expense categories.
Enter household income and each regular expense category using the same time period, then calculate the surplus or shortfall and adjust individual costs to test a budget.
Irregular costs such as repairs, annual bills and emergencies are easy to miss in a monthly snapshot.
The cost of living calculator helps you estimate your total monthly and annual expenses across major spending categories — housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare, and discretionary spending. It gives you a clearer picture of how much you actually need to earn to cover your lifestyle, and identifies categories where you may be able to reduce spending.
The cost of living varies significantly between Australian cities and regions. Sydney and Melbourne consistently rank among the most expensive cities in the Asia-Pacific region, driven largely by housing costs. Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide have lower housing costs on average, though they have converged somewhat as interstate migration has increased demand. When comparing costs between cities, housing is almost always the dominant variable — food, utilities, and transport costs are more similar across capital cities than rent or mortgage repayments. If you are considering relocating for work, the salary difference between cities should be weighed against the full cost-of-living gap, not just rent alone.
A single person renting in a capital city typically needs $3,500–$5,000 per month in after-tax income to cover rent, food, transport, utilities, insurance, and some discretionary spending comfortably. Costs are lower in regional areas — $2,500–$3,500 per month is more typical outside major cities. These are rough guides; your actual costs depend on lifestyle, suburb, transport choices, and spending habits.