Cost of living in Sydney
Australia's largest and most expensive city to rent in. Strong wage premiums but housing absorbs a large share of take-home pay.
Includes Greater Sydney as defined by the ABS GCCSA.
The numbers
| Item | AUD | Period | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median unit rent | $720 | weekly | $37,440 |
| Median house rent | $780 | weekly | $40,560 |
| Weekly groceries (one person) | $160 | weekly | $8,320 |
| Public transport | $220 | monthly | $2,640 |
| Utilities | $230 | monthly | $2,760 |
| Essential outlay (unit rent baseline) | - | $51,160 | |
Careers that can comfortably afford median unit rent here
We define "comfortable" as weekly take-home pay at least twice the median unit rent in Sydney. Take-home pay is estimated with the 2024-25 ATO resident tax scale, the 2% Medicare levy and HECS-HELP compulsory repayment.
Actuary
$2750/week before tax
Aerospace engineer
$2500/week before tax
Barrister
$3000/week before tax
Biomedical engineer
$2200/week before tax
Chemical engineer
$2500/week before tax
Civil engineer
$2200/week before tax
Cloud engineer
$2500/week before tax
Cyber security analyst
$2250/week before tax
Data scientist
$2500/week before tax
Dentist
$2750/week before tax
Economist
$2500/week before tax
Electrical engineer
$2500/week before tax
Financial analyst
$2300/week before tax
General practitioner
$4500/week before tax
Geologist
$2750/week before tax
Management consultant
$2750/week before tax
Mechanical engineer
$2250/week before tax
Midwife
$2100/week before tax
Sources
- https://www.corelogic.com.au/our-data/quarterly-rental-review
- https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/consumer-price-index-australia
- https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territory-population
ExamExplained does not provide financial advice. Rent figures are CoreLogic weekly median asking rents from the Quarterly Rental Review; groceries and utilities are conservative single-person estimates from the ABS CPI basket.