The top ten most affordable cities in Australia have been revealed – and Melbourne ranked fifth
To compile the rankings, researchers at StandOut Resume looked at six basic life expenses in Australia's 20 most populous cities: rent, electricity, gas, internet, grocery costs and public transport. They then compared these costs to the local median net income to reveal where your pay cheque goes the furthest – but also where it barely scrapes by.
Queensland's coastal city of Townsville came out as the most affordable place to live in the country. Thanks to a higher-than-average salary of $56,858 (after income tax), locals only spend around half of their earnings (51.74 per cent) on the essentials, leaving $27,442 for saving or spending on entertainment, spontaneous getaways or dining out.
Rockingham in Western Australia was the second most affordable city, where essentials take up $31,815 of the $58,702 net income, leaving a solid $26,887 to play with. Launceston followed in third, with the lowest percentage of income spent on the basics (51.71 per cent), leaving $25,664 to splash on the fun stuff.
Surprisingly, Melbourne – Australia's second-most populous city – ranked as the fifth-most affordable major city nationwide. While rent, gas and public transport costs are all higher than average, our Victorian capital city has the second-highest median salary of $60,051 (second only to Sydney), helping to balance things out. This leaves $24,078 of their income to save or splurge. The other Victorian cities to rank were Ballarat (coming in seventh place) and Bendigo (coming in tenth).
The ten most affordable cities in Australia:
Townsville, QLD
Rockingham, WA
Launceston, TAS
Wollongong, NSW
Melbourne, VIC
Perth, WA
Ballarat, VIC
Hobart, TAS
Brisbane, QLD
Bendigo, VIC
On the flip side, the Gold Coast has earned the unfortunate title of Australia's least affordable city to live in right now, and Geelong ranked in third place on this less desirable list – which is interesting, as it's the top Aussie destination for city dwellers looking to move regional. You can check out the full rankings below or read more here.
The ten least affordable cities in Australia:
Gold Coast, QLD
Canberra, ACT
Geelong, VIC
Cairns, QLD
Darwin, NT
Adelaide, SA
Logan City, QLD
Sydney, NSW
Newcastle, NSW
Toowoomba, QLD
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To recognise it is to understand that the most powerful statement of all is not having to make one.
