Australian Immigration Guide – The Cost Of Living In Australia

The cost of living in Australia is the topic for this installment of our guide to emigrating to Australia…

By converting Australian prices back to your home currency, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that it’s a relatively cheap place to live. However, this is only really the case if you’re spending money that you saved up before arriving in the country. Once you start living off the money you actually earn in Australia, you’ll probably find that you’re not as well off as you initially thought you would be, as you’ll likely be earning less and being taxed more that you were in your home country.

Yet despite having less money coming in, most immigrants find that their overall standard of life improves after moving to Australia. It’s consisently highly in the various international quality of life indexes that are carried out, and low in the the level of expensive ones, with Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide doing particularly well when two such indexes are cross-referenced.

Approximations vary depending on whether you opt to live in the more expensive major cities or the cheaper provinces, but a sensible outlay for rental or mortgage for a family of four would be around $500 a month. On top of that would be about $150 for water and electricity (which is considerably less than you would expect to pay in other countries with a similar level of development).

As for food, when compared to the US it costs around the same, but that’s still 25 percent less than most countries in Europe; for a family of four, $700 would be a fair estimate for monthly outgoings on it. When you also consider that schools are free and healthcare is subsidized, you can see who Australia is such a popular destination with those looking to emigrate.

It’s worth noting though that manufactured items (such as clothes, electronics and automobiles) cost more than you’re probably used to, and that, despite petrol being well-priced, the larger than normal distances between locations (particularly outside of the major cities) mean that travel costs will likely be higher than they are now. Still, the cost differences on these aspects are outweighed by the savings elsewhere.

Tagged with: australia • emigrating • emigration • immigration • Travel & Leisure

Filed under: Travel & Leisure

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