Whether you are from overseas or from other state or town, moving to Sydney most likely is going to be more expensive experience that you need to consider. In this article I will try to give a snapshot of what to expect if you do live in Sydney, how much your budget roughly and avoid the unpleasant surprise of running out of money. Family of 4 consisting of 2 adult and 2 kids are assumed.
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Sydney Opera House & Harbour Bridge
Sydney Opera House & Harbour Bridge
1. Accommodation
Sydney is one of the most expensive in the world in term of accommodation. A decent 2 bedroom unit for family with child with at least about 15 minutes drive from the city or university will cost you around $350 per week for renting. This translate about around $1500 per month.
The rent usually is unfurnished, and the main items that you need to cover are refrigenerator, TV, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, microwave
If you decide to buy your home the 2 bedroom will cost you around $350,000 mark.
For more detail estimate of your particular area/suburb, you can start with http://www.domain.com.au/ or http://www.realestate.com.au/
2. Transportation
Having car in Sydney or Australia in general is not really cheap. Despite the fact that you can buy a decent used family car for around only $7000, the yearly cost is quite expensive: around $200 for registration, $350 for mandatory insurance, another $800 for all-risk comprehensive insurance and further $750 for service and maintenance. Petrol is around $1.20 per liter but fluctuate daily. Roughly you will need about $150 per month for petrol. So, total about $325 per month
Go about with public transport is not very cheap either. The weekly pass that cover most of Sydney cost about $55. That’s more than $200 for 1 person.
For more detail information , visit: http://www.131500.info
3. Food & Groceries
If you cook most of your meal by yourself (or your spouse), then family of four (with 2 school kids) will need at least around $400 monthly. Dine out will cost you around $7 – $10 per person. More fancy restaurant can cost you around $25-35 per person. So, budget at least around $500 per month for your food & groceries.
The 2 major supermarkets can be your starting point: Woolworth and Coles Supermarket.
4. Utility Bill
Phone, Internet and Electricity/Gas will be mainly the one you pay monthly. Fixed line line phone will cost you around $40 with average usage. Add that with 2 mobile phones cap plans for around $30 monthly. Then the decent ADSL internet connection could cost you around $50 monthly. (A new decent desktop PC is around $800 if you want to buy new computer)
Add to that quarterly electricity/gas bill around $250 per quarter ‘normal’ use.
Total for utility bill will be around $200 per month.
For further detail you can start with http://www.three.com.au for mobile phone or Telstra for land line and TPG for internet connection. For Electricity and Gas you can start with AGL.
5. Medical Expenses
If you are not Permanent Resident or Citizen of Australia (who entitled of Medicare – Australian health care system), then you have to have health insurance to cover potential health expenses. The insurance will cost you at least around $150 per month. A visit to a general practitioner will cost you easily $40-$100 if you don’t have insurance.
But Medicare with its bulk billing will provide this free of charge.
6. Education/Child Care
If you have children below 5 years old, baby or want to have baby, you need to prepare that cost of child care is ridiculously high. It will be around $60-$70 a day that’s translate more than $1500 monthly. Government will give 50% discount at the moment with some eligibility test, but you need to pay that amount upfront before return to you every 3 month. So, it’s a trade off that you need to assess whether to work (and cop the child care cost) or take care of the kids yourself (and miss the work opportunity)
For primary school/high school: public school is almost free (just some petty charge involve: uniform etc). If you want to enroll to Catholic School it will cost you around $600 per quarter depends on the school. But private school can be very expensive with at least $1000 per month.
So, if you have 2 school kids, probably you need to budget around $500 per month.
7. Entertainment
The fact that Sydney is quite expensive should not prevent you to enjoy live. Go out to the beautiful beach such Bondi, Manly, Coogee, and many other will be the cheapest option as probably you just need to pay for the parking and your lunch. Going to the cinema to enjoy the latest movie will cost you around $20 per person (including beverage/snack)
I suggest to spare at least $100 a month for your family fun.
Final Words
For overseas migrant, one final item to remember is that the tax rate in Australia is relatively high. If you earn $35,000-$80,000 per year, you will pay 30% tax. The highest rate is $45%.
If you are looking for job, the first Australian job (if you’re from overseas) will be the most difficult one. But If you’re not that picky, usually you should be able to find yourself a job within 3-4 months.
So, the summary of living cost can be seen on the table above. Prepare yourself around $3,500 monthly budget with around $9000 for immediate spending as described and you will be at least far from inconvenience.
Hope this helps…
There are many factors that form the living costs in Australia. These include taxes, healthcare, food and drinks, transportation and education. While these rank among the highest in the world, the economic opportunities in the country allows for budgeting and forecasting of expenses for individuals in the country. In having all these in check, you can thus have all the information you need.
Hi Dennis! Me and my partner are thinking of moving to Sydney in a year. I am born in Sydney I was 12 and lived in greece and the uk since then. I have Bookeeping and accounting experience from both countries and was wondering how hard is it to find work in Syd in this field when having experience from Uk? Also my partner is doing his Masters now in the Uk and we will be getting married shortly which will grant him citizenship( I think). Do you think it will be difficult for us both to find jobs with a monthly wage of $3000 each? Also Will we both have to pay taxes for a certain period before we are offered health care from the government or in our case will we be granted it straight away?
Hi Denis,
I am a student from Indonesia and will start my study at the end of this month in sydney.
Could you give me some information about living cost per month in sydney such as transportion etc ..
Thanks
Hi Denis,
Thanks for your reply! really appreciate it!
Do you have any idea how much we would be getting from LAFHA? and how much they daycare would cost (after school daycare and the youngest will go to the daycare for the whole day)?
I made a little research about daycare fees and roughly it look like we are going to spend 1700-2000 a month? is this right? and is right that we don’t get any child care rebates on 457 visa? So it still practical for me to work full time and pay for childcare and let’s say I earn average pay.
We are moving pretty soon -August. I’d be glad to take you out for lunch or coffee and maybe chat about life in AU.
Thanks Denis!
To get estimate from LAFHA scheme (Living Away From Home Allowance) check out http://www.lafha.com.au/Home.aspx.
No, I don’t think you will be eligible for Childcare rebate.
But it might be something that you should negotiate with employer as part of LAFHA (put it on the contract). Good luck !
Hi! thanks the info are really useful.. BTW, we are young Filipino couples living in Japan with two kids. My husband works for a big investment back in Tokyo and he just got an offer to move to sydney and the annual salary is 130,000 -same salary here. I am also working here as a recruiter earning aroung 3,500 in AU $ (monthly). we have a very comfortable life here.
will it be a big lifestyle adjust ment to us? I won’t be working ofr the first few months. Do you think 130,00 is enough? we are looking into living in the hills area around 450-500 rent a week. and probabaly getting a car loan. might just send kids to a good publis school in the Hills.
I am so worried of what are life would be if we move to Sydney..i’s appreciate if you could give an idea like how much tax would be deducted from my husband’s salary, are we getting any assistance interms of childcare, in case I work again and need to take the kids to a daycare? BTW, My Son is in 1st grade here and the other one 3 yrs old.
Should we move? we really like the education in Australia- we think it’s so much better, and life is easier cos there’s no problem with language..
We’d really appreciate your advice.
Thanks,
Jet
Start from 1 July 2010 financial year, with $130k, your husband earn about $10,833 per month and the tax will be around $3181. Take home pay of around $7652. It’s a very comfortable figure even in Sydney. You should be okay.
If you work, then that’s even more comfortable. Also if you come here with business visa (not as permanent resident) your rent and meal can be a tax deduction – but no permanent/citizen benefit.
Thanks :-) It was very helpfull
Thanks! This is just the information I was looking for!!! This really helps give an idea of what living in Sdyney will be like as far as $$ is concerned. THANK YOU!
Its really useful and will help some one like me who is new to australia and who is trying to get his first australian job. This enables me to plan the minimum amount which i should hold with me if at all am not able to find a job for around 3 months or so.. Thanks for this wonderful update