Cost of living in Australia
- Whole economy price level
- 0.9 ratio, United States = 1
- Year
- 2025
- Source
- World Bank
Australia has a price level of 0.9 against the United States at 1, measured for 2025. Goods and services cost roughly 10 percent less than they do in the United States.
This country is covered by the World Bank ratio rather than by the European price level index. It is a coarser measure on a different scale, and it cannot be compared with a figure quoted on the European index.
No annual inflation series covers Australia in this source, so there is no way to say from here how far the figure has drifted since it was recorded.
Australia is the 149 cheapest of the 160 countries this source measures on the same scale, which places it in the dearer half of that group.
On the same scale it sits between Vanuatu at 0.901 and Faroe Islands at 0.941, which is the company that a rank of 149 out of 160 puts it in.
Directly comparable with 159 other countries measured on the same scale.
A price level is not a budget. It compares a standard basket between countries and takes no account of what you earn, of the difference between the capital and a small town, or of what a newcomer pays for rent as opposed to what a sitting tenant pays. Read it as a starting point for a comparison, not as a figure to plan around.
Everything a household buys
| Measure | Value | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Whole economy price level | 0.901 | 2025 |
Questions
Australia: is it an expensive country to live in?
Measured against the reference this figure uses, the price level is 0.9 for 2025. That is the whole answer this page can give honestly, because a price level says what a basket costs and not what your life costs.
What year is this figure from?
It is the value recorded for 2025. Price level statistics are annual and always lag, so this is the most recent one published rather than a figure for today.
Can I compare this with another country here?
Only with countries measured on the same scale. This one is quoted as ratio, United States = 1, and a country quoted on the other scale is not comparable with it without a conversion nobody has measured.
Related pages
Sources
- World Bank, PA.NUS.PPP over PA.NUS.FCRF (CC BY 4.0)