Cost of living is a phrase that pops up in our office conversation at Time Out pretty frequently these days. Casual chats about the eye-watering price of an iced coffee, tips on how reduce our spend on our weekly supermarket shop or whether to splurge on buying lunch have become the norm in recent years. With many of us feeling the pinch from rising transport, property and food prices, it will probably come as a bit of a shock to learn that our city has just been named in the top ten most cost-effective places to live globally. We’re as surprised as you are.
Though it may be hard to believe, we can’t argue with the stats, which come from Compare the Market’s Cost-of-Living Cities Index 2024. To compile the ranking, the data experts compared 42 economically developed capital cities around the world on 11 key factors, including the cash rate, annual average wage and unemployment rate, alongside the average price for everyday essentials like bread, milk, rent, electricity, fuel and public transport.
Melbourne ranked seventh on the list, scoring 5.67 out of a possible 10 points. According to the rankings data, Melbourne scored well for average price of fuel at $1.68 per litre, but scored poorly for the typical public transport one-way fare ($5.30). Our city was one of three Aussie locations to make it into the top 15 on the list, with Brisbane taking out the second spot globally, largely because of its cheap public transport (take notes, PTV), and Sydney coming in at number 15.
Factors that hindered the performance of all the three Aussie cities were relatively high electricity costs, with Melbourne averaging 40 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to 19.4 cents per kilowatt-hour in Seoul. Additionally, Australia’s cash rate stood at 4.35 per cent, which is far higher than South Korea’s 3.5 per cent, yet a far cry from Turkey’s staggering 50 per cent. When you consider that the number one city, Seoul in South Korea, scored a total of 6.69 – it's clear that the bar is pretty low, as people around the world are feeling the pinch too.
These are the ten most cost-of-living friendly cities in the world:
- Seoul, South Korea
- Brisbane, Australia
- Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
- Madrid, Spain
- Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Bratislava, Solavk Republic
- Melbourne, Australia
- Rome, Italy
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Prague, Czechia and Ankara, Türkiye
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