Australian cost-of-living ledger · 2026 update
Find suburbs where your salary actually stretches.
Real rent data, salary thresholds, and cost-of-living breakdowns for every Australian suburb with bond-lodgement coverage.
4,053+
Suburbs covered
3
States · NSW · VIC · QLD
$606/wk
Avg covered rent
Section 01
What NestLedger covers
Where you live
Search suburbs, compare rents and see nearby cheaper alternatives.
What you earn
Model salary, after-tax income and rent stress against Australian costs.
What you spend
Build a simple weekly snapshot for groceries, transport, bills and savings.
What you own
Property and mortgage-cost views are the next layer of the ledger.
Section 02
Browse by city
Sydney
$780/wk avg
Need $135,200/yr salary
Regional NSW
$477/wk avg
Need $82,680/yr salary
Newcastle
$627/wk avg
Need $108,680/yr salary
Lismore
$677/wk avg
Need $117,347/yr salary
Brisbane
$656/wk avg
Need $113,707/yr salary
Nowra
$587/wk avg
Need $101,747/yr salary
Central Coast
$648/wk avg
Need $112,320/yr salary
Port Macquarie
$526/wk avg
Need $91,174/yr salary
Coffs Harbour
$514/wk avg
Need $89,094/yr salary
Melbourne
$604/wk avg
Need $104,694/yr salary
Bathurst
$488/wk avg
Need $84,587/yr salary
Wollongong
$721/wk avg
Need $124,974/yr salary
Section 03
Most-searched suburbs
Method
How NestLedger starts the ledger
The first layer is suburb affordability: public rent data, census income context and your salary.
01
Real rent data
Quarterly bond lodgements from NSW DCJ, QLD RTA, and VIC DFFH — every actual lease, not asking prices.
02
Local income context
ABS Census 2021 household and income figures overlaid to show how the suburb actually lives.
03
Your weekly reality
Enter any salary, see what's left after rent, groceries, transport and tax — then a verdict.
Section 04
Frequently asked questions
- What's the 30% rule?
- A common housing-affordability heuristic: spend no more than 30% of your gross household income on rent. NestLedger applies this rule to flag suburbs where the median rent exceeds 30% of the local median income. See the methodology page for the exact formula and limitations.
- How much rent can I afford on $X a year?
- At the 30% threshold: (annual salary × 0.3) ÷ 52 per week. On $85,000/year that's $490/week. Use the rent-affordability calculator to plug in your own number and see suburbs in range.
- What's a good salary to live in Sydney / Melbourne / Brisbane?
- Depends entirely on the suburb. Sydney inner-ring suburbs need $130k+ to clear the 30% bar for a 1-bedroom rental; Western Sydney is closer to $70–90k. Melbourne and Brisbane are typically $20–40k lower for equivalent locations. Browse the cheapest suburbs page or pick a city to see specifics.
- What does "rental stress" mean?
- ABS and most housing-policy bodies define rental stress as spending more than 30% of gross household income on rent. NestLedger flags any suburb where the median rent exceeds 30% of the local median income.
- How fresh is the rent data?
- State bond authorities (NSW DCJ, QLD RTA, VIC DFFH) publish quarterly. NestLedger rebuilds the dataset shortly after each release. The “data updated” timestamp on each page reflects the last build.
- Why don't you cover WA, SA, TAS, NT, or ACT?
- We started with NSW, VIC and QLD because their bond-lodgement data is published at a granular postcode/suburb level. WA and ACT are on the roadmap; SA, TAS and NT publish less granular data so will follow later.
- How accurate are these numbers?
- The rent figures are real medians from government bond data, so they're accurate as a snapshot. Limitations: bond data captures only new tenancies (long-term renters on older leases pay less), median figures hide variance, and Census income data is from 2021. See the methodology page for the full caveats.
- Can I use this for rental applications or bank pre-approval?
- No. NestLedger is a research and data-presentation project, not personal financial advice. Use these numbers to narrow your search; verify with the actual listing and your own circumstances before signing anything.