Brisbane vs Seattle - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Brisbane	Seattle
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2269	$3154
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5424	$7508
🏠 One person rent	$1398	$1981
🏘️ Family rent	$2462	$3422
🍽️ Food expenses	$574	$796
🚐 Transport expenses	$151	$169
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4258	$6532
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	66	80
😀 Quality of life	98	95
🏙️ Population	2.71M	737K

The cost of living in Brisbane is 28% less expensive than in Seattle. Cities ranked 1349th and 142nd ($2269 vs $3154) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 11th and 101st in Australia and the United States, respectively. Check Australia vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Brisbane compared to 2.1 months in Seattle. Brisbane ranked 3rd best city to live in Australia vs Seattle ranked 5th in the United States, while ranked 3rd and 32nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Brisbane vs Seattle

Prices for goods and services in Brisbane and Seattle are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Brisbane	Seattle
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.5	$22.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68.3	$96.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.8	$14.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.04	$7.73
☕ Cappuccino	$4.09	$6.45
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.89	$2.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1660	$2110
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1147	$1647
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3002	$3872
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2079	$2891
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$94.2	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$144	$262
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$54.2	$72.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.78%	6.53%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7935	$7394
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5145	$5077
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.36	$3.01
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$27.8	$111
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19	$16.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.37	$1.21
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.56	$1.44
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.28	$4.47
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$4.23
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.95	$6.95
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.35	$20.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.06	$16.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$21.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.73	$5.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.1	$2.27
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.11	$5.07
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.91	$6.09
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$3.03
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$3.45
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.99	$1.74
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.83	$3.47
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14	$17.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.89	$3.65
🚬 Cigarette pack	$24.1	$12.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$7.94	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.16	$8.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.47	$6.86
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.57	$2.42
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48	$83.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14	$17.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.1	$147
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.8	$24.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$81.5	$69.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$112	$122
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1949	$2521
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12459	$28950

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brisbane

Distance	City	Cost of living
31 km or 19 mi	Ipswich	$1813
45 km or 28 mi	Caboolture	$1988
66 km or 41 mi	Southport	$2352
71 km or 44 mi	Gold Coast	$2528
75 km or 47 mi	Caloundra	$1864
91 km or 57 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1835
107 km or 66 mi	Toowoomba	$1766
143 km or 89 mi	Byron Bay	$2703
243 km or 151 mi	Hervey Bay	$1864
299 km or 186 mi	Bundaberg	$1727
315 km or 196 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172
362 km or 225 mi	Armidale	$1288
441 km or 274 mi	Gladstone	$1640
441 km or 274 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
520 km or 323 mi	Rockhampton	$1635
618 km or 384 mi	Newcastle	$1997
682 km or 424 mi	Dubbo	$1867
719 km or 447 mi	Dee Why	$2379
722 km or 449 mi	Kellyville	$2050
730 km or 453 mi	Blacktown	$1710
732 km or 455 mi	Parramatta	$2482
733 km or 455 mi	Sydney	$2844
740 km or 460 mi	Bathurst	$1699
748 km or 465 mi	Orange	$1477
801 km or 498 mi	Wollongong	$1695
869 km or 540 mi	Goulburn	$1821
945 km or 587 mi	Canberra	$2223
1006 km or 625 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
1009 km or 627 mi	Griffith	$1824
1111 km or 690 mi	Townsville	$1839
1224 km or 761 mi	Shepparton	$1815
1278 km or 794 mi	Mildura	$1904
1320 km or 820 mi	Bendigo	$1487
1337 km or 831 mi	Traralgon	$1979
1367 km or 849 mi	Sunbury	$1928
1372 km or 853 mi	Pakenham	$1896
1375 km or 855 mi	Melbourne	$2496
1376 km or 855 mi	Berwick	$1860
1376 km or 855 mi	South Yarra	$1829
1377 km or 856 mi	Dandenong	$1894

Cities near Seattle

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.1 km or 5.7 mi	Mercer Island	$2896
11 km or 6.5 mi	Bellevue	$3292
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kirkland	$3041
15 km or 9.2 mi	Tukwila	$2681
15 km or 9.5 mi	Burien	$2717
16 km or 10 mi	Bainbridge Island	$2855
17 km or 10 mi	Shoreline	$2778
17 km or 10 mi	Renton	$2604
17 km or 11 mi	Redmond	$3559
17 km or 11 mi	Kenmore	$2702
19 km or 12 mi	SeaTac	$2807
21 km or 13 mi	Bothell	$2737
22 km or 14 mi	Sammamish	$2915
22 km or 14 mi	Edmonds	$2739
23 km or 14 mi	Issaquah	$2798
24 km or 15 mi	Des Moines	$2677
24 km or 15 mi	Lynnwood	$2734
24 km or 15 mi	Bremerton	$2475
26 km or 16 mi	Kent	$2814
30 km or 19 mi	Mill Creek	$2717
33 km or 20 mi	Federal Way	$2587
34 km or 21 mi	Maple Valley	$2656
35 km or 21 mi	Mukilteo	$2674
35 km or 22 mi	Auburn	$2325
41 km or 25 mi	Everett	$2641
42 km or 26 mi	Tacoma	$2519
46 km or 28 mi	University Place	$2720
48 km or 30 mi	Puyallup	$2828
50 km or 31 mi	Lake Stevens	$2641
51 km or 32 mi	Lakewood	$2582
52 km or 33 mi	Marysville	$2628
57 km or 35 mi	Spanaway	$2362
74 km or 46 mi	Lacey	$2584
76 km or 47 mi	Olympia	$2558
78 km or 48 mi	Sequim	$2710
80 km or 50 mi	Oak Harbor	$2754
90 km or 56 mi	Mount Vernon	$2456
100 km or 62 mi	Port Angeles	$2539
109 km or 68 mi	Centralia	$2747
119 km or 74 mi	Victoria	$2173