Melbourne vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Melbourne	New York City
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2543	$4202
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6242	$9189
🏠 One person rent	$1414	$2718
🏘️ Family rent	$2478	$4417
🍽️ Food expenses	$607	$842
🚐 Transport expenses	$361	$400
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4489	$5389
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	100	100
😀 Quality of life	100	95
🏙️ Population	5.35M	8.8M

The cost of living in Melbourne is 39% less expensive than in New York City. Cities ranked 829th and 4th ($2543 vs $4202) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 1st 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 1.8 months in Melbourne compared to 1.3 months in New York City. Melbourne ranked 1st best city to live in Australia vs New York City ranked 2nd in the United States, while ranked 1st and 15th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Melbourne vs New York City

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

	Melbourne	New York City
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.5	$22.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.1	$90
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$13.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$9.51	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$4.02	$6.22
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.15	$3.28
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1557	$3692
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1162	$2206
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2836	$5140
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2092	$3874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$144
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$218
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$51.2	$70.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.58%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6978	$18073
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6027	$7831
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.85	$3.01
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$140	$138
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.7	$27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$1.02
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.67	$1.44
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.67	$4.07
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.28	$5.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.94	$6.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$16.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.76	$14.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15	$18.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$6.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$2.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$5.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.07	$6.72
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$3.21
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.76	$3.96
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.19	$1.67
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.68	$3.57
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.3	$19.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.54	$4.61
🚬 Cigarette pack	$26	$18.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.16	$23.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.98	$14
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.14	$8.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.17	$2.86
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$55.5	$132
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16.4	$21.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$56.8	$159
💇 Haircut, simple	$28	$40.5
👖 Brand Jeans	$80.1	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$123	$115
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2326	$2095
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22313	$21713

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Melbourne

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	South Yarra	$1834
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1847
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1813
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1913
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1933
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1896
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1889
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1915
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1810
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1936
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$2179
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1606
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1493
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$2000
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1816
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1876
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1880
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1608
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1868
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1825
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1728
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2258
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1905
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1795
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2364
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1460
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1701
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1695
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$2355
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1709
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1855
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2481
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$2040
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2844
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2354
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1995
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$2133
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1786
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1273
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2132

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2940
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3729
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3110
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$3145
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2842
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3304
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2840
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2917
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2795
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2791
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2820
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2821
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2707
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2797
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2805
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2545
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2725
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2823
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2540
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2557
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2665
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2700
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2791
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2692
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2485
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2697
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2775
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2614
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2779
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2710
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2729
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2669
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2634
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2450
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2713
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2863
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2762
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2694
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2488
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3192