Melbourne vs South Tarawa - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Melbourne	South Tarawa
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2496	$538
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6197	$1303
🏠 One person rent	$1388	$233
🏘️ Family rent	$2468	$392
🍽️ Food expenses	$606	$226
🚐 Transport expenses	$346	$22.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4328	$164
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	20 km
🎓 Higher education	100	1
😀 Quality of life	100	28
🏙️ Population	5.35M	63.4K

The cost of living in Melbourne is 364% more expensive than in South Tarawa. Cities ranked 893rd and 8474th ($2496 vs $538) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in Australia and Kiribati, respectively. Check Australia vs Kiribati comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Melbourne compared to 0.3 months in South Tarawa. Melbourne ranked 1st best city to live in Australia vs South Tarawa ranked 1st in Kiribati, while ranked 1st and 8872nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/melbourne/south-tarawa.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Melbourne vs South Tarawa infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/melbourne/south-tarawa" target="_blank">Melbourne vs South Tarawa - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Melbourne vs South Tarawa

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

	Melbourne	South Tarawa
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.4	$4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$71.7	$22.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$5.15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$9.06	$1.82
☕ Cappuccino	$4.04	$1.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.97	$0.63
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1549	$226
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1138	$151
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2861	$412
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2079	$274
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$115	$41
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$180	$63.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$26.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.61%	12.43%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7481	$1374
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6465	$845
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.9	$0.41
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$132	$15.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.3	$7.47
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.33	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.73	$1.22
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.72	$0.76
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$1.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.92	$1.73
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$7.22
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.85	$4.59
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.8	$7.22
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.7	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$1.25
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.42	$1.67
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.78	$1.16
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.06	$1.04
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.73	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.17	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.74	$1.24
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.8	$8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.42	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$25.8	$2.98
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.05	$3.96
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.9	$3.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.3	$1.6
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.88	$1.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48.2	$24.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.5	$4.49
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$53.7	$19.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$26.2	$4.22
👖 Brand Jeans	$80	$31.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$127	$65.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2232	$131
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$26129	$4200

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	$1829
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1822
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1894
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1928
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1906
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1889
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1860
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1896
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$2217
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1604
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1487
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$1979
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1815
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1870
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1901
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1898
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1824
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1753
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2223
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1904
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1821
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2308
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1477
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1699
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1695
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$2338
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1710
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1867
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2482
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$2050
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2844
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2379
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1997
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$2128
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1288
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172

Cities near South Tarawa

Distance	City	Cost of living
658 km or 409 mi	Majuro	$1507
661 km or 411 mi	Djarrit	$1510
706 km or 439 mi	Yaren	$783
1302 km or 809 mi	Vaiaku	$714
1302 km or 809 mi	Funafuti	$718
1768 km or 1099 mi	Auki	$1422
1879 km or 1167 mi	Honiara	$1422
1988 km or 1235 mi	Luganville	$2062
2172 km or 1349 mi	Lautoka	$633
2190 km or 1361 mi	Nadi	$1039
2190 km or 1361 mi	Port Vila	$2068
2248 km or 1397 mi	Nasinu	$857
2253 km or 1400 mi	Suva	$879
2310 km or 1435 mi	Manase	$790
2382 km or 1480 mi	Apia	$791
2712 km or 1685 mi	Dumbea	$1865
2713 km or 1686 mi	Paita	$1865
2725 km or 1693 mi	Noumea	$1928
2817 km or 1750 mi	Nukualofa	$1035
2825 km or 1756 mi	Mua	$1033
3022 km or 1878 mi	Lae	$558
3104 km or 1929 mi	Port Moresby	$572
3286 km or 2042 mi	London	$539
3357 km or 2086 mi	Saipan	$1415
3375 km or 2097 mi	Dededo	$2401
3383 km or 2102 mi	Hagatna	$3009
3611 km or 2244 mi	Cairns	$1695
3612 km or 2244 mi	Jayapura	$506
3658 km or 2273 mi	Gladstone	$1640
3665 km or 2277 mi	Townsville	$1839
3668 km or 2279 mi	Bundaberg	$1727
3672 km or 2282 mi	Hervey Bay	$1864
3673 km or 2282 mi	Rockhampton	$1635
3762 km or 2338 mi	Kauai	$2821
3779 km or 2348 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1835
3788 km or 2354 mi	Caloundra	$1864
3822 km or 2375 mi	Caboolture	$1988
3851 km or 2393 mi	Waipahu	$2700
3854 km or 2395 mi	Brisbane	$2269
3855 km or 2396 mi	Pearl	$2610