New York City vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	New York City	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$4203	$2640
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$9136	$6276
🏠 One person rent	$2713	$1578
🏘️ Family rent	$4396	$2764
🍽️ Food expenses	$874	$549
🚐 Transport expenses	$379	$366
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5599	$4008
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	100	99
😀 Quality of life	98	100
🏙️ Population	8.8M	5.45M

The cost of living in New York City is 59% more expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 4th and 649th ($4203 vs $2640) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in the United States and Australia, respectively. Check the United States vs Australia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in New York City compared to 1.5 months in Sydney. New York City ranked 1st best city to live in the United States vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 11th and 3rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in New York City vs Sydney infographic

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Prices in New York City vs Sydney

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

	New York City	Sydney
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$23.2	$13.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$92.4	$77.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14	$9.79
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.67	$7.2
☕ Cappuccino	$6.18	$3.47
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.07	$2.62
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$3669	$1915
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2221	$1294
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$5076	$3447
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3880	$2319
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$137	$112
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$211	$172
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$66.2	$47.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.42%	6.15%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$15299	$12628
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$11127	$7359
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.93	$3.27
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$134	$134
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$25	$23.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.9	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.58	$1.59
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.49	$2.27
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.71	$1.99
🥚 Eggs, x12	$7.75	$5.43
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.9	$12.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.9	$8.55
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.5	$13.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.19	$3.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$2.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.91	$2.98
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.35	$4.04
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.38	$2.52
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.71	$2.36
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.66	$0.8
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.76	$2.45
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$18.1	$14.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.3	$4.45
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.8	$29.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$23.2	$8.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$13.9	$5.8
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$8.03	$2.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.87	$2.71
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$128	$58.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$20.7	$15.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$157	$63.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$37.3	$20
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.2	$75.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$119	$99.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1884	$2071
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22663	$19140

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2569
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3364
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3066
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$2913
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2733
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3253
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2717
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2783
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2727
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2725
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2735
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2811
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2671
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2712
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2765
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2538
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2688
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2756
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2545
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2475
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2614
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2647
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2770
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2705
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2513
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2749
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2774
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2695
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2769
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2655
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2730
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2718
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2609
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2506
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2723
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2911
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2779
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2680
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2470
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3174

Cities near Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2181
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2292
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$1888
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1599
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1580
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1839
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1568
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1678
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1364
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2019
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1747
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1633
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1184
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1458
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1988
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1667
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1662
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$2471
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$1813
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2297
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2140
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1725
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1706
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1362
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1639
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1736
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1662
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1674
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1681
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2308
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1768
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1728
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1738
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2065
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1673
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1697
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1798
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$2058
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1464
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1710