Raleigh vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Raleigh	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2317	$2844
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5372	$6700
🏠 One person rent	$1430	$1749
🏘️ Family rent	$2327	$3002
🍽️ Food expenses	$612	$597
🚐 Transport expenses	$90.3	$337
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4411	$4145
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	14 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	82	99
😀 Quality of life	89	98
🏙️ Population	468K	5.45M

The cost of living in Raleigh is 19% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 1246th and 348th ($2317 vs $2844) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1054th 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 1.9 months in Raleigh compared to 1.5 months in Sydney. Raleigh ranked 64th best city to live in the United States vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 245th and 2nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Raleigh vs Sydney

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

	Raleigh	Sydney
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18	$15.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$72.5	$79.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$11.2
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.67	$7.36
☕ Cappuccino	$6.02	$3.85
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.48	$2.82
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1562	$2123
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1149	$1437
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2603	$3835
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1919	$2492
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$123
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$207	$190
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.1	$51.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.42%	6.09%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3603	$13218
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2208	$7866
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.68	$3.77
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$48.1	$118
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.3	$20.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.97	$1.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.39	$2.46
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.78	$2.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.45	$5.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$13.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.4	$9.78
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.8	$15.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.47	$3.56
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$3.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.98	$3.24
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.45	$4.66
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$2.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$2.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.46	$0.82
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.63	$2.8
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15	$15.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.92	$4.69
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.71	$24.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.6	$9.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.44	$4.93
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.97	$3.1
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.73	$3.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.2	$63.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$16.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$137	$70.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.8	$21.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$54.3	$80.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1374	$2281
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24650	$21946

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Raleigh

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.6 mi	Garner	$2246
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2470
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1831
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2194
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2278
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2313
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2242
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2109
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2308
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2111
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$1943
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2003
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$1780
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1773
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2123
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2159
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2081
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1750
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2036
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2056
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2088
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2057
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1917
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2030
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2202
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$1987
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2079
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2122
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2001
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1847
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2080
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2027
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1814
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$1963
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$1969
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2211
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2378
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2126
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2174
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1736

Cities near Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2379
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2482
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$2050
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1710
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1695
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1997
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1699
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1821
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1477
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2223
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1867
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1288
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1824
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1815
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$2703
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$1979
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2528
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2352
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1896
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1860
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1487
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1766
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1894
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1813
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1829
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2496
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1928
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1889
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1906
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2269
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1822
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1988
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$2217
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1604
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1864