Raleigh vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Raleigh	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2388	$2539
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5530	$6160
🏠 One person rent	$1484	$1496
🏘️ Family rent	$2447	$2729
🍽️ Food expenses	$625	$522
🚐 Transport expenses	$94.8	$374
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4749	$4315
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	14 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	82	100
😀 Quality of life	88	100
🏙️ Population	468K	4.84M

The cost of living in Raleigh is 6% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 972nd and 745th ($2388 vs $2539) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 892nd 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 2 months in Raleigh compared to 1.7 months in Sydney. Raleigh ranked 51st best city to live in the United States vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 221st and 2nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Raleigh vs Sydney infographic

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/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	$17.1	$13.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.6	$66
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.74	$9.73
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.88	$7.29
☕ Cappuccino	$5.37	$3.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.31	$2.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1468	$1823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1216	$1225
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2614	$3607
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2029	$2246
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$232	$165
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$68.4	$45.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.51%	6.4%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6077	$13272
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2879	$7795
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.01	$3.19
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$58.4	$133
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.9	$26.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.84	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.96	$1.55
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.8	$2.26
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.45	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.83	$4.76
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$10.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.1	$8.32
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.9	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.48	$3.11
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$2.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.38	$3.13
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.04	$3.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.1	$2.34
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.81	$2.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.5	$0.87
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.46	$2.41
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.9	$13.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.82	$4.35
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.69	$28.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$6.73
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4	$5.01
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.38	$2.66
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.7	$2.67
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$39.1	$55.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.3	$15.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$158	$58.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.9	$20.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$52	$80.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.2	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1481	$1992
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21914	$17957

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	$2281
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2616
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1836
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2229
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2335
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2315
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2290
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2140
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2309
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2169
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$2184
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2073
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$2052
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1733
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2144
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2100
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2091
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1764
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2011
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2117
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2076
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2014
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1934
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2058
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2169
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$2100
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2136
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2098
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$1952
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1819
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2117
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2136
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1752
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$2147
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$1976
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2144
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2332
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2182
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2269
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1682

Cities near Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2099
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2252
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$1824
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1584
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1416
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1448
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1538
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1616
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1511
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2023
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1702
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1681
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1185
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1457
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1963
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1619
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1601
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$1781
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$1727
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2239
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2067
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1654
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1643
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1291
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1504
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1645
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1677
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1600
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1620
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2194
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1691
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1671
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1668
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2016
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1625
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1635
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1748
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$1981
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1390
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1683