Seattle vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Seattle	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3015	$2539
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7449	$6160
🏠 One person rent	$1896	$1496
🏘️ Family rent	$3549	$2729
🍽️ Food expenses	$746	$522
🚐 Transport expenses	$160	$374
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$6742	$4315
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	80	100
😀 Quality of life	91	100
🏙️ Population	737K	4.84M

The cost of living in Seattle is 19% more expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 158th and 745th ($3015 vs $2539) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 140th 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 2.2 months in Seattle compared to 1.7 months in Sydney. Seattle ranked 15th best city to live in the United States vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 98th and 2nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Seattle vs Sydney

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

	Seattle	Sydney
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.9	$13.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90.4	$66
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$13.6	$9.73
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.98	$7.29
☕ Cappuccino	$5.55	$3.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.97	$2.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2086	$1823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1567	$1225
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3947	$3607
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3067	$2246
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$157	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$237	$165
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$68.8	$45.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.44%	6.4%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6966	$13272
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5351	$7795
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.73	$3.19
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$96.7	$133
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18	$26.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.16	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.55
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.03	$2.26
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.44	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.89	$4.76
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$10.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$8.32
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.4	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.19	$3.11
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$2.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.37	$3.13
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.76	$3.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.64	$2.34
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.47	$2.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.56	$0.87
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.91	$2.41
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$17.8	$13.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.15	$4.35
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12	$28.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$6.73
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.95	$5.01
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$6.98	$2.66
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.49	$2.67
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.6	$55.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16	$15.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$183	$58.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$25.9	$20.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$68.9	$80.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2185	$1992
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$29407	$17957

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Seattle

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.1 km or 5.7 mi	Mercer Island	$2826
11 km or 6.5 mi	Bellevue	$3273
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kirkland	$2882
15 km or 9.2 mi	Tukwila	$2624
15 km or 9.5 mi	Burien	$2642
16 km or 10 mi	Bainbridge Island	$2810
17 km or 10 mi	Shoreline	$2973
17 km or 10 mi	Renton	$2595
17 km or 11 mi	Redmond	$3239
17 km or 11 mi	Kenmore	$2718
19 km or 12 mi	SeaTac	$2741
21 km or 13 mi	Bothell	$2625
22 km or 14 mi	Sammamish	$2759
22 km or 14 mi	Edmonds	$2785
23 km or 14 mi	Issaquah	$2606
24 km or 15 mi	Des Moines	$2623
24 km or 15 mi	Lynnwood	$2726
24 km or 15 mi	Bremerton	$2462
26 km or 16 mi	Kent	$2784
30 km or 19 mi	Mill Creek	$2642
33 km or 20 mi	Federal Way	$2532
34 km or 21 mi	Maple Valley	$2579
35 km or 21 mi	Mukilteo	$2637
35 km or 22 mi	Auburn	$2338
41 km or 25 mi	Everett	$2589
42 km or 26 mi	Tacoma	$2517
46 km or 28 mi	University Place	$2604
48 km or 30 mi	Puyallup	$2644
50 km or 31 mi	Lake Stevens	$2604
51 km or 32 mi	Lakewood	$2449
52 km or 33 mi	Marysville	$2598
57 km or 35 mi	Spanaway	$2460
74 km or 46 mi	Lacey	$2571
76 km or 47 mi	Olympia	$2406
78 km or 48 mi	Sequim	$2692
80 km or 50 mi	Oak Harbor	$2751
90 km or 56 mi	Mount Vernon	$2542
100 km or 62 mi	Port Angeles	$2527
109 km or 68 mi	Centralia	$2523
119 km or 74 mi	Victoria	$2093

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