Life is getting expensive, isn’t it? Nothing’s changed on the shopping list, but the total has definitely changed on the receipt. Add six back-to-back interest rate hikes to the equation and a 12% rise in median unit rents across Sydney, and you’ve got a cost-of-living conundrum on your hands.
But while it might feel like we’re getting hit with the worst of it, spare a thought for our wallet worrying friends across the seas. Compared to places like Singapore, America, London, and Berlin, we’ve got it pretty good when it comes to annual earnings vs. cost-of-living burdens. How good? Thanks to data provided by Sydney Morning Herald foreign correspondents recently, let’s find out.
In Sydney, where average annual full-time earnings clock in at approx. $93,080, the median monthly rent on a unit will set you back about $2,574. A takeaway coffee will cost you $4, unless you’re adding oat milk and organic honey and a personalised morning salutation from the bees who made it. Here, the average price of a short 5km bus trip is $3.93, a litre of unleaded petrol $1.87, a kWh of electricity 29c, and, saving the most important items for last, a 1kg of rump steak $28.
By comparison, in Singapore, where average annual full-time earnings are approx. $60,548 AUD, rental prices are skyrocketing, with prices up 27% in the past year. Here, the average monthly unit rent is $3,232, while petrol is $2.82 per litre and electricity 34c. While a short bus trip might only set you back $1.02, a takeaway coffee can cost you seven times that at $7.12. But the real kicker that will make you rethink your gawking at the local pub menu is the $61 price tag on a 1kg piece of rump steak. The only living cost that is significantly lower is a movie ticket—$11 in Singapore as opposed to $25 here.
In the US, where average annual full-time earnings clock in at $84,423 AUD, the price of monthly rent is similar to Sydney’s at $2,759. Across the US, rents continue to rise at a record pace, with a 11.3% increase YoY. The cost of a bus ticket is also similar at $3.12, as with petrol at $1.58 per litre. Though it’s cheaper to keep the lights on in America (25c per kWh), it appears it’s their turn to experience an iceberg crisis with the humble head of lettuce surging at $4.20. As for a trip to the doctor… let’s not even go there.
In London, where the average full time yearly earnings are $69,888 AUD and the monthly rent $3,223, the cost of electricity feels less like a pinch and more like a bolt of lightning. At a whopping 89c per kWh, the UK’s Prime Minister Liz Truss has intervened to freeze energy prices for households for two years. Even the Brits’ beloved Fish n Chips are feeling the burn of high energy bills and rising food costs due to government imposed tariffs on Russian fish in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine—the average price of the humble meal has increased from $14 to $20.
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And finally, in Berlin, where annual earnings clock in at around $79,729 AUD, monthly rent is slightly lower at $1,894. But getting around town will set you back an extra dollar than in Sydney, with bus trips costing $4.91. Still, that’s a lot cheaper than filling up your tank, with petrol at an eye-watering $3.18 per litre due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Electricity is more than twice as expensive as in Sydney at 68c per kWh, but at least the rump steak is cheap. For just $19.27 you can bag a kilo—it’ll just cost significantly more to cook it.
