Purchasing Power Parity · Australia
Cost of living in 🇦🇺 Australia vs the United States
Australia has a US-relative price level of 0.923 (US = 1.0) — about 8% cheaper than the United States. Reference year 2025.
What US salaries are worth in Australia
| US income | Feels like (US-equivalent) | Cost of a US lifestyle |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $54,171 | $46,150 |
| $80,000 | $86,674 | $73,840 |
| $120,000 | $130,011 | $110,760 |
| $180,000 | $195,016 | $166,140 |
| $250,000 | $270,856 | $230,750 |
“Feels like” = income ÷ price level; “cost of a US lifestyle” = income × price level. Try your own number in the interactive calculator.
How the sources compare
Each provider measures Australia's price level slightly differently; a tight spread means high confidence.
Consensus (median) 0.923 2025
World Bank — GDP 0.902 2024
IMF (WEO) 0.943 2024
OECD 0.879 2025
Penn World Table 0.945 2023
World Bank — Consumption 0.942 2024
Big Mac Index 0.930 2026
Cost of living around the world
Every country shaded by its price level relative to the US (darker = more expensive). Australia is outlined.
Cheaper → pricier · click a country to open its page
Countries with a similar cost of living
- 🇩🇰 Denmark — price level 0.899
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand — price level 0.891
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom — price level 0.863
- 🇨🇦 Canada — price level 0.846
- 🇳🇴 Norway — price level 0.841
Relocating for work? See the fair salary from the US to Australia or use the Fair Pay Localizer.
Frequently asked questions
- How expensive is Australia compared to the United States?
- Australia has a price level of 0.923 relative to the US baseline of 1.0 (about 8% cheaper than the United States), based on the median of World Bank, IMF, OECD and Penn World Table figures with reference year 2025.
- What is a $100,000 salary worth in Australia?
- In purchasing-power terms, $100,000 stretches to about $108,342 of US-equivalent lifestyle in Australia; conversely, sustaining a $100,000 US lifestyle there costs about $92,300.
- Where does the Australia cost-of-living data come from?
- Real price-level figures from the World Bank, IMF World Economic Outlook, OECD and Penn World Table, blended as a per-country median and refreshed at build time.