Choosing where to live in Australia

Australia's largest city and its main business hub, wrapped around a harbour and backed by roughly 100 beaches.

Highest in Australia

Deepest job market in the country — finance, tech, professional services, hospitality

Warm humid summers, mild winters — rarely properly cold

Fast-paced, outdoorsy and coastal

Australia's cultural capital: trams, laneway bars, live music, world-class sport and a food scene that rivals anywhere.

High, but usually below Sydney

Broad market — professional services, healthcare, education, creative and tech

The most changeable in Australia — genuinely four seasons in a day

Cultural, social and city-centric

A subtropical river city that has grown up fast — smaller and cheaper than Sydney or Melbourne, with the Gold and Sunshine Coasts on the doorstep.

Moderate — rising, but below Sydney and Melbourne

Growing market — construction, healthcare, hospitality, logistics and mining services

Warm to hot most of the year; humid summers with storms, mild dry winters

Relaxed, outdoors, river-and-coast focused

The most isolated major city in the world, and one of the sunniest — Indian Ocean beaches, a big river, and a resources economy that pays well.

Moderate — has risen sharply in recent years

Mining, resources, trades, engineering, healthcare and construction

Hot dry summers, mild wet winters, more sunshine than any other Australian capital

Outdoors, beach-first and unhurried

A planned city ringed by parkland, with the lowest living costs of Australia's major capitals and beaches, hills and vineyards all within half an hour.

Lowest of the five major cities

Healthcare, defence, education, agriculture, space and advanced manufacturing

Dry warm summers, cool wet winters — Australia's driest capital

Calm, compact and community-minded