Everyone tells you Australia is expensive. Everyone also tells you Ireland and the UK are a rip-off. Both are true, just not about the same things. After 16 years split between Ireland, the UK and Australia, here is the honest version: there are things I miss paying for at home, and things I would never pay for here again.
All figures are approximate October 2026 prices in local currency, because converting everything makes your head spin and tells you less than you think. Treat every number as a range for a normal city, not a national average: Belfast is not Dublin, and Sydney is not Adelaide.
The Hourly Minimum, Side by Side
- Australia: A$26.44 an hour, A$1,004.90 for a 38-hour week.
- UK: £12.71 for 21 and over from April 2026.
- Ireland: €14.15 for 20 and over from January 2026.
In local currency those numbers look close. What matters is what an hour buys, and that is where the tables below come in.
Groceries: Cheaper at Home, Mostly
Approximate supermarket prices, cheapest own-brand options, each in its own local unit:
Item · UK · Ireland · Australia
Milk · £1.25 to £1.30 (2 pints) · €1.20 to €1.40 (1L) · A$3.39 to A$3.40 (2L)
White sliced bread · about £1.38 (800g) · €1.50 to €2.50 · A$3.69 to A$4.60
Eggs, dozen · about £2.95 · €3.00 to €4.50 · A$5.99 to A$6.70
Chicken breast, 1kg · £7.50 to £8.80 · €8 to €10 · A$8.70 to A$12.50
The UK is the cheapest of the three on almost every line, and the gap is biggest on bread and eggs. Ireland sits in the middle, closer to the UK than to Australia on dairy and eggs, though Irish grocery inflation has been running around 4.7% year on year, so treat those ranges as moving.
On a straight conversion the Australia gap narrows, but the everyday experience does not: a weekly shop in a UK or Irish supermarket feels cheaper for basics, especially dairy, bread and own-brand everything. Australian supermarkets have less competition, and it shows at the till.
Where Australia wins is fresh produce, if you shop properly. A greengrocer beats a supermarket on fruit and veg by a wide margin, and markets at closing time are even better. Read where I actually shop for that system.
It Depends on the City, Not the Country
This is the part every comparison table misses. The country you pick matters less than the city you land in.
- Belfast vs Dublin. Belfast's average private rent is around £1,138 a month. Dublin's average rent for a new tenancy is around €2,335 a month. Belfast is dramatically cheaper, and by most quality-of-life measures far easier to live in: smaller, walkable, less frantic.
- The catch is pay. Dublin salaries are higher, often a lot higher, especially in tech, pharma and finance. Belfast wages are lower, so the cheaper rent does not automatically leave you better off. You have to compare what is left after rent, not the rent itself.
- Sydney vs the rest of Australia. Sydney and Melbourne set the prices everyone quotes about Australia. Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide are cheaper on rent and, in Perth's case, often better paid.
- London vs everywhere else in the UK. Same story in reverse. London rents and London wages both run well above the UK average, and the gap does not always work in your favour.
So: Belfast beats Dublin on cost, Dublin beats Belfast on earnings, Sydney beats most of Australia on jobs and loses on rent. Pick the city for the life you want, then check the rent and the local pay before you commit.
Rent: This Is the Whole Argument
- Dublin: a one-bedroom apartment runs roughly €1,966 to €2,165 a month. A room in a shared house is about €720 to €1,110 a month.
- Sydney: a room in a share house commonly runs A$350 to A$550 a week, so roughly A$1,500 to A$2,400 a month. An inner-city one-bed is often $650 to $800 a week.
Put both against the minimum wage and the surprise is that Dublin is not obviously worse on a shared room. What changes the picture is everything else: Dublin's supply is so tight that finding a room is a competitive sport, and Sydney's problem is that the rent is charged weekly, so it lands harder on a casual pay cycle.
My own numbers are in the real weekly budget: $350 to $500 a week for a room, 25 to 30 minutes from the CBD by bus.
If you are comparing cities rather than countries, London vs Melbourne and the Sydney working holiday guide and Melbourne working holiday guide go deeper on rent and jobs.
Fuel, Power and Gas: Australia Wins
Item · UK · Australia
Petrol · about 174p a litre · about A$2.33 a litre
Electricity · about 24.5p per kWh · about A$0.39 per kWh
Gas · about 5.3p per kWh · about A$0.153 per kWh
Per unit, Australian energy is cheaper, and petrol is cheaper per litre even after conversion. That matters if you drive, which in Australia you often do, and it matters less if you are in a Dublin flat with a heat pump and no car.
The catch is that Australian homes are leaky and air conditioning in a Sydney summer is not optional, so the bill can still be large. Cheap units, expensive usage.
Pints, Coffee and Eating Out
- Australia: a 500ml draught beer averages around A$11. A flat white is $5 to $6 in a city.
- Ireland: a Dublin pint averages about €7, and €5 to €12 depending on the pub.
- UK: a pint averages around £4.92.
So the pub is cheaper at home, the coffee is better here. An Australian brunch is a genuine pleasure and a genuine expense. If you want to eat out cheaply, Australia rewards you for cooking, and punishes you for buying lunch every day.
The dinner that surprised me. I was out for dinner in Belfast not long ago: two mains and two glasses of wine came to roughly A$125 once I converted it. The same meal in Australia would have cost me about A$70. That is Belfast, the cheap part of Ireland, and it was still nearly double what I would pay here.
So do not assume eating out is cheaper at home. In my experience, mid-range restaurants are one of the few things that are genuinely better value in Australia, even with Sydney prices. Supermarkets are the opposite: cheaper at home, every week, without fail.
Tax, Take-Home and the Bit People Forget
Working holidaymakers in Australia pay 15% up to $45,000, then 30%, with no tax-free threshold. The UK gives you a personal allowance before tax, and Ireland taxes most people at 20% up to a standard-rate cut-off. On a low wage, the UK and Ireland can feel gentler.
On a high hourly wage, Australia usually wins, because the gross pay is larger to begin with. That is the trade: less generous tax treatment, more money to tax. The detail is in how much tax backpackers pay.
Where the Money Actually Goes
After all the tables, three things decide it:
1. Rent is the swing. A cheap city in any of the three countries beats an expensive city in the others.
2. Groceries are cheaper at home; energy and fuel are cheaper here. They roughly cancel out, and neither will make or break you.
3. Your hourly rate is the biggest number in the equation. Australia pays more per hour for the same work, and that is what funds travel, savings or a bond.
What I Would Tell You Before You Move
- Budget in the local currency from day one. Converting every coffee back to euro will make you miserable and poorer.
- Do not assume Australia is expensive because Sydney is. Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide are a different conversation.
- Shop own-brand, use a greengrocer, and take lunch to work. Those three habits beat any comparison table.
- Check the actual rent in the actual suburb before you commit. Both countries will surprise you, in opposite directions.
- Work out the setup cost before you book a flight. How much money you need to move to Australia covers bonds, first weeks and the paperwork nobody budgets for.
If you want the full relocation order of operations, visa to first payslip, the Ultimate Australia Working Holiday Guide is the one to read next.
If you are still deciding whether to come, relocating to Australia from the UK and the average salary in Australia vs the UK are the next reads. And if Japan is also on your list, Japan vs Australia cost of living uses the same approach.
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