---
title: "Cost of Living: Barcelona vs Sydney — Geo-Parity"
description: "Australia is 48% more expensive than Spain for monthly essentials ($2,244 vs $1,516). Full 32-item price comparison: rent, pint, groceries, transport, gym."
canonical: "https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/australia-vs-spain/"
json: "https://geo-parity.com/api/micro-costs.json?base=ES&target=AU"
generator: geo-parity markdown twin
---
Cost of Living · ES vs AU

# 🇪🇸 Barcelona vs 🇦🇺 Sydney: what everyday life costs

Monthly essentials: **$1,516** in Spain vs **$2,244** in Australia — 48% more expensive.

- **Essentials, Spain**: $1,516/mo
- **Essentials, Australia**: $2,244/mo
- **Difference**: +48%
- **1-bed city rent, Australia**: $1,614/mo

## Biggest differences

Smallest premium in Australia

- Petrol/gasoline, 1L: +13%
- Jeans (mid-range brand): +14%
- Running shoes (brand): +14%

Pricier in Australia

- Rent: 3-bedroom, city center: +56%
- Rent: 1-bedroom, outside center: +56%
- Rent: 1-bedroom, city center: +56%

## The full basket (32 items)

| Item | Spain | Australia | Diff |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Housing |  |  |  |
| Rent: 1-bedroom, city center | $1,035 | $1,614 (2,505 AUD) | +56% |
| Rent: 1-bedroom, outside center | $828 | $1,291 (2,004 AUD) | +56% |
| Rent: 3-bedroom, city center | $1,892 | $2,952 (4,581 AUD) | +56% |
| Food out |  |  |  |
| Meal, inexpensive restaurant | $11.91 | $16.89 (26 AUD) | +42% |
| Dinner for two, mid-range | $49.63 | $70.39 (109 AUD) | +42% |
| Fast-food combo meal | $7.56 | $10.38 (16 AUD) | +37% |
| Groceries |  |  |  |
| Milk, 1L | $0.81 | $1.05 (2 AUD) | +30% |
| Bread, fresh loaf 500g | $2.37 | $3.06 (5 AUD) | +29% |
| Eggs, dozen | $2.52 | $3.25 (5 AUD) | +29% |
| Chicken breast, 1kg | $7.41 | $9.55 (15 AUD) | +29% |
| White rice, 1kg | $2.96 | $3.82 (6 AUD) | +29% |
| Apples, 1kg | $3.55 | $4.58 (7 AUD) | +29% |
| Local cheese, 1kg | $8.89 | $11.46 (18 AUD) | +29% |
| Water, 1.5L bottle | $1.48 | $1.91 (3 AUD) | +29% |
| Drinks |  |  |  |
| Domestic beer, pint (draught) | $3.97 | $5.63 (9 AUD) | +42% |
| Imported beer, 330ml bottle | $6.88 | $7.82 (12 AUD) | +14% |
| Cappuccino | $3.31 | $4.69 (7 AUD) | +42% |
| Coke/Pepsi, 330ml | $1.70 | $2.20 (3 AUD) | +29% |
| Transport |  |  |  |
| Public transport, monthly pass | $44.66 | $61.36 (95 AUD) | +37% |
| Public transport, one-way | $1.89 | $2.60 (4 AUD) | +38% |
| Taxi start (normal tariff) | $2.65 | $3.75 (6 AUD) | +42% |
| Taxi, per km | $1.19 | $1.69 (3 AUD) | +42% |
| Petrol/gasoline, 1L | $0.82 | $0.93 (1 AUD) | +13% |
| Utilities & comms |  |  |  |
| Basic utilities, 85m² apartment | $137 | $189 (293 AUD) | +37% |
| Internet, 60Mbps+ unlimited | $48.09 | $66.08 (103 AUD) | +37% |
| Mobile plan, 10GB+ data | $30.92 | $42.48 (66 AUD) | +37% |
| Lifestyle |  |  |  |
| Gym membership, month | $33.08 | $46.93 (73 AUD) | +42% |
| Cinema seat | $9.26 | $13.14 (20 AUD) | +42% |
| Men's haircut | $19.85 | $28.16 (44 AUD) | +42% |
| Jeans (mid-range brand) | $47.33 | $53.75 (83 AUD) | +14% |
| Running shoes (brand) | $77.45 | $87.95 (137 AUD) | +14% |
| Coworking hot desk, month | $165 | $235 (364 AUD) | +42% |

Estimated from World Bank — Consumption price levels with per-item elasticity — model figures, not quotes. Compare any pair in the [interactive tool](https://geo-parity.com/expenses/?tab=prices&base=ES&target=AU).

## Beyond prices

What each place pays, charges and offers — wages, rent, healthcare, climate, risk and time off. Figures come from the same engines behind the individual tools, so they match what those pages say. They sit about **16,182 km** apart as the crow flies.

| Measure | 🇪🇸 Spain | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Median local wage Monthly, USD. The local midpoint, not an average. | $2,742 | $3,805 |
| Rent, 1-bed Monthly, USD. | $542 | $1,534 |
| Rent as % of a local wage Are locals priced out? | 19.8% | 40.3% |
| Out-of-pocket healthcare Per person per year, USD. | $648 | $1,106 |
| Doctors per 1,000 WHO. | 4.3 | 4.1 |
| Comfortable days a year 18-27 °C and dry. Measured at Barcelona and Sydney. | 117 | 145 |
| Rule of law World Bank WGI. A survey composite, so the band leads, not the decimal. | strong | very strong |
| Country risk INFORM, 0-10. Lower is safer. | 2.5 (low) | 2.4 (low) |
| Public holidays Observed nationwide; regional days are counted separately. | 10 + 22 regional | 6 + 21 regional |
| Air quality Mean annual PM2.5, µg/m³. WHO guideline is 5. Lower is better. | 8.3 | 6.3 |
| Life expectancy Years at birth — the outcome, not the spending. | 83.9 | 83.1 |
| Homicide rate Per 100,000 a year. A count, not a perception score. | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| Population online % using the internet. Reach, not speed — the row below is speed. | 95.8% | 96.1% |
| Internet download Measured median, Mbps. | 325.8 | 176.8 |

## Cheap for you, or cheap for everyone?

Rent measured twice: against a $6,000/month remote income, and against what people actually earn locally. The gap between the two is the arbitrage — and it is the reason somewhere can be affordable to you and unaffordable to a local at once.

🇪🇸 Spain

10.8 pts

9% of your income vs 19.8% of a local wage

🇦🇺 Australia

14.7 pts

25.6% of your income vs 40.3% of a local wage

Worked at $6,000/month. [Run it on your own income](https://geo-parity.com/expenses/?tab=housing)

## The whole Spain → Australia move, in one place

Everything above is free and always will be. The relocation report is the same engines run together for this one corridor: what you keep after rent, prices, healthcare and tax; the local wage ladder you would be earning against; which visas your income qualifies for; the day count that makes you tax-resident; and the months worth being there for.

[See the Spain → Australia report — £7](https://geo-parity.com/report/spain-to-australia/) One-off. No subscription. Free preview first.

## Related

- [Reverse view: Australia vs Spain](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/australia-vs-spain/)
- [Fair salary: Spain → Australia](https://geo-parity.com/salary/spain-to-australia/)
- [How much to retire in Australia?](https://geo-parity.com/fire/australia/)
- [Cost of living in Australia vs the US](https://geo-parity.com/ppp/australia/)

## More comparisons

### Spain compared with

- [Spain vs Denmark](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/spain-vs-denmark/)
- [Spain vs United Kingdom](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/spain-vs-united-kingdom/)
- [Spain vs Norway](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/spain-vs-norway/)
- [Spain vs New Zealand](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/spain-vs-new-zealand/)
- [Spain vs Sweden](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/spain-vs-sweden/)
- [Spain vs Canada](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/spain-vs-canada/)

### Moving to Australia from

- [Italy vs Australia](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/italy-vs-australia/)
- [Japan vs Australia](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/japan-vs-australia/)
- [Portugal vs Australia](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/portugal-vs-australia/)
- [France vs Australia](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/france-vs-australia/)
- [Singapore vs Australia](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/singapore-vs-australia/)
- [Greece vs Australia](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/greece-vs-australia/)

## Frequently asked questions

- **How much more expensive is Australia than Spain?**: A single person's monthly essentials run about $2,244 in Australia versus $1,516 in Spain — 48% more. Rents differ the most; world-priced goods like petrol and electronics the least.
- **What does a beer cost in Australia?**: A domestic draught pint is roughly $5.63 in Australia (≈ 8.74 AUD), versus about $3.97 in Spain.
- **How much is rent in Australia compared to Spain?**: A 1-bedroom city-center apartment is estimated at $1,614/month in Australia versus $1,035/month in Spain (+56%). Housing is the most locally-priced item in the basket.
- **How are these prices estimated?**: Curated US baseline prices scaled by each country's purchasing-power price level with per-item elasticities (housing 1.4, services 1.1, groceries 0.8, world-priced goods 0.4) — model estimates for orientation, not quotes.

Model estimates — verify locally. Agents: GET /api/micro-costs.json?base=ES&target=AU.

---

Source: Geo-Parity — https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/australia-vs-spain/ · JSON: https://geo-parity.com/api/micro-costs.json?base=ES&target=AU