Cost of living - Living costs in Australia.

The cost of living obviously varies massively depending on your lifestyle, so let's just take a look at some averages, so you can see that as a skilled migrant, life in Aus will be very comfortable. A family with 2 kids, 2 cars and a pet or 2 will serve as a decent example, living in a 4 bed, 2/3 bath house not too far from a city centre. (value roughly AU$500,000) The most important point here is that you could save alot or spend a lot more than this, depending on how well you control yourself!

	Lists of categories for the cost of living in Australia: -

Running Costs for the Home Hobbies, Sports & Free Time Food Shopping & Eating Out Schooling Cars & Travelling Totally Weekly Costs Average Australian Salaries

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	Running costs for the home: -

Mortgaga = $23,000 Council Rates = $1400 Water, Electricity, Gas total costs = $2750 Building Insurance ($325,000 cover) = $550 Contents Insurance ($89,000 cover) = $360 Phone, Internet, TV = $1000 Approx A$ 29,000 a year = A$ 560 a week. Example - See the Mortgage Calculator here.

	Hobbies, sports & free time: -

Family membership of the local tennis club = $300 per year Golf (6 day membership of private club) = $1300 per year Swimming / yoga / gym (1 session) = $10 per week Cub Scouts = $250 per year Winter kids sports (Soccer & Netball) = $200 per year Summer kids sports (Teeball & Surf Club) = $200 per year The total cost of all this activity: - $2,750 per year = $230 per month = $53 per week.

Food shopping & eating out: -
	Groceries Weekly supermarket shopping costs around $200, then there's about another $50 per week spent on additional fresh fruit and veg. Here are a few general observations, comparing prices in Perth to those in the UK; Beef and lamb is cheaper in Aus than in the UK and other countries. Packaged goods like cereals and biscuits are slightly more expensive. Almost all fruit and veg is grown locally and the price fluctuates greatly depending on the level of supply. Total food bill for our family of 4: - $250 per week.
	Specials All supermarkets run weekly and daily specials - the price of individual items can be reduced substantially, sometimes by 30-50%. Therefore, if you are able to allocate enough time to the process, you should be able to reduce your weekly shopping bill significantly - by about 20% - 30% overall.
	Alcohol Alcoholic drinks are not sold in supermarkets (at least not in WA) - they are generally sold in "bottle shops", which may be attached to a pub/hotel or may be a separate shop. Some of the supermarket chains do have bottle-shops as a side-line, located near the main store. Note that every week retailers have specials which can reduce the price by 20% or more. Also, beer is much cheaper if you buy a "carton" of 24 cans/bottles or a "block" of 30 cans, rather than buying 4 or 6 at a time. Often there are savings to be had by buying wine by the case or half case. Wine casks (wine box in the UK), holding 2, 3 or 4 litres are also fairly popular and work out cheaper in general than bottled wine. Below are some prices of drinks advertised in specials catalogues that dropped through our door in March 2009. Emu Draft Beer (Aussie mid-strength 3.5%) - 1 block (30 x 375ml) for $24 = $2.14 per litre Full strength Aussie beer (5%) - 1 carton (24 x 375ml) normally about $38, on special for $30 = $3.33 per litre Imported premium beers (5%) - 1 carton (24 x 375ml) normally $55, on special for $45 = $5 per litre Wine - red or white 4 Litre wine cask - 2 for $20 = $2.50 per litre Wine - "reasonable" (opinion of author!) bottle of red or white - $10 on special (normally $13) Spirits - 700ml bottles of gin, blended whiskey etc. - $30
	Eating & Drinking Out Here are a few indicative prices seen when eating and drinking out around Perth: - Cup of coffee = $3.50, mug = $4.00 Full cooked breakfast = $19 MacDonalds burger / fries / drink meal = $6.95 Large pizza (pickup) $5.95 Fillet steak main course with potatoes and a few veg = $30 - $35 Glass of wine in restaurant = $8 Bottled full-strength beer in pub or restaurant = $6 - $8 Pint of Guiness in a pub = $8 - $10 Estimated total for beer/wine, takeaways, eating out for our family of 4: - $100 per week.

Schooling: -
How are the education costs for one child in a local private secondary school and one in a state primary.
	State Primary School No official fees, but each family at our school is asked to pay $20 "voluntary contribution", plus $25 to the P&C (Parents and Children association). There's a stationery order (about $50) at the start of each year, plus the cost of any excursions or incursions (eg. plays put on at the school). Total for state primary school (approx): $240 per year = $20 per month = $5 per week
	Private Secondary School Annual Tuition Fees = $4,600 (Year 11) Other costs (approximate) = $800 Examples of "other costs": - Building Levy ($180 per year) Camp fees ($190) Netball / athletics /swimming carnivals - $30 - $50 each Total for private secondary school: $5,400 per year = $450 per month = $104 per week. Note: This is a "middle-tier" private school. Fees for the "top" schools can be $12,000 per year for tuition alone. Some private schools, especially Catholic ones, can be quite a bit cheaper.

	Cars & Travelling: -

Could be a fortune or a pittance depending on what you feel you need to drive! Check Carbuddy for prices, and also check: - Public Transport: - As an example, from a typical Perth residential area into Perth CBD (a2-zone journey), the standard fare would be $3.50 per journey, totally $35 per week (10 trips). This can be reduced to $26.30 per week by using "SmartRider" card.

	Total weekly costs: -

The weekly "fixed" household spending for a family, rounded up, could be: - Mortgage $450 Other Housing Costs $15 Schooling $100 Cars $125 Food Shopping $250 Drink & Eating Out $100 Sport & Recreation $55 Total $1,095 That's just over $56,000 per year, which requires a gross salary of about $80,000 (one earner) or $36,000 each (two earners) to provide. You do then of course also have clothes, other shopping, holiday etc. to factor in - as mentioned, this can only be a guide and depends on lifestyle, number of little darling vampires (aka kids) you have, and so on.

	Average Australian Salaries: -

Bear in mind that by definition, as a skilled migrant you are in high demand - if you were not, you would not be eligible for a PR visa! Therefore higher than average salaries can be predicted.                             Occupation                                  Average Max         Average Local Accounting $135,287 $77,924 Admin & Office Support $89,736 $52,825 Automotive $131,429 $64,726 Banking & Financial Services $197,143 $81,729 Community, Sport & Leisure $113,978 $61,846 Construction, Building & Architecture $194,118 $110,122 Customer Service & Call Centre $97,737 $51,013 Education $104,510 $63,600 Engineering $232,679 $112,587 Executive $230,173 $118,416 Government & Defences $140,828 $77,396 Graduate $83,575 $48,051 Hospitality, Travel & Tourism $93,125 $56,757 HR & Recruitment $172,500 $86,354 Insurance $147,778 $68,123 IT & Telecomms $197,029 $99,506 Legal $163,412 $77,228 Logistics, Transport & Supply $142,431 $68,921 Manufactureing $224,633 $83,386 Marketing $150,500 $82,622 Media, Advertising, Entertainment $146,417 $75,034 Medical & Healthcare $156,299 $80,050 Mining, Oil & Gas $222,333 $144,172 PR & Communications $155,000 $84,021 Primary Industry $165,000 $73,560 Property & Real Estate $177,500 $80,256 Retail $183,333 $64,831 Sales $183,125 $87,276 Scientific $142,500 $86,236 Trades & Services $148,438 $64,779 You will of course need to transfer your funds to Aussie also - don't waste money using the banks for this - save thousands doing it the clever way: - Other related costs of living and income factors: - See World Pension Transfers for details of your pension.

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