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One page of sourced numbers per city: what a day costs, what the travel advisory says, and which months score best on the weather.

Data: GeoNames, Open-Meteo, World Bank, US State Department, UK FCDO.

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© 2026 Travel City Index. Every number on this site comes from a dataset named on the page that shows it.
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Australia · Australia

Melbourne vs Sydney: cost, safety and weather compared (2026)

Every figure below comes from the same datasets for both cities, so the two columns are comparable.

Melbourne and Sydney compared on cost, safety, weather and size
MelbourneAustraliaSydneyAustralia
Daily cost, per personestimate
Budget$100$100
Mid-range$235$235
Luxury$505$505
Price level0.90× US (2025)0.90× US (2025)
US advisoryLevel 1Level 1
Best monthsJan, Feb, Mar and DecFeb, Mar, Apr and Oct
Annual rain772 mm1,070 mm
Average high19.8 °C22.4 °C
Population5.4M5.6M
Time zoneAustralia/MelbourneAustralia/Sydney

The short answer

Melbourne and Sydney cost roughly the same per day, $235 against $235 (mid-range estimate). Both carry a US Level 1 advisory. In September, the daily average is 13 °C in Melbourne and 17 °C in Sydney.

Keep reading

City overviews

  • Melbourne overview
  • Sydney overview

Cost and safety in detail

  • Melbourne trip cost
  • Is Melbourne safe?
  • Sydney trip cost
  • Is Sydney safe?

Where they rank

  • Cheapest cities in Oceania
  • Safest cities in Oceania

Countries

  • All cities in Australia

Sources

  • GeoNames city database — CC BY 4.0, fetched September 14, 2026
  • Open-Meteo climate archive — CC BY 4.0, fetched September 21, 2026
  • World Bank price level and exchange rate — CC BY 4.0, data year 2025
  • US State Department travel advisories — public domain, fetched September 21, 2026

Dates are the most recent fetch across the cities on this page. Every sentence here is generated from the data by rule, with no AI writing; the formulas are public.