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What it costs to live in Sydney, NSW
Sydney council area, New South Wales. About 241,797 people lived here in 2025. Here's what rent, power, fuel, the pokies and crime look like, and how each one sits against the rest of New South Wales.
Rent
$900
A week. That's the median rent on new leases in the June quarter 2026.
Pokies losses
$1,921
Lost for every resident in a year. That's 1.7 times the NSW average.
See pokies losses in SydneyElectricity
$1,899
A year on the default offer in the Ausgrid network area, for 3,900 kWh. That's the most a standing offer can cost. A typical plan here costs $1,709.
See electricity pricesUnleaded petrol
189c
A litre, on average, at 12 stations here over the year to September 2026. That's 3c less than the NSW average.
See when fuel is cheapestCrime police recorded
Violent crime, 2025–26
Police recorded 5,732 of these in Sydney. We don't compare this with the state. Huge numbers of people come here each day to work, shop and go out, but the rate only counts the people who live here. That makes it look far higher than it feels.
See each year
| Year | Recorded | Per 100,000 | NSW per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | 5,732 | – | 1,183 |
| 2024–25 | 5,577 | – | 1,171 |
| 2023–24 | 5,487 | – | 1,156 |
| 2022–23 | 5,349 | – | 1,084 |
| 2021–22 | 4,316 | – | 981 |
| 2020–21 | 4,412 | – | 1,055 |
| 2019–20 | 5,021 | – | 1,009 |
| 2018–19 | 5,729 | – | 1,008 |
| 2017–18 | 5,619 | – | 999 |
| 2016–17 | 5,358 | – | 1,000 |
Property crime, 2025–26
Police recorded 10,372 of these in Sydney. We don't compare this with the state. Huge numbers of people come here each day to work, shop and go out, but the rate only counts the people who live here. That makes it look far higher than it feels.
See each year
| Year | Recorded | Per 100,000 | NSW per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | 10,372 | – | 1,622 |
| 2024–25 | 9,987 | – | 1,589 |
| 2023–24 | 9,290 | – | 1,651 |
| 2022–23 | 8,546 | – | 1,572 |
| 2021–22 | 6,218 | – | 1,381 |
| 2020–21 | 6,742 | – | 1,544 |
| 2019–20 | 9,417 | – | 1,826 |
| 2018–19 | 11,289 | – | 2,022 |
| 2017–18 | 11,549 | – | 2,066 |
| 2016–17 | 11,853 | – | 2,184 |
This is crime that police recorded in the area over a year, July to June. Lots of crime is never reported, and a rise can mean police are looking harder, not just that more crime happened. Each state counts crime its own way, so only compare a council with its own state.
Suburbs in Sydney
Who lives in each one, their homes and how they get around.
- Alexandria
- Barangaroo
- Beaconsfield
- Camperdown (part)
- Centennial Park
- Chippendale
- Darlinghurst
- Darlington (Sydney - NSW)
- Dawes Point
- Elizabeth Bay
- Erskineville
- Eveleigh
- Forest Lodge
- Glebe
- Haymarket
- Millers Point
- Moore Park
- Newtown (part)
- Paddington (part)
- Potts Point
- Pyrmont
- Redfern
- Rosebery (part)
- Rushcutters Bay
- Surry Hills
- Sydney
- The Rocks (Sydney - NSW)
- Ultimo
- Waterloo
- Woolloomooloo
- Zetland
Look further
- Rents across Australia: what tenants really pay by suburb and postcode.
- Pokies losses by council: where the most is lost, in four states.
- Fuel prices: the price cycle and the cheapest day to fill up.
- Compare Sydney with another area, side by side.
- Look up another area.
Sources: recorded crime, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Population: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Regional population, CC BY 4.0. Pokies losses: the state's gambling regulator (see the pokies page for its credit). Rent: state rental bond data (see the rent pages). Electricity: Default Market Offer 2026–27: © Commonwealth of Australia (Australian Energy Regulator), CC BY 4.0; retailers' plans under the Consumer Data Right. Fuel: NSW Government FuelCheck, CC BY-SA, so the fuel figure can be reused under the same licence.