Trackkn

Your area › Queensland › Cairns

What it costs to live in Cairns, QLD

Cairns council area, Queensland. About 179,334 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 Queensland.

Rent

$600

A week. That's the median rent on new leases in the June quarter 2026.

Pokies losses

$1,227

Lost for every adult in a year. That's 1.4 times the QLD average.

See pokies losses in Cairns

Electricity

$2,031

A year on the regulated price in the Ergon Energy network area, for 4,748 kWh. That's the price the state's regulator sets for the standing offer. A typical plan here costs $2,031.

See electricity prices

Unleaded petrol

183c

A litre, on average, at 46 stations here over the year to August 2026. That's 6c less than the QLD average.

See when fuel is cheapest

Crime police recorded

Offences against the person, 2025–26

Cairns2,808
QLD average1,512

Police recorded 5,036 of these in Cairns. That's 2,808 for every 100,000 people, or 1.9 times the QLD average. Five years before, in 2020–21, it was 1,472, so it has gone up 91%.

See each year
YearRecordedPer 100,000QLD per 100,000
2025–265,0362,8081,512
2024–255,1382,8651,562
2023–245,0152,8241,550
2022–234,9242,8141,467
2021–224,0702,3711,273
2020–212,4911,472883
2019–202,2001,304738
2018–191,7381,040739
2017–181,7971,084737
2016–171,7171,048706

Offences against property, 2025–26

Cairns8,409
QLD average4,928

Police recorded 15,080 of these in Cairns. That's 8,409 for every 100,000 people, or 1.7 times the QLD average. Five years before, in 2020–21, it was 5,526, so it has gone up 52%.

See each year
YearRecordedPer 100,000QLD per 100,000
2025–2615,0808,4094,928
2024–2515,8498,8384,868
2023–2414,3068,0565,204
2022–2316,2359,2775,290
2021–2214,0588,1904,610
2020–219,3525,5264,154
2019–2012,5447,4355,118
2018–1911,8397,0835,075
2017–1812,0987,3004,887
2016–1712,2607,4844,694

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 Cairns

Who lives in each one, their homes and how they get around.

Look further

Sources: recorded crime, © State of Queensland (Queensland Police Service), Reported offences by LGA, CC BY 4.0; Australian Bureau of Statistics, CC BY 4.0. 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: Regional Queensland notified prices 2026–27: Queensland Competition Authority; retailers' plans under the Consumer Data Right. Fuel: Queensland Government, Fuel Price Reporting, CC BY 4.0.