Country guide · Australia
Moving to Australia: cost of living, salaries, taxes, visas
Points-based skilled migration; broad working-holiday agreements; high overall tax, mild winters, and a heavy-housing-cost market in Sydney and Melbourne.
Australia runs one of the most developed points-based skilled migration programs globally. The General Skilled Migration pool lets candidates apply without an employer; employer-sponsored 482/186 visas are the alternative for named hires.
Income tax is progressive and combined with the 2% Medicare levy lands in the high 20s effective rate for mid-career professionals. Sydney and Melbourne dominate the relocator inflow; housing is the dominant cost factor in both, with rentals well above the country's smaller-city averages.
At a glance
Australia relocation profile
Mundevo coverage in Australia
Cost-of-living detail pages for each Australia city in the catalog.
Tax and visa landscape
Headline tax model + entry-point visa overview for relocators.
- Effective income tax: 23.0%
- Social security (employee): 0.0%
- Total payroll deduction: 23.0%
- VAT: 10.0%
- Currency: AUD
Effective rates assume a single salaried filer at country median wage. Special regimes (e.g. expat-favoring schemes) are not applied here — see the visa guide for those.
Visa categories, residency routes, and tax-regime context for relocators are detailed in the dedicated visa guide.
Australia visa guide →Salary bands at Sydney — by role
Illustrative gross-salary bands for 6 senior IC roles in Sydney. Derived from NYC anchor × Australia pay-tier multiplier. Cross-check Levels.fyi, Glassdoor before negotiating.
| Role | P25 | P50 | P75 | NYC anchor (P50) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software engineer | A$143,993 | A$178,750 | A$228,403 | $180,000 |
| Product manager | A$148,958 | A$193,646 | A$258,194 | $195,000 |
| UX / product designer | A$109,236 | A$143,993 | A$193,646 | $145,000 |
| Marketing manager | A$94,340 | A$129,097 | A$173,785 | $130,000 |
| Data scientist | A$134,063 | A$173,785 | A$228,403 | $175,000 |
| Finance analyst | A$117,639 | A$165,764 | A$235,278 | $155,000 |
Top relocation corridors
Closest peers by cost-of-living index — the moves most commonly considered alongside Australia.