Cost of Living in Australia: A Data-Driven Perspective

Ann Maria Sajan

2025-06-11

Introduction

  • Australia is in a rising cost of living crisis that is affecting households across the spectrum of income.This presentation explores:

    Consumer Price Index (CPI) trends through the time and cities

    Wage growth vs. inflation – are incomes keeping up?

    Household spending patterns – essentials vs. housing

  • Our aim: to uncover how inflation, wages, and essential costs shape the everyday lives.

CPI Across Cities

  • CPI has steadily increased across all cities from 1948 to 2024.
  • Noticeable sharp increases post-2021 reflect inflationary pressures.
  • Sydney and Melbourne lead in CPI growth.

Annual CPI Percentage Change

  • Bubble size and color reflect the inflation rate.

  • 1970s and 2022 show notable spikes in inflation.

NATIONAL ANNUAL CPI % CHANGE

  • Highlights CPI volatility, especially in the 1970s and early 2020s

Annual Wage Growth in Australia

  • Wage growth shows a moderate upward trend post-pandemic recovery.

  • However, growth is not uniform across sectors, and real purchasing power may still lag due to inflation.

Inflation vs Wage Growth

  • Wage growth mostly outpaced inflation until 2021

  • In 2022, inflation briefly overtook wage growth

Essentials vs Housing by Income Group

  • Low-income households spend a disproportionate share on housing.
  • Less flexibility for discretionary spending.
  • On average, Australians spend more on essentials than housing.

Key Takeaways

  • CPI has increased considerably in all cities since the beginning of 2021.

  • Wage growth has improved, however it fluctuates from year to year.

  • Price increases of inflation have been shown in the 1970s and the early 2020s.

  • Essentials were headed up every time period, always surpassed the cost of housing on average.

  • Australians are financially stretched, making it harder to maintain their standard of living.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2024). Consumer price index (CPI), wage growth and household expenditure. https://www.abs.gov.au/

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Lumley, T. (2020). Scales: Scale functions for visualization [R package]. https://cran.r-project.org/package=scales