Australia often presents university education as a pathway to opportunity. But for many students, that opportunity depends on being able to afford rent, transport, food, and the cost of living near where they study.
This data story explores whether rising housing and living costs are making Australian university cities harder for students to access.
Are students being priced out of Australia’s major university cities?
To explore this, the following visualisations look at rental pressure, student population patterns, student accommodation supply, and broader living cost increases.
The first part of the story is the rent shock. Before looking specifically at students, it is important to understand the pressure created by rising rents in Australian cities. For students who often rely on part-time work, family support, savings, or limited income, even small increases in rent can change where they are able to live and study.
Figure 1. Rental pressure has increased across Australian cities, creating a difficult starting point for students trying to live close to university.
Rent pressure does not affect every city in the same way. Some cities have larger student populations, more universities, and stronger competition for housing. This visualisation will compare student demand with rental pressure to show which places may be more difficult for students to afford.
Figure 2. States with large higher education student populations can face extra pressure when rental costs in their capital cities are also high.
One possible solution to student housing pressure is purpose-built student accommodation. However, if accommodation supply does not grow in line with student demand, more students may be pushed into the private rental market, where they compete with other renters for limited housing.
Figure 3. Student accommodation supply matters because when purpose-built accommodation is limited, more students may need to compete in the private rental market.
Rent is usually the biggest cost students think about, but it is not the only one. Transport, food, utilities, and other everyday costs also affect whether students can afford to study in major cities. Looking at these costs together gives a more realistic picture of student affordability.
Figure 4. Student affordability is shaped by more than rent alone, as food, transport, housing, and education costs all contribute to everyday financial pressure.
The final part of the story is about what these pressures mean in real life. If students face rising rent, limited accommodation options, and higher everyday costs at the same time, university access becomes more unequal. Students with stronger family support may manage, while others may need to work longer hours, commute further, or reconsider where and how they study.
Figure 5. Even with online and flexible study options, many students remain connected to campus, meaning housing and transport pressures still shape their university experience.
This data story uses public data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Government Department of Education.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2025). Consumer Price Index, Australia: Table 10. CPI: Group, Sub-group and Expenditure Class, Index Numbers by Capital City. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/consumer-price-index-australia/latest-release
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2025). Student accommodation in Australia. https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/student-accommodation-australia
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2026). Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia: Table 2. Commodity groups, index numbers, percentage changes and points contributions, by household type. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/selected-living-cost-indexes-australia/latest-release
Australian Government Department of Education. (2025). Selected Higher Education Statistics – 2024 Student data. https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/student-data/selected-higher-education-statistics-2024-student-data
I used ChatGPT to help interpret the assignment requirements, brainstorm topic ideas, organise the story structure, identify possible public datasets, and troubleshoot R code. The final topic choice, data checking, visualisation decisions, interpretation of results, and submitted work were reviewed and completed by me.
I acknowledge the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Government Department of Education for making the public datasets used in this project available.