Cost of living comparison

compared to

Lower Hutt vs. Canberra Cost of Living Summary

Lower Hutt is 11.3% cheaper than Canberra.

Restaurants: pay 6.3% less in Lower Hutt
Groceries: pay 2.1% less in Lower Hutt
Transportation: pay 13.3% less in Lower Hutt
Housing: pay 13.3% less in Lower Hutt
Childcare: pay 37.0% less in Lower Hutt
Entertainment and Sports: pay 16.6% less in Lower Hutt
Clothing: pay 9.7% more in Lower Hutt

Expenses including childcare, entertainment and sports, transportation, housing, restaurants, and groceries are lower in Lower Hutt.

Lower Hutt vs. Canberra Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Lower Hutt instead of Canberra, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 6.3% less for restaurants

	Canberra	Lower Hutt
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$16.34 A$24.61	$14.42 NZ$24.97	-11.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.81 A$14.76	$10.30 NZ$17.83	+5.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.59 A$3.90	$2.25 NZ$3.89	-13.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.24 A$3.37	$2.12 NZ$3.66	-5.5%
Average			-6.3%

Canberra vs. Lower Hutt - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.1% less for groceries

	Canberra	Lower Hutt
Bread 1 loaf	$2.71 A$4.07	$1.98 NZ$3.42	-26.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.99 A$7.51	$4.02 NZ$6.96	-19.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.50 A$8.27	$6.79 NZ$11.75	+23.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.31 A$6.50	$6.77 NZ$11.73	+57.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.17 A$6.28	$3.99 NZ$6.91	-4.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.48 A$2.23	$1.24 NZ$2.15	-16.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.35 A$2.03	$0.92 NZ$1.59	-32.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.33 A$2.01	$1.33 NZ$2.30	-0.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.86 A$2.80	$2.32 NZ$4.01	+24.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.01 A$1.52	$0.91 NZ$1.58	-9.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.04 A$1.57	$0.84 NZ$1.45	-19.6%
Average			-2.1%

Canberra vs. Lower Hutt - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 13.3% less for transportation

	Canberra	Lower Hutt
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.42 A$6.65	$6.14 NZ$10.63	+39.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$122.90 A$185.04	$28.85 NZ$49.93	-76.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,041.09 A$43,723.43	$31,154.21 NZ$53,928.03	+7.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$18.93 A$28.49	$14.55 NZ$25.19	-23.1%
Average			-13.3%

Canberra vs. Lower Hutt - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 13.3% less for housing

	Canberra	Lower Hutt
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$51.97 A$78.25	$48.75 NZ$84.39	-6.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,554.45 A$2,340.33	$1,442.32 NZ$2,496.67	-7.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,160.39 A$1,747.05	$1,057.70 NZ$1,830.89	-8.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$159.03 A$239.43	$109.37 NZ$189.31	-31.2%
Average			-13.3%

Canberra vs. Lower Hutt - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 37.0% less for childcare

	Canberra	Lower Hutt
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,754.20 A$2,641.08	$692.32 NZ$1,198.40	-60.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$13,323.22 A$20,059.06	$11,538.60 NZ$19,973.35	-13.4%
Average			-37.0%

Canberra vs. Lower Hutt - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 16.6% less for entertainment and sports

	Canberra	Lower Hutt
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.54 A$9.84	$6.63 NZ$11.48	+1.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.41 A$5.13	$3.46 NZ$5.99	+1.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$31.05 A$46.75	$19.62 NZ$33.95	-36.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$58.70 A$88.37	$41.83 NZ$72.40	-28.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$13.07 A$19.69	$10.38 NZ$17.98	-20.6%
Average			-16.6%

Canberra vs. Lower Hutt - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 9.7% more for clothing

	Canberra	Lower Hutt
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$69.40 A$104.48	$69.31 NZ$119.97	-0.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$57.75 A$86.94	$54.81 NZ$94.87	-5.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$94.06 A$141.61	$113.30 NZ$196.13	+20.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$118.40 A$178.26	$146.23 NZ$253.12	+23.5%
Average			+9.7%

Canberra vs. Lower Hutt - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

More cost comparisons

Canberra vs.

Mexico City

Canberra vs.

Athens

Canberra vs.

Prague

Canberra vs.

Beijing

Canberra vs.

Manila

Canberra vs.

Wellington

Canberra vs.

Algiers

Canberra vs.

Paris

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in Australia vs. New Zealand. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Australia and New Zealand.

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Add prices for Canberra

Add prices for Lower Hutt

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Lower Hutt or Canberra. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.