Cost of living comparison

Tonga

compared to

Australia

Australia vs. Tonga Cost of Living Summary

Australia is 82.4% more expensive than Tonga overall.

Restaurants: pay 41.6% more in Australia
Groceries: pay 15.9% more in Australia
Transportation: pay 85.2% more in Australia
Housing: pay 54.7% more in Australia
Childcare: pay 30.2 times more in Australia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 25.5% more in Australia
Clothing: pay 4.4 times more in Australia

The cost of childcare, clothing, transportation, housing, restaurants, and entertainment and sports in Australia are more expensive than in Tonga. Notably, childcare, clothing, and transportation are significantly more expensive in Australia.

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Australia vs. Tonga Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Australia instead of Tonga, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 41.6% more for restaurants

	Tonga	Australia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.31 TOP20.00	$18.42 A$26.50	+121.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.38 TOP25.00	$10.19 A$14.66	-1.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.84 TOP6.83	$2.88 A$4.14	+1.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.46 TOP5.92	$2.33 A$3.35	-5.3%
Average			+41.6%

Tonga vs. Australia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 15.9% more for groceries

	Tonga	Australia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.04 TOP2.50	$2.64 A$3.80	+154.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.50 TOP10.83	$4.67 A$6.72	+3.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.92 TOP14.26	$6.28 A$9.03	+6.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.09 TOP12.27	$4.79 A$6.89	-5.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.67 TOP6.43	$4.19 A$6.03	+57.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.26 TOP3.02	$1.62 A$2.32	+28.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.26 TOP3.02	$1.32 A$1.90	+5.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.32 TOP3.18	$1.35 A$1.94	+2.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.70 TOP4.08	$2.06 A$2.96	+21.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.44 TOP3.48	$1.19 A$1.71	-17.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.19 TOP2.87	$1.05 A$1.51	-12.1%
Average			+15.9%

Tonga vs. Australia - Cost of groceries

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pay 85.2% more for transportation

	Tonga	Australia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.50 TOP13.25	$4.98 A$7.17	-9.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$41.53 TOP100.00	$91.09 A$131.05	+119.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$5,814.53 TOP14,000.00	$27,191.77 A$39,119.22	+367.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$18.69 TOP45.00	$17.22 A$24.78	-7.8%
Average			+85.2%

Tonga vs. Australia - Cost of transportation

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pay 54.7% more for housing

	Tonga	Australia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$124.60 TOP300.00	$57.16 A$82.23	-54.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$622.99 TOP1,500.00	$1,309.09 A$1,883.31	+110.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	??	$1,073.97 A$1,545.05
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$142.92 TOP344.12	$146.37 A$210.58	+2.4%
Average			+54.7%

Tonga vs. Australia - Cost of housing

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pay 30.2 times more for childcare

	Tonga	Australia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$157.82 TOP380.00	$1,957.92 A$2,816.75	+1140.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$249.19 TOP600.00	$18,377.12 A$26,438.09	+7274.6%
Average			+2924.7%

Tonga vs. Australia - Cost of childcare

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pay 25.5% more for entertainment and sports

	Tonga	Australia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.32 TOP8.00	$7.20 A$10.36	+116.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.91 TOP7.00	$3.95 A$5.68	+35.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$10.18 TOP24.50	$36.89 A$53.08	+262.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$31.15 TOP75.00	$56.05 A$80.64	+80.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$41.53 TOP100.00	$14.44 A$20.77	-65.2%
Average			+25.5%

Tonga vs. Australia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 4.4 times more for clothing

	Tonga	Australia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$14.54 TOP35.00	$77.86 A$112.01	+435.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$17.65 TOP42.50	$53.33 A$76.73	+202.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$20.77 TOP50.00	$112.59 A$161.98	+442.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$29.07 TOP70.00	$118.82 A$170.94	+308.7%
Average			+335.2%

Tonga vs. Australia - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Tonga vs. Australia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Australia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Make 9.9 times more money in Australia

Size Comparison · See true size

Tonga is about 10,363 times smaller than Australia.

Moving from Tonga to Australia · OECD 2023

116 people moved from Tonga to Australia.

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