Highest council rates in Australia, 227 councils across three states
Everyone wants one list. The problem is that Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria do not publish the same number, so a single sorted list would be wrong in a way that looks authoritative. Below are three rankings covering 227 councils, kept apart on purpose, and an explanation of why merging them would mislead you.
In New South Wales, Hunters Hill has the most expensive council rates for 2026-27 at $2,446 a year on the average residential rate basis. In Queensland, Sunshine Coast Council has the highest minimum general rate at $1,771. In Victoria, Nillumbik Shire is highest at $2,810 on the 2026-27 average residential rate from council budgets. The three are not directly comparable. The NSW number is a typical residential bill, the QLD number is a floor that most owner-occupiers pay more than, and the Victorian number is an average residential rate built from each council's own budget rather than reported to a state regulator.
Key statistics
- Councils covered
- 225
- NSW dearest
- $2,446 (Hunters Hill)
- QLD dearest
- $1,771 (Sunshine Coast)
- NSW median
- $1,282
- QLD median
- $1,369
- VIC dearest
- $2,810 (Nillumbik)
- VIC median
- $1,714
- Combined ranking
- Not published, deliberately
Why there is no single list on this page. Queensland councils publish a minimum general rate, the floor an owner-occupier pays, and most pay more than it. New South Wales councils report an average residential rate, which is already a typical bill. Victorian figures are an average residential rate built from each council's own 2026-27 budget, including its municipal charge, which is a different source and definition from the New South Wales average. Sorting a floor against two differently built averages produces a ranking that is wrong in more than one direction at once. So the three are ranked separately below and never combined.
One consequence is worth stating plainly, because it works against us. Since the Queensland figures are floors, any comparison between the states understates how much Queensland households actually pay. The real gap is wider than these tables show, not narrower.
Top 10 most expensive council rates in New South Wales
126 councils, on the average residential rate basis.
| Rank | Council | Residential rate 2026-27 | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hunters Hill | $2,446 | NSW average residential rate |
| 2 | Cobar | $2,387 | NSW average residential rate |
| 3 | Wollondilly | $2,195 | NSW average residential rate |
| 4 | Ku-ring-gai | $2,189 | NSW average residential rate |
| 5 | Blue Mountains | $2,157 | NSW average residential rate |
| 6 | Wingecarribee | $2,140 | NSW average residential rate |
| 7 | Maitland | $1,970 | NSW average residential rate |
| 8 | Kiama | $1,959 | NSW average residential rate |
| 9 | Woollahra | $1,894 | NSW average residential rate |
| 10 | Shellharbour | $1,865 | NSW average residential rate |
| 11 | Newcastle | $1,858 | NSW average residential rate |
| 12 | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | NSW average residential rate |
| 13 | Bega Valley | $1,829 | NSW average residential rate |
| 14 | Wollongong | $1,819 | NSW average residential rate |
| 15 | Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional | $1,805 | NSW average residential rate |
That's your council's rates. Now see what a home in your suburb costs to run each year →
Full list: all 126 NSW councils ranked.
Top 10 most expensive council rates in Queensland
On the minimum general rate basis. Read every figure here as a floor.
| Rank | Council | Residential rate 2026-27 | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunshine Coast | $1,771 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 2 | Logan | $1,699 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 3 | Noosa | $1,540 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 4 | Mackay | $1,466 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 5 | Toowoomba | $1,444 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 6 | Redland | $1,436 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 7 | Southern Downs | $1,416 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 8 | Cassowary Coast | $1,415 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 9 | Douglas | $1,400 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 10 | Lockyer Valley | $1,395 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 11 | Scenic Rim | $1,376 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 12 | Mareeba | $1,369 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 13 | Gold Coast | $1,359 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 14 | Townsville | $1,343 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 15 | Moreton Bay | $1,309 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 16 | Ipswich | $1,298 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 17 | Somerset | $1,284 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 18 | South Burnett | $1,189 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 19 | Tablelands | $1,189 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 20 | Cairns | $1,166 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 21 | Western Downs | $1,016 | QLD minimum general rate |
| 22 | Brisbane | $950 | QLD minimum general rate |
Top 10 most expensive council rates in Victoria
Victorian figures are each council's 2026-27 average residential rate: residential general rate revenue in its budget divided by its residential assessments, plus the municipal charge, excluding waste. It is not comparable with either table above. Across all 79 Victorian councils the median is $1,714.
| Rank | Council | Group | Average residential rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nillumbik Shire | Interface | $2,810 |
| 2 | Borough of Queenscliffe | Small Shire | $2,582 |
| 3 | Boroondara City | Metro | $2,459 |
| 4 | Surf Coast Shire | Large Shire | $2,359 |
| 5 | Bayside City | Metro | $2,172 |
| 6 | Yarra Ranges Shire | Interface | $2,162 |
| 7 | Macedon Ranges Shire | Large Shire | $2,141 |
| 8 | South Gippsland Shire | Large Shire | $2,104 |
| 9 | Moonee Valley City | Metro | $2,076 |
| 10 | Manningham City | Metro | $2,065 |
All 79 Victorian councils are ranked in the most expensive council rates in Victoria study. 6 of the 10 dearest are in Greater Melbourne, where every suburb now has its own running-cost page.
Find your own council
Each state is ranked on its own basis, so the useful next step is your own state's full study rather than a national average that cannot be built honestly.
- All 126 New South Wales councils ranked, on the average residential rate
- All 22 Queensland councils ranked, on the minimum general rate
- All 79 Victorian councils ranked, on the average residential rate
For Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria you can go further than the council figure. Every council page there lists its suburbs, and each suburb page carries the full annual running cost including water, commute and insurance.
What the three rankings show
The NSW table has the wider spread by a distance, running from $2,446 down to $144. Queensland's runs from $1,771 to $950. Some of that is genuine and some is an artefact of the basis: a floor compresses, because it is the same number for everyone below a land value threshold, while an average spreads out with the properties underneath it.
The medians are closer than the headline figures suggest. $1,282 in New South Wales against $1,373 in Queensland. And remember which direction the Queensland number is wrong in. A typical Queensland bill sits above its minimum, so the true median gap is smaller than these two numbers, or possibly reversed.
A rate notice is one line of four. You can price the other three for any suburb in either state, on the same sourced basis used throughout this ranking.
What neither table captures is that council rates are the smallest of the costs that vary by where you live. On our own data the suburb with the cheapest council rates in a shortlist is frequently the most expensive to run overall, because the commute swallows the difference several times over. A ranking of rates is a ranking of one line on a bill.
Methodology
Queensland basis. Minimum residential general rate for an owner-occupied principal place of residence, from each council's adopted 2026-27 budget. A floor, not a typical bill.
New South Wales basis. Average residential rate reported to the NSW Office of Local Government, uplifted by that council's IPART rate peg for 2026-27. A typical bill.
Victoria basis. Average residential rate, 2026-27: residential general rate revenue in each council's budget divided by its residential assessments, plus the municipal charge where one is set, excluding waste. Until November 2026 this page used the audited 2024-25 average rate per property assessment (FIM-E4), which covers every property type. Never merged. The two are different statistics. We publish no combined national ranking of rate levels because one cannot be built honestly from these inputs.
Three Queensland figures were corrected in September 2026. Brisbane City, Logan City and City of Moreton Bay were re-read from their own rating resolutions and are now $950, $1,699 and $1,309 on the minimum general rate. Brisbane sits lowest of the twenty because its land values are high enough that the minimum rarely binds, so most owner-occupiers pay the rate in the dollar rather than this floor. Lockyer Valley is on its adopted 2026-27 figure of $1,395. All 22 councils are included in the Queensland median of $1,373. Excluded. Waste, water where separately billed, stormwater and emergency services levies.
Coverage. Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory are not covered, so "Australia" here means the two eastern states we hold verified data for.
Cite this data
SuburbCost data is free to cite with attribution. Please link to this page as the source.
The Queensland and New South Wales rows are published openly. See SuburbCost's open council dataset for the machine-readable version.
Rates change every July
One email a year, when the new council budgets land and this ranking is rebuilt. Nothing else. See our Privacy Policy.
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Frequently asked questions
Which council has the most expensive rates in Australia?
On the figures we hold, Hunters Hill in New South Wales charges the most at $2,446 a year, and Sunshine Coast Council has Queensland's highest minimum general rate at $1,771. The two cannot be ranked against each other because NSW publishes an average residential bill and Queensland publishes a minimum, which is a floor most owner-occupiers exceed.
Why are QLD and NSW council rates not compared in one table?
Because they measure different things. A Queensland minimum general rate is the least an owner-occupier can pay, while a New South Wales average residential rate is what a typical household actually pays. Sorting a floor against an average would rank councils on a difference in accounting convention rather than on what residents are charged.
What is the average council rate in Australia?
There is no single national figure here, because we only hold verified data for Queensland and New South Wales and the two are measured differently. The NSW median is $1,282 across 126 councils. The Queensland median minimum is $1,373 across 22 councils, and a typical Queensland bill sits above that.