The 2026 Greater Sydney Suburb Running Cost Index
A house in Canoelands, 42km from the Sydney CBD, costs $13,475 a year in council rates, water, driving and insurance. A house in Surry Hills costs $4,949. Most of that $8,526 gap comes down to one thing: flood and fire risk lifting insurance on the outer fringe, not distance. We ranked 760 Greater Sydney suburbs to find out where yours sits. We also made one deliberate exclusion: Wollondilly, on the reasoning that its residents don't realistically commute to the CBD. The note below explains exactly how and why.
This index measures running costs only. It does not include the purchase price of the property, which in Sydney is the largest financial consideration by a wide margin. A suburb that is cheap to run may be expensive to buy, and the reverse. Both matter. This index covers the part most property searches leave out.
A note on our commute assumptions
This index prices a modelled CBD commute for every suburb, and that number is only meaningful if the assumption behind it is realistic. Our formula tapers the assumed number of weekly CBD trips down as distance grows: 4 return trips a week near the CBD, falling in a straight line to a floor of 0.5 by about 70km (trips/week = 4 − distance ÷ 20, floored at 0.5). Past 100km, where a regular CBD commute stops being plausible at all, we switch to a flat annual driving allowance instead of a commute figure.
Wollondilly, on Sydney's rural south-western fringe, is where we think that assumption breaks down entirely rather than just tapering. Several of its localities sit 80-110km from the CBD, and we don't think it's reasonable to model a household there as commuting to the Sydney CBD several times a week. Rather than stretch the taper past the point it holds, we exclude Wollondilly's suburbs from this index outright. Coverage is 760 suburbs across the 32 remaining Greater Sydney Commission council areas. This lines up with the wider pattern: Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics research on Sydney's journey-to-work data found that only 2 per cent of Sydney commuters travelled more than 50km to work, and that genuinely long-distance work travel in Australia is dominated by fly-in-fly-out and drive-in-drive-out rosters rather than a standard five-day CBD commute (BITRE, Australia's Commuting Distance: Cities and Regions, 2015).
A house in Canoelands, 42km from the Sydney CBD in Hornsby, costs $13,475 a year to run; a house in Surry Hills costs $4,949. Ranking 760 Greater Sydney suburbs (Wollondilly excluded), flood and fire risk, not distance, separates Canoelands and the next nine most expensive suburbs, all 32 to 51km out.
Key statistics
- Suburbs ranked
- 760
- Most expensive
- Canoelands, $13,475/yr
- Cheapest
- Surry Hills, $4,949/yr
- Mean cost
- $10,188 house / $10,634 unit
Methodology
Each suburb's total is council rates (2026-27 average residential rate, from each council's own revenue policy or the NSW OLG/IPART baseline), water and sewerage (Sydney Water, a flat 2025-26 metro-wide charge), a modelled annual driving commute to the Sydney CBD priced at the ATO's 88c/km rate and tapering from 4 return trips a week near the CBD to a floor of 0.5 by about 70km, and AI-estimated home insurance based on flood risk, fire risk and property type. Strata levy is added for unit suburbs. Coverage is 32 of the 33 local government areas inside the Greater Sydney Commission's metropolitan boundary; Wollondilly is excluded on the assumption its residents do not commute regularly to the CBD (see the note above). Mortgage repayments, rent, food, personal spending, electricity and land tax are not included.
Key findings at a glance
- The most expensive house suburb, Canoelands, costs 2.7 times more per year to run than the cheapest, Surry Hills, an $8,526 gap
- Flood and fire risk, not distance, decides the entire top 10. Once modelled CBD trips taper below about 2 a week, commute cost stops rising as fast as distance does, so insurance separates suburbs that are all a broadly similar distance out
- Because the Opal weekly cap limits a long train commute to roughly $2,400 a year, an outer suburb like Penrith that costs about $6,344 a year to drive costs only $2,400 by rail, a $3,944 saving
- The ten most expensive suburbs span Hornsby and Hawkesbury, 32 to 51km out, where flood or fire risk lifts building insurance to $3,250-$3,650
- Inner Sydney is the cheapest place to run a home. The City of Sydney has the lowest average residential council rate in Greater Sydney ($924), and its suburbs fill the ten cheapest-to-run spots, precisely because residents barely drive
- Houses and units cost similar amounts to run on average: $10,188 vs $10,634 a year. The lower council rate on a unit is absorbed by strata
- Purchase price is not included. The suburbs cheapest to run are often the most expensive to buy. Running cost and purchase price are separate decisions that pull in opposite directions, nowhere more sharply than in Sydney
What this index measures, and what it does not
The SuburbCost Running Cost Index covers four annual costs for every suburb: council rates, water and sewerage, annual driving cost, and home insurance. For unit suburbs, strata levy is included. These are the costs that vary by suburb and that most buyers underestimate.
What this index does not include: purchase price
Property purchase price is not in this index, and the omission is deliberate. Purchase price is the number every property portal already shows. Running costs are what almost none of them show.
In Sydney the two figures pull hard in opposite directions. The City of Sydney sits at the bottom of this ranking at under $5,000 a year to run a house, and carries some of the highest median house prices in the country. Canoelands, a small Hornsby locality on Sydney's northern fringe, tops the ranking at $13,475 a year to run, mostly driven by flood and fire insurance, yet sells for a fraction of an inner-city price. Cheap to run and cheap to buy are rarely the same suburb.
Buyers who look only at purchase price underestimate how the running-cost gap compounds. Even the $8,526 annual difference between Surry Hills and Canoelands is $85,260 over ten years, real money that appears on no listing page. This index exists to make that number visible before, not after, the purchase decision.
The index does not include mortgage repayments, rent, food, personal spending, electricity, or land tax. It covers the costs that differ between suburbs, not the costs that are much the same wherever you live in Sydney.
Data covers 760 Greater Sydney suburbs across 32 of the 33 local government areas inside the Greater Sydney Commission's metropolitan boundary, from the City of Sydney to the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains fringes. It excludes the Central Coast and the Illawarra, which sit outside that boundary, and Wollondilly, whose residents we don't assume commute regularly to the CBD (see the note above). Council rates are the 2026-27 figures; water and driving use the current 2025-26 schedules. Check your suburb's full breakdown in the cost of living calculator →
Four assumptions this data makes
This index is built on real government data plus two estimated components. Read these before drawing conclusions from the rankings.
1. The ranking uses driving; the train tells a different story
The headline rankings use the modelled driving commute. Unlike Brisbane, where a flat 50c fare makes public transport almost irrelevant to the ranking, Sydney has an extensive rail network and the Opal fare system, so the mode you choose changes everything. We cover the driving-versus-train gap in its own section below. If you commute by train, read the ranking as a worst case, not a verdict, and use the cost of living calculator to toggle between the two modes for your own suburb.
2. Driving cost is a modelled CBD commute, not total car ownership
Driving cost is a modelled annual cost of commuting to the Sydney CBD by car. It is calculated from each suburb's road distance to the CBD, priced as a return trip at the ATO's rate of 88 cents per kilometre across a working year, with trip frequency tapering from 4 return trips a week near the CBD down to a floor of 0.5 by about 70km. The ATO rate is all-inclusive: it covers fuel, registration, insurance, depreciation and maintenance, not fuel alone. That is why an inner suburb like Surry Hills shows a few hundred dollars while the outer fringe peaks around $6,700 at roughly 35-40km, then eases off again as the model assumes even fewer weekly CBD trips further out. Beyond 100km, where a regular CBD commute stops being realistic at all, we switch to a flat annual driving allowance instead, though no suburb in this index currently reaches that distance now that Wollondilly is excluded. We take the same reasoning one step further for Wollondilly itself: rather than model a partial, unrealistic commute for a whole council area on Sydney's rural south-western fringe, we exclude its suburbs from this index outright. The figure isolates the CBD commute, the single expense that varies most by suburb; it does not model every kilometre a household drives.
3. Home insurance is AI-estimated
Building insurance premiums are estimated using an AI model that incorporates each suburb's flood risk classification, fire risk classification and property type. Estimates are validated against comparison-site quotes but are not exact, and every insurance figure in this index is labelled as an estimate. In Sydney the flood signal matters most: the Hawkesbury-Nepean floodplain carries markedly higher estimates than the harbourside average. Get an exact quote for your specific address before purchasing.
4. Strata is AI-estimated for unit suburbs
Strata (body corporate) levies are estimated from building type and location. Actual levies vary widely between buildings in the same suburb, and a high-amenity tower will run far above a walk-up block. Always confirm the strata levy, the capital works fund balance and the sinking-fund plan directly before purchasing a unit.
Most expensive suburbs to run a house, Greater Sydney 2026
All ten most expensive suburbs sit 32 to 51km out, in Hornsby or Hawkesbury, where a modelled CBD commute of roughly $6,200 to $6,700 a year meets building insurance estimated at $3,250 to $3,650 because the land floods or burns. Neither council rates ($1,541 to $1,848) nor water ($1,548, the same Sydney Water bill paid across the whole metro) does much to separate them. Flood and fire risk does. Canoelands, at $13,475, tops the list by just $79 over second-placed Marlow, and the whole top 10 spans only $276.
| Rank | Suburb | Council | Rates | Water | Driving | Insurance | Total / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canoelands | Hornsby | $1,541 | $1,548 | $6,736 | $3,650 | $13,475 |
| 2 | Marlow | Hornsby | $1,541 | $1,548 | $6,657 | $3,650 | $13,396 |
| 3 | Vineyard | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $6,738 | $3,250 | $13,384 |
| 4 | Mcgraths Hill | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $6,677 | $3,250 | $13,323 |
| 5 | Singletons Mill | Hornsby | $1,541 | $1,548 | $6,580 | $3,650 | $13,319 |
| 6 | Mulgrave | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $6,665 | $3,250 | $13,311 |
| 7 | Pitt Town | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $6,640 | $3,250 | $13,286 |
| 8 | Sackville North | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $6,219 | $3,650 | $13,265 |
| 9 | South Windsor | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $6,616 | $3,250 | $13,262 |
| 10 | Brooklyn | Hornsby | $1,541 | $1,548 | $6,460 | $3,650 | $13,199 |
Source: NSW council 2026-27 revenue policies (average residential rate), Sydney Water 2025-26, ATO 88c/km, SuburbCost AI insurance estimates.
The flood finding. Sydney's most expensive suburbs to run are not its most remote, they are its most flood and fire exposed. Canoelands through Brooklyn sit 32 to 51km from the CBD, well within the range where our model still assumes a real commute, yet cluster within $276 of each other because building insurance is estimated at $3,250 to $3,650, well above the roughly $1,850 estimate for a low-risk inner suburb. Distance alone does not separate them: once modelled commute cost stops rising as fast as distance does, flood and fire risk does that job instead.
The cheapest Sydney suburbs to run a house in 2026
All ten cheapest house suburbs are in the City of Sydney. Two things put them there. First, residents barely drive: the modelled CBD commute runs from $202 (Sydney) to about $1,050 (Moore Park), against a fringe that peaks around $6,700. Second, the City of Sydney charges the lowest average residential council rate in Greater Sydney, $924, less than half the metro's dearer councils. Low rates plus a near-zero commute is a combination only the inner city offers.
| Rank | Suburb | Council | Rates | Water | Driving | Insurance | Total / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surry Hills | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $627 | $1,850 | $4,949 |
| 2 | Sydney | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $201 | $2,300 | $4,973 |
| 3 | Millers Point | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $367 | $2,300 | $5,139 |
| 4 | Redfern | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $882 | $1,850 | $5,204 |
| 5 | Haymarket | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $465 | $2,300 | $5,237 |
| 6 | Darlinghurst | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $497 | $2,300 | $5,269 |
| 7 | Ultimo | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $562 | $2,300 | $5,334 |
| 8 | Moore Park | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $1,038 | $1,850 | $5,360 |
| 9 | Elizabeth Bay | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $595 | $2,300 | $5,367 |
| 10 | Chippendale | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $691 | $2,300 | $5,463 |
Source: City of Sydney 2026-27 (average residential rate), Sydney Water 2025-26, ATO 88c/km, SuburbCost AI insurance estimates.
The counterintuitive one. Inner Sydney is imagined as expensive at everything. On running cost it is the opposite: the cheapest place in the metro to run a home, and the site of the lowest council rate in Greater Sydney. The catch is the one this index deliberately excludes. These are among the dearest suburbs in Australia to buy. Cheap to run and cheap to own are not the same decision, and in Sydney they are almost never the same suburb.
Running cost vs purchase price. The suburbs at the top of this cheapest list carry median house prices well into seven figures. They rank here because the commute cost is near zero, not because they are affordable to buy. A buyer who optimises for running cost while ignoring purchase price is solving the smaller problem first. This index fills the running-cost gap; the purchase-price decision is yours to make separately, with both numbers in view.
Most expensive suburbs to run a unit, Greater Sydney 2026
All ten most expensive unit suburbs sit 42 to 46km out, nine of them in Hawkesbury and one, Canoelands, in Hornsby, where a modelled commute of roughly $6,600 to $6,700 meets a $2,100 strata levy and flood or fire-loaded insurance. Council rates ($1,541-$1,848) barely move between them; strata and insurance decide the order.
| Rank | Suburb | Council | Rates | Water | Strata | Driving | Insurance | Total / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vineyard | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $2,100 | $6,738 | $750 | $12,984 |
| 2 | Mcgraths Hill | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $2,100 | $6,677 | $750 | $12,923 |
| 3 | Mulgrave | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $2,100 | $6,665 | $750 | $12,911 |
| 4 | Pitt Town | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $2,100 | $6,640 | $750 | $12,886 |
| 5 | South Windsor | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $2,100 | $6,616 | $750 | $12,862 |
| 6 | Oakville | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $2,100 | $6,743 | $600 | $12,839 |
| 7 | Scheyville | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $2,100 | $6,738 | $590 | $12,824 |
| 8 | Pitt Town Bottoms | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $2,100 | $6,601 | $680 | $12,777 |
| 9 | Windsor | Hawkesbury | $1,848 | $1,548 | $2,100 | $6,591 | $680 | $12,767 |
| 10 | Canoelands | Hornsby | $1,541 | $1,548 | $2,100 | $6,736 | $840 | $12,765 |
Source: Hawkesbury and Hornsby councils 2026-27 (average residential rate), Sydney Water 2025-26, ATO 88c/km, SuburbCost AI strata and insurance estimates.
Cheapest suburbs to run a unit, Greater Sydney 2026
Units invert the story of houses. The City of Sydney again fills the cheapest list on the strength of near-zero commutes and the metro's lowest council rate, but the totals are higher than for houses, roughly $6,700 to $7,100, because inner-city strata is estimated at about $3,500 a year. That is the trade every apartment buyer makes: a lower council rate and no building insurance to worry about, paid back through the strata levy.
| Rank | Suburb | Council | Rates | Water | Strata | Driving | Insurance | Total / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $3,500 | $201 | $530 | $6,703 |
| 2 | Millers Point | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $3,500 | $367 | $530 | $6,869 |
| 3 | Woolloomooloo | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $3,500 | $301 | $680 | $6,953 |
| 4 | Haymarket | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $3,500 | $465 | $530 | $6,967 |
| 5 | Darlinghurst | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $3,500 | $497 | $530 | $6,999 |
| 6 | Surry Hills | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $3,500 | $627 | $430 | $7,029 |
| 7 | The Rocks | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $3,500 | $399 | $680 | $7,051 |
| 8 | Ultimo | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $3,500 | $562 | $530 | $7,064 |
| 9 | Barangaroo | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $3,500 | $432 | $680 | $7,084 |
| 10 | Elizabeth Bay | Sydney | $924 | $1,548 | $3,500 | $595 | $530 | $7,097 |
Source: City of Sydney 2026-27 (average residential rate), Sydney Water 2025-26, ATO 88c/km, SuburbCost AI strata and insurance estimates.
The finding that matters most: driving versus the train
Modelled driving cost accounts for more of the gap between the most and least expensive suburbs than council rates, water and insurance combined. That is true in Brisbane too. What is different in Sydney is that you can opt out of it.
Council rates across Greater Sydney span roughly $924 (City of Sydney) to $2,446 (Hunters Hill), a difference of about $1,500. Water is a flat $1,548 everywhere on the Sydney Water network. Insurance adds a few thousand at the flood-exposed edges. The modelled driving commute runs from about $200 in the inner city up to a peak around $6,700 near the 35-40km mark, then eases off again further out as the model assumes fewer weekly CBD trips the longer the distance, until it hits a flat $17,600 general-driving allowance beyond 100km, well past the point a regular CBD commute is realistic. It is still the single most variable line in the whole index.
And in Sydney, unlike Brisbane, it is optional. The Opal weekly travel cap limits what a commuter pays for public transport, so a long train commute costs roughly $2,400 a year regardless of distance. That turns the outer-suburb penalty from five figures into a flat, modest fare.
Modelled annual commute cost, driving vs by Opal train, Greater Sydney 2026. Driving rises sharply out to about 35-40km, then tapers as the model assumes fewer weekly CBD trips further out; the train stays flat throughout.
Source: SuburbCost — Greater Sydney Running Cost Index. Driving at the ATO 88c/km rate; Opal adult fares with the weekly cap.
What the train does to the ranking. Take three outer suburbs on the rail line. By car, Riverstone costs about $6,743 a year to commute; by Opal, about $2,400, a saving of $4,343. Penrith saves about $3,944, Blacktown about $3,953. The saving is smaller than it once looked, because our driving model already tapers the assumed number of weekly CBD trips as distance grows, but it is still real money on every one of these suburbs. For anyone near a train line, that gap is a choice, not a fixed cost. We break the two modes down suburb by suburb in Sydney: where the train beats driving.
What the average looks like
The mean annual running cost across all 760 Greater Sydney suburbs (Wollondilly excluded) is about $10,188 for houses and $10,634 for units, with medians close behind at $10,618 and $11,042. Both means are pulled upward by suburbs with high flood or fire risk insurance and by the outer commuter fringe, so they overstate what a typical inner or middle-ring household will actually pay, especially anyone who commutes by train.
The near-match between the house and unit averages reflects a familiar trade: a unit's lower council rate and smaller insurance are offset by strata. Where you sit relative to these averages is decided by a mix of commute and flood or fire risk, not by which council collects your rates.
Frequently asked questions
Which Sydney suburb is the most expensive to run a house in?
Canoelands, in Hornsby 42km from the CBD, at $13,475 a year, driven mainly by flood and fire risk lifting insurance to $3,650, not distance. The next nine most expensive suburbs, all in Hornsby or Hawkesbury and 32 to 51km out, cluster within a few hundred dollars of each other for the same reason.
Which Sydney suburb is the cheapest to run a house in?
Surry Hills, at $4,949 a year, followed by the rest of the City of Sydney (Sydney, Millers Point, Redfern, Haymarket). Two reasons: a near-zero driving cost for residents who walk or use public transport, and the City of Sydney's council rate of $924, the lowest average residential rate in Greater Sydney. Inner Sydney is the cheapest place to run a home, and among the most expensive to buy.
Does taking the train instead of driving change the ranking?
Substantially, though less dramatically than distance alone suggests once trips taper off. Because the Opal weekly cap limits a long train commute to about $2,400 a year regardless of distance, a suburb like Penrith costs about $6,344 a year to commute by car but only $2,400 by train, a saving of roughly $3,944. The saving is smaller than in the outer fringe because our driving model already assumes fewer weekly CBD trips the further out you live.
What is the average annual running cost for a Sydney suburb?
Across 760 Greater Sydney suburbs the mean is about $10,188 for houses and $10,634 for units. Both are pulled up by suburbs with high flood or fire risk insurance and by the outer commuter fringe. A buyer in a middle-ring suburb who commutes by train will pay well below these averages.
What costs are included in this index?
Council rates (average residential rate per council, 2026-27), water and sewerage (Sydney Water), a modelled annual driving commute to the Sydney CBD at the ATO 88c/km rate, tapering as distance grows, and home building insurance (AI-estimated from flood and fire risk). Strata levy is included for unit suburbs. Mortgage repayments, rent, food, personal spending, electricity, land tax, and the purchase price of the property are not included.
Why does this index exclude Wollondilly suburbs?
Wollondilly sits on Sydney's rural south-western fringe, and several of its localities are 80 to 110km from the CBD, well past the distance our model treats as a realistic regular commute. Rather than model Wollondilly residents as driving to the Sydney CBD several times a week, which our own tapering formula argues against once distance stretches that far, we exclude the whole council area from this index. Its actual travel pattern, where a household has one, is more local or regional than city-bound.
Where does your suburb rank?
The SuburbCost tool shows the full annual cost breakdown for any Greater Sydney suburb, council rates, water, commute (driving or train), and insurance side by side. Compare two suburbs at once and toggle between transport modes to see how the ranking shifts.
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Data sources and methodology
Council rates: each council's 2026-27 average residential rate, from the NSW Office of Local Government "Your Council" data uplifted by that council's IPART rate peg, and from individual council revenue policies where a special rate variation applied (for example North Sydney, Ku-ring-gai, Hawkesbury). NSW figures are averages, not the minimum-rate basis used for Queensland, so they are not directly comparable across states. Water and sewerage: Sydney Water 2025-26 typical residential bill, a flat $1,548 across the metro. Driving cost: a modelled CBD commute priced at the ATO cents-per-kilometre rate (88c/km), based on each suburb's road distance to the Sydney CBD, with trip frequency tapering from 4 return trips a week near the CBD to a floor of 0.5 by about 70km (revised 2026-07-22 from a previous floor of 2 trips/week held to 60km, which overstated commute cost for outer suburbs with no realistic CBD-commuter character), before switching to a flat annual driving allowance beyond 100km. Public transport: Opal adult fare banded by distance with the weekly travel cap applied. Home insurance and strata: AI-estimated using flood risk (modelled from elevation), fire risk (NSW RFS Bush Fire Prone Land), and property type, disclosed as estimates throughout, confirm with a provider before purchasing. Coverage: 760 Greater Sydney suburbs across 32 of the 33 local government areas inside the Greater Sydney Commission's metropolitan boundary, excluding the Central Coast, the Illawarra, and Wollondilly (excluded 2026-07-22 on the assumption its residents do not commute regularly to the CBD, given several of its localities sit 80km or more from it). The Wollondilly exclusion and the driving-commute taper are cross-checked against Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics journey-to-work research, which found only 2 per cent of Sydney commuters travelled more than 50km to work (BITRE, Australia's Commuting Distance: Cities and Regions, 2015, ABS Census 2011 journey-to-work data). Council rates: 2026-27; water and commute: 2025-26.