Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Melbourne's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Melbourne?
Your $100,000 in Melbourne has the same purchasing power as $97,418 in the average US city. You'd need $2,582 more here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Melbourne's cost index of 103, sorted by closest match.
If you're weighing a move to Melbourne, the short answer is that the city has a few genuine arguments going for it — most obviously no state income tax and you can put away the heavy coats, plus 3 more things worth knowing. Here's the longer version.
Florida is one of the handful of US states with no state income tax on wages, so the only income-tax bite on a paycheck in Melbourne is federal. For a household earning $100k, that's a tangible four-figure difference every year compared to a comparable salary in California or New York.
Winters in Melbourne average about 52°F — short, mild, and mostly just a different kind of nice weather than summer's 91°F. If you've spent a few years dealing with real winters and decided the trade-off isn't worth it, this is what the alternative looks like.
Melbourne reports roughly 0 crime incidents per 100,000 residents, well under the US average of about 3,500 per 100k. As always, citywide numbers paper over real differences between neighborhoods — but the broader trend here is on the calmer end of the US distribution.
Melbourne's air quality index averages about 39 — comfortably in the EPA's "good" range. No daily ritual of checking the AQI before going for a run, no smoky-day plans, no surprise asthma flare-ups for the kids. The kind of background condition you notice mostly by its absence.
The average one-way commute in Melbourne is about 23 minutes — short by US standards (the national average is closer to 27). Over a year of working days, that's hundreds of hours that don't get spent in traffic, which is the kind of thing you notice in the weekend rather than the weekday.
Reasons are pulled from Melbourne's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Almost never. Melbourne's winter average of about 52°F is too warm for snow most years. A measurable snowfall is the kind of event that closes schools and gets photographed for the local paper.
Barely. Winter in Melbourne averages around 52°F — short, mild, mostly an excuse to break out a light jacket. Some plants don't even drop their leaves.
Genuinely hot. Summer in Melbourne averages about 91°F, and peak afternoons run well over a hundred. Outdoor plans move to mornings and evenings; AC is the most-used appliance in the house.
Approximately USDA Hardiness Zone 10. That's the band gardeners use to pick plants — anything rated for Zone 10 or colder should survive a typical winter in Melbourne. (The estimate is derived from our winter-temperature data; the official USDA map uses station-level annual minimums and may differ by half a zone.)
Melbourne sits at about 30 feet (9 m) above sea level — low-lying, but with enough cushion that day-to-day life isn't affected by ocean levels.
Officially, Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, but most of the action lands between mid-August and mid-October. For Melbourne, that's when to keep half an eye on the National Hurricane Center forecast cone — and when an actual evacuation plan is worth having in the drawer if you're in a low-lying or coastal neighborhood.
By the numbers, yes. Melbourne reports roughly 0 crime incidents per 100,000 residents — well under the US average of about 3,500 per 100k. The big caveat applies as always: every city has neighborhoods that look nothing like the citywide average. But the citywide average here is genuinely good.
Roughly average. Melbourne's cost-of-living index is 103, putting it in the band where rent, groceries, and utilities track the national norm. Not a bargain, not a premium.
Not really — Melbourne is built around the car. Its Walk Score of 6 out of 100 means almost every errand is a drive. Living without a car is technically possible but real work; most residents wouldn't try it.
Roughly $71,855 a year would match the lifestyle of someone earning $70,000 in an average US city. That's a starting point, not a target — negotiate higher when you can. Median rent in Melbourne runs about $1,303/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.