Australia's cheapest uni suburbs (and the most spenny ones)

Midyear uni semester break is upon us! Wooo! Which means it’s time for some rest and recuperation, partying (a lot of partying) and for many, a fresh start in a new share house.

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When you’re still studying, finding a home that is close to campus and within your budget is a top priority – obvi. Below, we take you through the cheapest and most expensive suburbs to rent within 3km of your campus in each capital city. Rent is calculated as the median weekly price for a room in a share house. Don’t see your uni below? Let us know and we can help you out!

Remember, these are the cheapest and most expensive suburbs within 3km of your uni campus, but you may find it more beneficial to be somewhere in between work and uni, close to family or your mates. You can also use our Cheaper Suburb Finder to find more affordable suburbs close to your desired area.

Adelaide

Warm and sunny Adelaide is the perfect spot for uni students who want a community feel in a bigger city. With a 1.3 million population to date, hang out with and make new friends with, you’ll be sure to have a rad time. Compared to other capital cities, you can nab a pretty good room in a share house close to campus for pretty affordable rent. Thanks Adelaide!

University	Most Expensive Suburb	Most Affordable Suburb
University of Adelaide	Norwood $211	Unley $193
University of South Australia	Kent Town $234	Rostrevor $150
Flinders Uni	Bedford Park $185	Seacombe Gardens $150

Sydney

Stunning Sydney and the home of Australia’s most expensive rent (sigh). You’ll have a lot of month left at the end of the money in Sydney if you’re not careful where you live. Lucky for you, we’ve popped the cheapest and most expensive Sydney uni share suburbs below, so you know what you and your wallet are in for.

University	Most Expensive Suburb	Most Affordable Suburb
UNSW	Paddington $350	Centennial Park $220
University of South Sydney	Camperdown $335	St Peters $259
UTS	Haymarket $355	Redfern $278
University of Western Sydney	Parramatta $250	Rosehill $200

Melbourne

Melbourne is a student city with something on every night of the week and cheap bargains to be found all across the city. The city’s unis are also super spread out, so where you live and choose to go to uni could change your suburb vibe and budget greatly.

University	Most Expensive Suburb	Most Affordable Suburb
RMIT/Melbourne CBD campus	East Melbourne $320	Abbotsford $220
Victoria Uni	West Melbourne $250	Sunshine North $160
Latrobe/RMIT Bundoora	Macleod $250	Rosanna $152
Monash	Ormond $240	Glen Iris $208

Hobart

Sleepy and beautiful Hobart only has the one uni, but with a few different campuses in the CBD and in Sandy Bay. Up north, in Launceston, there are two main campuses in Invermay and Newham for our marine science bros (we stan). As both are relatively close, we’ve combined the cheapest and most expensive suburbs here.

University	Most Expensive Suburb	Most Affordable Suburb
UTAS (Sandy Bay)	Sandy Bay $265	Battery point $188
UTAS (Launceston)	Invermay $215	Mowbray $164

Brisbane

Uni in Brisbane is a win win for students! Brisbane is a city made for those who love the best of both worlds - it’s got the hot weather that Sydney provides combined with the arts and foody scene of Melbourne, topped off with cheap rent. You can’t go wrong setting sail for Brisbane! If you need a hand moving all of your gear, our friends at PicUp will be able to help you out!

University	Most Expensive Suburb	Most Affordable Suburb
QUT	Newstead $280	Wilston $180
Griffith University	Mount Gravatt East $250	Holland Park West $180
University of Queensland	Dutton Park $208	Fairfield $177

Darwin

Like Hobart, Darwin has one stunning uni in Charles Darwin University. Due to rising cost of living and the amount of short term rentals in Darwin (holiday rentals we’re looking at you), Darwin’s rent is pretty expensive and there isn’t much change from the cheapest and most expensive suburbs close to uni.

University	Most Expensive Suburb	Most Affordable Suburb
Charles Darwin university	Wagaman $237	Rapid Creek $226

Perth

Our western sister Perth, has great unis to pick from and an even greater variety of places to live - are you a Golden Triangle Girl or prefer the hipster enclaves of Highgate? Either way, you’ll be paying for what you get, so make sure you choose wisely.

University	Most Expensive Suburb	Most Affordable Suburb
Edith Cowan University	Mount Lawley $250	Leederville $180
Curtin University	Como $230	Wilson $250
University of Western Australia	Nedlands $200 pw	Glen Iris $208

Canberra

The nation’s capital and the pick of the unis Australia has to offer. But buyer beware, as Canberra comes with capital prices.

University	Most Expensive Suburb	Most Affordable Suburb
ANU	Canberra CBD $330	O’Connor
University of Canberra	Kaleen $280	Bruce $200
ACU	Dickson $255	Ainslie $220
Charles Sturt	Griffith $275	Kingston $269

Enjoy semester 2 knowing you’ve got the best bang for your buck, whilst still loving super close to campus.