When it comes to the liveability of our cities, Australians consistently select “feeling safe” as their favoured attribute that makes somewhere a good place to live.
A new Ipsos survey, which asks 10,000 Australians to rank a set of liveability criteria, from social cohesion and connectivity to reliable public transport, education and job prospects—takes a more citizen-centric approach to the large array of city league tables and liveability indices.
Safety, high-quality health services, affordable housing, job prospects and reliable public transport made the top five listed liveability attributes.
The respondents were then asked to mark how well their local areas deliver against those attributes.
And it was Australia’s most isolated city that came out on top, Perth, which scored 68.6 out of a possible 100 on the liveability index.
Inner Perth ranked highly for safety, quality health services, public transport, sports and recreation and shopping, leisure and dining.
Adelaide’s Central Hills, Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Melbourne’s inner south and inner east rounded out the top five.
At the other end of the spectrum, Sydney’s south west, Parramatta and Blacktown were the least liveable in NSW, while Logan-Beaudesert in Brisbane and Melbourne’s west made up the top five least liveable metropolitan areas.
Metropolitan Australia's 10 Most Liveable Regions
| Region | Metropolitan Australia Liveability Index | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Perth - Inner | 68.6 |
| 2. | Adelaide - Central & Hills | 67.0 |
| 3. | Sydney - Eastern Suburbs | 65.8 |
| 4. | Melbourne - Inner South | 65.0 |
| 5. | Melbourne - Inner East | 64.9 |
| 6. | Brisbane - Inner City | 64.8 |
| 7. | Perth - North West | 64.2 |
| 8. | Sydney - North Sydney & Hornsby | 63.7 |
| 9. | Brisbane - East | 63.6 |
| 10. | Sydney - City & Inner South | 63.1 |
^The index is created by multiplying each attributes' importance by how well Australians rate its performance in their local area. Source: Ipsos.
For regional Australians, access to the natural environment replaced public transport in their list of the top five liveability attributes. A strong sense of community and high quality education opportunities were also important for regional Australians.
Victoria’s Warrnambool and south west region were the most liveable regional areas, scoring 68.7 out of 100—with South Australia’s south east, New South Wales’ Murray, Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and Tasmania’s west and north west making the top five.
As for the least liveable regional areas, central Queensland and Townsville were the two least liveable, followed by New South Wales’ capital region, far west, Orana and the Hunter Valley.
Regional Australia's 10 Most Liveable Regions
| Regions | Regional Australia Liveability Index | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Victoria - Warrnambool & South West | 68.7 |
| 2. | South Australia - South East | 63.7 |
| 3. | New South Wales - Murray | 63.5 |
| 4. | Queensland - Sunshine Coast | 63.2 |
| 5. | Tasmania - West & North West | 63.2 |
| 6. | Victoria - Ballarat | 62.6 |
| 7. | Queensland - Toowoomba | 62.4 |
| 8. | Victoria - North West | 62.2 |
| 9. | Queensland - Cairns | 62.1 |
| 10. | Queensland - Moreton Bay, South | 62.0 |
^The index is created by multiplying each attributes' importance by how well Australians rate its performance in their local area. Source: Ipsos.
