Cost of living
The cost of living refers to the amount of money required to sustain a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living directly impact living standards and in turn, impact financial wellbeing.
The Wellbeing Data Dashboard is intended to measure wellbeing progress over time, with updates made every two years.
ACT Treasury publishes the latest key economic indicators at Economic Indicators for the ACT.
Consumer price index
This measure shows the annual change in inflation in Canberra. It helps us understand cost of living.
Inflation is measured by comparing the price of a 'basket' of consumer goods and services. The basket represents household spending and can be compared over time. Measurement happens every month and quarter, which is then compared with the same period in the previous year.
Since peaking at the end of 2022, inflation was on a steady downward path until the end of financial year 2024-25. However, inflation increased between the last quarter of 2024-25 and the first two quarters of 2025-26 largely driven by temporary factors, such as the unwinding of the Commonwealth Government’s energy rebates. Fuel, domestic travel and accommodation, food, and public transport fares have also contributed to the recent increases.
Cost of living pressures created by price increases in specific areas such as food, fuel and energy over the past few years have impacted household budgets, particularly lower income and vulnerable households.
The University of Canberra 2024 Living Well in the ACT Region survey showed that 86% of Canberrans said their household expenses had increased more than their income in the past 12 months. To manage increasing cost of living pressures, survey participants reported buying cheaper food options at the supermarket (68.5%) and reducing heating/cooling of the home sometimes (51.0%).
From 2021 through to the 2024 survey, there has been a downward trend in the proportion of Canberrans who say they find living costs affordable in the ACT. In 2024, 29.4% said living costs were affordable, slightly less than the 31.6% in 2023. While this is higher than the national average (17.1%), affordability varies for different people in the ACT. In the 2024 University of Canberra survey, the following groups were more than three times as likely to find living costs unaffordable as affordable: those younger than 30, renters, carers, single parents, those who were unemployed and those severely restricted by disability.
Data source
The data is published on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.
A link to download the latest data is below:
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/consumer-price-index-australia/latest-release#data-downloads
Table 1. CPI: All Groups, Index numbers and Percentage change.
Table 17. CPI: Quarterly All Groups, Index numbers and Percentage change.
Chart description
Line graph of annual change in the consumer price index in the ACT, by month from April 2025 to December 2025. By the end of calendar 2025, inflation increased from 1.4% in June 2025 to 3.3% in December 2025.
Another line graph shows the annual change in the consumer price index, by quarter from the 2015-16 financial year up to the December quarter 2025-26.
Technical notes
The relative weights of the 'basket' of consumer goods and services considered for the CPI typically varies every financial year.
