How Much Does A Night Out Cost In Each Australian State? [Infographic]

A night on the town can be pretty costly — but the amount you spend varies considerably depending on which Australian state and suburb you live in. The following infographic from online bar tab Clipp ranks each major city based on the average price of a meal for two. Surprisingly, Sydney didn’t come out on top.

Night out image from Shutterstock

Clipp based its ranking on the average total price for a glass of house wine, a schooner of Carlton Draught, a burger and a small pizza in January and February from more than 650 pubs and restaurants around Australia. Here are the results:

As you can see, the most expensive city in Australia to enjoy a casual meal out is Melbourne, while Adelaide is the cheapest. The price difference between these two cities is a not-insignificant $10.50 — or $546 over a year of weekly outings. Surprisingly, Sydney was the second-cheapest overall with an average spend of $51.60. (We can only assume Clipp collected its data from a lot of dives on the city’s fringes.)

However, when ranked on the price of beer alone, Sydney was the most expensive, with an average price of $6.60. (Brisbane was the cheapest at $5.50.) Wine, meanwhile, is priciest in Brisbane with an average by-the-glass price of $9. Burgers were most expensive in Melbourne at $23.50 and cheapest in Sydney at $19.

“There wasn’t one city which was uniformly the most expensive for each item, with quite a big price difference between the cheapest and most expensive cities,” Clipp founder Greg Taylor said. “There is an overall difference of almost 20 per cent in the cost of street prices across the board, which is huge.”

In terms of suburbs, the most expensive place to have a night out in Sydney is Double Bay, with the aforementioned meals and drinks costing $68.50. (The cheapest was St Marys at $46.25.) In Melbourne, Southbank was the most expensive at $71, an increase of more than $20 over Werribee. In Brisbane, the CBD was the most expensive at $63.50, compared to $44 at Strathpine. In Perth, Subiaco topped the suburbs at $69, while the beachside city of Rockingham was cheapest at $51.20. In Adelaide, the “winner” was North Adelaide ($55.20) with Kilburn coming in cheapest ($43.70).

According to Clipp, it’s possible to snag up to 40 per cent off meals by using in-app deals offered by merchants. These are usually last-minute promotions however, which makes advance planning more difficult; especially if you like having everything sorted earlier in the week. Dinner offers typically become available mid-afternoon on the day of the promotion.

[Via Clipp]