Canberra deemed Australia’s most liveable city by Australians

The final results were based on surveys answered by residents of each respective capital city, where participants were asked to rank their capital city based on a number of values from zero for poor to 10 for very good.

The top five values were on a national level:

1. Feeling safe at 67 per cent;
2. High-quality health services at 60 per cent;
3. Affordable, decent housing at 58 per cent;
4. Good job prospects at 41 per cent; and
5. Reliable and efficient public transport at 33 per cent.

Based on these values, Canberra was voted to be the most liveable city, its third year in a row to receive the top honours, with Canberrans rating the capital city, based on the values:

• Feeling safe: 7.2
• High-quality health services: 6.3
• Affordable, decent housing: 4.4
• Good job prospects: 5.9
• Reliable and efficient public transport: 5.4

Following Canberra was Perth, then Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, and then Darwin as the least liveable city.

Most of the capital cities’ residents did not think too highly of their capital city’s access to affordable, decent housing, as the majority ranked it as the last major value.

In fact, out of 16 values, affordable, decent housing performed the lowest, declining sharply from 2018.

Adelaide and Perth tied for first place for those who think their capital city has affordable, decent housing, with a rating of 5.6. Brisbane was next with 5.3, then Hobart with 5.9, Melbourne with 4.5, Canberra with 4.4, and then Sydney in the last place with 3.9.

Across the capital cities, the east coast saw the ranking of the values remain fairly consistent, but Adelaide, Perth, Hobart and Darwin saw more importance placed on access to the natural environment than reliable public transport.