EliteSingles Study Reveals a Date Night in Canberra is Australia’s Priciest

September 9, SYDNEY. The annual Cost of a Date study from premium dating site EliteSingles has been released for 2019. And this year, Canberra replaces Sydney as Australia’s most expensive city for dating.

  • At $172, Canberra has taken Sydney’s 2018 place as the priciest AU city for date night
  • At $129, the least expensive city is Adelaide – $43 cheaper than Canberra
  • An average Australian date night costs $154; global average is $125
  • Oslo, Norway is the world’s most expensive capital city for dating. Canberra is #8

EliteSingles defined a date night as one including dinner for two, a bottle of wine, two movie tickets, and an 8-km taxi ride. The dating site then looked at the average costs of these items in 15 major Australian cities and in 30 capital cities around the world.

In 2019, an average date night in Australia is $154. The most expensive date night in the country is in Canberra, where a romantic evening will set you back an average of $172. In Sydney (which held the #1 spot in 2018), the same date is $169.

At the other end of the scale is Adelaide. A romantic night in the South Australian city costs just $129 – $25 below average and $43 less than the same date in Canberra.

Cost of a Date in 15 Major Australian Cities

  1. Canberra, ACT: $172
  2. Sydney, NSW: $169
  3. Perth, WA: $165
  4. Melbourne, VIC: $164
  5. Gold Coast, QLD: $162
  6. Wollongong, NSW: $159
  7. Hobart, TAS: $156
  8. Darwin, NT: $150
  9. Cairns, QLD: $150
  10. Toowoomba, QLD: $148
  11. Newcastle, NSW: $146
  12. Geelong, VIC: $145
  13. Brisbane, QLD: $145
  14. Townsville, QLD: $144
  15. Adelaide, SA: $129

Figures are rounded: date in Darwin is $0.22 more than one in Cairns, and a Geelong date night is $0.39 more than Brisbane.

EliteSingles also looked at the cost of the same date (in AUD) in 30 capital cities around the world. An average global date night costs $125 – $29 less than the Australian average, and a similar price to a date night in Adelaide.

A date night in Oslo, Norway is the world’s most expensive: at $235, it puts even Canberra’s costs into perspective. In fact. at $172, a date in Canberra might sound pricey, but the city sits at #8 on the list of capitals. Oslo, London, Washington DC, Tokyo, Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Dublin are all more expensive.

The cheapest capital city for dating is Ankara, Turkey. A date in the city costs just $53 – less than the price Australians typically pay for dinner alone.

Cost of a Date (in AUD) in 30 Capital Cities

  1. Oslo, Norway: $235
  2. London, UK: $210
  3. Washington DC, USA: $199
  4. Tokyo, Japan: $198
  5. Stockholm, Sweden: $187
  6. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: $186
  7. Dublin, Ireland: $183
  8. Canberra, Australia: $172
  9. Paris, France: $164
  10. Ottawa, Canada: $154
  11. Rome, Italy: $151
  12. Wellington, New Zealand: $142
  13. Berlin, Germany: $139
  14. Madrid, Spain: $124
  15. Singapore: $121
  16. Seoul, South Korea: $118
  17. Nairobi, Kenya: $108
  18. Taipei, Taiwan (ROC): $100
  19. Lima, Peru: $96
  20. Beijing, China (PRC): $94
  21. Moscow, Russia: $90
  22. Brasilia, Brazil: $87
  23. Cape Town, South Africa: $80*
  24. Bogotá, Colombia: $71
  25. Mexico City, Mexico: $65
  26. Cairo, Egypt: $61
  27. Manila, The Philippines: $61
  28. New Delhi, India: $56
  29. Hanoi, Vietnam: $55
  30. Ankara, Turkey: $53

* Cape Town is South Africa’s legislative capital.
​Figures are rounded: a date in Cairo is $0.57 more than one in Manila.

Costs and currency conversions based off data collected from Numbeo.com and XE Currency Converter, August 2019.

Press Contact:
Sophie Watson | [email protected]

About EliteSingles
Launched in 2013, EliteSingles is designed for successful single professionals seeking a committed, fulfilling long-term relationship. EliteSingles is part of Spark Networks SE, one of the global leaders in online dating. Operating in 29 countries and supporting 15 languages, Spark Networks has headquarters in Berlin, and offices in New York, San Francisco, and Utah.

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