City dominates top places to live list

A Sydney council area has come out on top in a ranking of the best places to live in Australia in terms of overall wellbeing.

The Northern Beaches, located northeast of the CBD, was one of eight local government areas in Sydney that made it into the 10 best-performing areas for overall wellbeing, according to the report authored by SGS Economics and Planning.

There are 518 LGAs across Australia and the index assessed them against seven key indicators, including economy, income and wealth, employment, housing, health, work-life balance and environment.

The ACT came in at spot No.2, largely due to a narrow gender wage gap, reduced risk of climate change impacts and the division of wealth.

Brisbane scraped in at No.10 and was the only Queensland city to be counted among the top cities to live.

It ranked so highly due to its limited climate change risk, diverse economy and relatively high levels of education.

Top council areas to live in

1. Northern Beaches (Greater Sydney)

2. Australian Capital Territory

3. North Sydney (Greater Sydney)

4. Ku-ring-gai (Greater Sydney)

5. Hornsby (Greater Sydney)

6. Lane Cove (Greater Sydney)

7. Mosman (Greater Sydney)

8. Sutherland (Greater Sydney)

9. Sydney (Greater Sydney)

10. Brisbane (Greater Brisbane)

At the bottom of the list, ranking as the lowest local government areas for wellbeing, were Yarrabah and Palm Island in North Queensland and West Daly in Northern Territory.

The report is the second edition of the SGS Cities & Regions Wellbeing Index (CRWI) that was designed to measure community outcomes across Australia in a consistent way.

“This index departs from traditional GDP-centric narratives of growth and aims for a more holistic understanding of economic wellbeing,” chief executive Allison Holloway said.