study in Perth
Western Australia's sunny capital — cheaper than the eastern cities, plugged into the resources economy, and a designated regional area worth an extra post-study year.
Perth's reputation is isolation, and it is accurate — it is one of the most remote large cities on earth, closer to Jakarta than to Sydney. Treated as a fact rather than a flaw, that isolation is what makes it work for students: rent is well below the eastern capitals, the beaches are genuinely part of daily life, and the city has around 3,000 hours of sunshine a year.
The economy is built on mining and resources, which shapes the graduate market strongly. Engineering, geology, surveying, mine-adjacent trades and the logistics and services around them are where the money is. If you are studying in those fields, Perth's job market is more accessible than its size suggests.
And unlike Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, Perth is a designated regional area — the single most consequential fact on this page.
Five universities, including one Group of Eight, all within the metropolitan area — which is entirely inside the designated regional zone.
The University of Western Australia
Group of Eight; strong in geology, engineering, medicine and marine science. Riverside campus at Crawley.Curtin University
The largest in WA; mining and resources engineering, IT and business, with strong industry links.Murdoch University
Veterinary science, agriculture and health; a smaller, greener campus south of the city.Perth is one of the two cheapest cities on this page. Rent, food and transport all run below the eastern capitals, and the climate means heating is a negligible cost. The offsetting expense is flights — both home to Nepal and across Australia.
Against the other cities we cover in Australia, Perth is one of the cheaper. That is our reading of this country’s own spread, not a published index.
The living-cost figure your visa evidence must satisfy is AUD 29,710 per year.
The practical texture of the place — what a week actually looks like.
Climate
Hot, very dry summers and mild wet winters — a Mediterranean pattern. Around 3,000 hours of sunshine a year, and almost no heating cost.
Getting around
Trains and buses on a SmartRider card, with a free central transit zone. The city is spread out, so pick housing on a train line.
Housing
Cheaper than the eastern capitals, though the resources cycle moves rents. Share houses and student accommodation near each campus.
Working
48 hours per fortnight in session. Hospitality and retail as everywhere, plus resources-adjacent work — logistics, site services, trades support.
Community
An established Nepali community, smaller than Sydney's but well organised, with community associations and grocers in the southern suburbs.
Isolation
Real, and worth pricing. Flights to the east coast are long and not cheap; flights to Kathmandu usually route through Asian hubs.
Perth is a designated regional area (Category 2) — Category 2, cities and major regional centres. Graduates who study and then live here on a first 485 can apply for a second one.
A second 485 from a Category 2 area adds one extra year of full work rights.
Stack that against Sydney honestly. Perth costs less every week, and the regional classification can add a year of full work rights at Australian wages at the end. Against that, the graduate job market outside resources is thinner and you are a long way from everything. The Category 2 designation covers Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Newcastle, Wollongong, Geelong and Hobart.
Perth is one of 6 cities we cover in Australia. Tap any pin to compare — the city you pick moves your total cost more than almost any other choice you make.