Better Brisbane Index 2022-23
The Better Brisbane Index measures residents’ perceptions of the quality of life in Brisbane, both now and in the future.
The objectives of this study are to:
- understand how Brisbane residents currently feel about the quality of life in Brisbane
- understand how they think quality of life may change in the future
- benchmark against other capital cities in Australia.
The 2022-23 study included 2,494 online interviews with the target population including:
- a representative sample of Brisbane residents aged 18 years and over
- a representative sample of residents of interstate capital cities - Sydney, Melbourne and Perth - and surrounding Queensland local government areas, outer South East Queensland (SEQ) and neighbouring SEQ.
Study highlights
- 92% of Brisbane residents reported a positive quality-of-life rating – higher than Sydney, Melbourne and neighbouring SEQ.
- 89% of Brisbane residents would recommend Brisbane as a great place to live – higher than Sydney, Melbourne and both neighbouring and outer SEQ.
- 86% of Brisbane residents agree that Brisbane offers a good standard of living – higher than Sydney, Melbourne and neighbouring SEQ.
Better Brisbane Index results
Quality of life
Brisbane residents are more satisfied with the quality of life in their city than residents in Sydney, Melbourne and neighbouring SEQ. The proportion of Brisbane residents rating quality of life positively remains stable and high at 92 per cent.
Alternative text for quality of life
Alternative text for quality of life
This chart shows the proportion of residents who provided a positive rating of 6-10 out of 10 for quality of life in their city.
Residents in Sydney, Melbourne and neighbouring SEQ rated their quality of life lower than Brisbane residents.
In 2022-23 94% of Perth residents rated their overall quality of life positively, compared to 97% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 92% of Brisbane residents rated their overall quality of life positively, compared to 94% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 88% of outer SEQ residents rated their overall quality of life positively, compared to 90% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 81% of Sydney residents rated their overall quality of life positively (statistically lower than Brisbane), compared to 83% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 80% of Melbourne residents rated their overall quality of life positively (statistically lower than Brisbane), compared to 84% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 79% of neighbouring SEQ residents rated their overall quality of life positively (statistically lower than Brisbane), compared to 82% in 2021-22.
Civic pride
Civic pride among Brisbane residents remains very strong and is higher than Melbourne and neighbouring SEQ. Three quarters of Brisbane residents would rather live in Brisbane than any other place in Australia. This represents a return to pre-Covid levels. Almost 9 in 10 residents would also recommend Brisbane as a great place to live, which is higher than all tracked locations other than Perth.
Alternative text for civic pride - would rather live in my city than any other place in Australia
Alternative text for civic pride - would rather live in my city than any other place in Australia
This chart shows the proportion of residents who agreed that they would rather live in their city than any other place in Australia (rating 6-10 out of 10).
Residents in Melbourne and neighbouring SEQ are more likely to want to live elsewhere than Brisbane residents.
In 2022-23 75% of Perth residents agreed that they would rather live in their city than any other place in Australia, compared to 81% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 74% of Brisbane residents agreed that they would rather live in their city than any other place in Australia (statistically lower than 2021-22), compared to 79% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 67% of Sydney residents agreed that they would rather live in their city than any other place in Australia, compared to 70% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 67% of outer SEQ residents agreed that they would rather live in their city than any other place in Australia, compared to 76% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 58% of Melbourne residents agreed that they would rather live in their city than any other place in Australia (statistically lower than 2021-22 and statistically lower than Brisbane), compared to 75% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 53% of neighbouring SEQ residents agreed that they would rather live in their city than any other place in Australia (statistically lower than Brisbane), compared to 51% in 2021-22.
Brisbane now and in the future
The proportion of residents who say they are concerned about how Brisbane will change in the future dropped over the last two years and while it has increased this year, it is still lower than it was pre-Covid.
Alternative text for Brisbane now and in the future - concerned about future change
Alternative text for Brisbane now and in the future - concerned about future change
This chart shows the proportion of Brisbane residents who agreed that they were concerned about how Brisbane will change in the future (rating 6-10 out of 10).
In 2019-20 68% of Brisbane residents agreed that they were concerned about how Brisbane will change in the future.
In 2020-21 60% of Brisbane residents agreed that they were concerned about how Brisbane will change in the future (statistically lower than 2019-20).
In 2021-22 56% of Brisbane residents agreed that they were concerned about how Brisbane will change in the future (statistically lower than 2020-21).
In 2022-23 62% of Brisbane residents agreed that they were concerned about how Brisbane will change in the future (statistically higher than 2021-22 but statistically lower than 2019-20).
Alternative text for Brisbane now and in the future - concerned about how my city will change in the future
Alternative text for Brisbane now and in the future - concerned about how my city will change in the future
This chart shows the proportion of residents who agreed that they were concerned about how their city will change in the future (rating 6-10 out of 10).
More residents in Sydney agreed that they were concerned about how their city will change in the future than Brisbane residents.
In 2022-23 72% of Sydney residents agreed that they were concerned about how their city will change in the future (statistically higher than Brisbane), compared to 71% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 70% of outer SEQ residents agreed that they were concerned about how their city will change in the future (statistically lower than 2021-22), compared to 85% in 2021-22 (statistically higher than 2020-21).
In 2022-23 70% of Melbourne residents agreed that they were concerned about how their city will change in the future, compared to 72% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 70% of neighbouring SEQ residents agreed that they were concerned about how their city will change in the future (statistically lower than 2021-22), compared to 56% in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 62% of Brisbane residents agreed that they were concerned about how their city will change in the future (statistically higher than 2021-22), compared to 56% in 2021-22 (statistically lower than 2020-21).
In 2022-23 57% of Perth residents agreed that they were concerned about how their city will change in the future, compared to 57% in 2021-22.
Future outlook on quality of life
For residents concerned that the quality of life in Brisbane will be worse over the next 10 to 20 years, economic concerns including the cost of living and stagnant wages, along with population growth were the most common reasons for this concern.
Population growth and planning has consistently been top of the list in terms of key issues facing Brisbane in the future. This continues to be the case in 2022-23, though 37% of residents nominating this key issue represents a decline on the prior year.
Other key issues facing Brisbane in the future include the environment, housing and the economy (including cost of living and inflation) with each of these increasing this year.
Alternative text for future outlook on quality of life - most important issue facing Brisbane over the next 10 to 20 years
Alternative text for future outlook on quality of life - most important issue facing Brisbane over the next 10 to 20 years
This chart shows the top 6 themes of important issues facing Brisbane residents over the next 10 to 20 years.
In 2022-23 37% of residents noted population growth and planning as an important issue (statistically lower than 2021-22), compared to 45% in 2021-22 (statistically higher than 2020-21) and 38% in 2020-21 (statistically lower than 2019-20).
In 2022-23 29% of residents noted environment as an important issue (statistically higher than 2021-22), compared to 18% in 2021-22 and 19% in 2020-21.
In 2022-23 28% of residents noted housing as an important issue (statistically higher than 2021-22) compared to 19% in 2021-22 (statistically higher than 2020-21) and 9% in 2020-21.
In 2022-23 20% of residents noted economy as an important issue (statistically higher than 2021-22), compared to 13% in 2021-22 (statistically lower than 2020-21) and 17% in 2020-21.
In 2022-23 19% of residents noted transport infrastructure as an important issue, compared to 18% in 2021-22 and 15% in 2020-21.
In 2022-23 19% of residents noted getting around Brisbane as an important issue (statistically lower than 2021-22), compared to 27% in 2021-22 and 26% in 2020-21 (statistically lower than 2019-20).