Comparing Post-Study Work Outcomes: Sydney vs Melbourne vs Brisbane (2023–2025 Data)

Comparing post-study work outcomes is a data-driven benchmarking exercise that assesses three major Australian study destinations—Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane—against employment, visa and salary indicators, using 2023–2025 administrative and survey data. In 2023, international graduates in Sydney recorded an employment participation rate of 84.2%, according to the NSW Department of Education’s Graduate Outcomes Survey.

A note on methodology: the analysis draws on public releases from the NSW Department of Education, Study NSW, the Department of Home Affairs, and the graduate destination surveys of the University of Sydney (USYD), UNSW Sydney, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Macquarie University and Western Sydney University (WSU). Where city-level data is unavailable, state-level figures for New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland are used, with greater Sydney, greater Melbourne and greater Brisbane treated as the operational labour markets.

The view taken here is deliberately experimental—three large cities subject to similar national visa settings but operating with distinct local economies, regional extension programs and employer-sponsorship cultures. The tables and data points that follow are presented as a snapshot ready for benchmarking.

485 Graduate Visa Grants and Duration Profiles

The Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa is the most common post-study work pathway. Grant numbers and the composition of visa streams reveal how international graduates distribute themselves immediately after course completion.

The Department of Home Affairs reports that in the 2022–23 program year, 485 visa grants lodged from within Australia totalled 23,400 for New South Wales, 21,100 for Victoria and 8,900 for Queensland. Because the cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane dominate international student populations within their respective states, these figures closely approximate the metropolitan tallies.

A breakdown by stream shows that the Graduate Work stream remains a smaller share. In 2023, the Post-Study Work stream accounted for approximately 88% of 485 grants in NSW, 86% in Victoria and 84% in Queensland. The higher proportion of Graduate Work grants in Queensland partly reflects a marginally larger vocational education and training (VET) cohort in Brisbane than in the two larger capitals.

Duration patterns are nationally standard—bachelor and master by coursework graduates typically receive a two-year visa, master by research graduates receive three years, and doctoral graduates receive four years. However, the reform that adds an extra one to two years for graduates in specific skill-shortage fields took effect from July 2023, and its impact on actual stay periods is only partly visible in the 2023–2025 data window. Early administrative counts from the Department of Home Affairs indicate that in NSW approximately 12,000 485 holders were granted the extended duration by March 2024, compared with 11,200 in Victoria and 3,800 in Queensland, a scale aligned with the student enrolment volumes in the three cities.

The temporal distribution of stay also varies. Longitudinal data from the department’s 2024 Temporary Graduate report shows that 41% of 485 primary visa holders in Sydney remain in Australia beyond the initial visa period by transitioning to another visa (typically a Temporary Skill Shortage or employer-nominated visa), versus 38% in Melbourne and 29% in Brisbane. The lower Brisbane retention rate is partly explained by a higher rate of return to home countries among graduates from Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast campuses, whose migration decisions the state data captures.

Employment Participation Rates

The most direct indicator of labour-market absorption for international graduates is the participation rate in employment within four months of course completion. The NSW Department of Education’s 2023 survey covering over 8,000 international graduates from NSW institutions reports a full-time employment participation rate of 84.2% for graduates from Sydney-based universities—the figure includes both those working in Australia and those employed overseas, but excludes those not actively seeking work.

In Victoria, the equivalent figure published by the Victorian Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions stands at 81.7% for Melbourne-based international graduates. The Queensland Department of Youth Justice, Employment, Small Business and Training releases a narrower state-level metric, which for 2023 placed international graduate employment participation at 78.3%. When excluding graduates who returned overseas immediately, the within-Australia employment rate for Brisbane sits around 74%, compared with 80% for Sydney and 77% for Melbourne, according to a Study NSW analysis that matched enrolment with tax file data from the Australian Taxation Office.

Institution-specific reports add finer grain. The University of Sydney’s 2023 Graduate Outcomes Survey shows 91% of international undergraduates who remained in Australia secured employment within six months, and the median time to first job was 3.2 weeks. UNSW reports 88% of international postgraduates in employment within the same window. At UTS, the figure is 86%. Macquarie University’s 2023 data indicates a 44% full-time employment rate for international graduates immediately after completion, climbing to 82% at the 12-month mark. Across Melbourne, the University of Melbourne reports 87% within four months, Monash University 84%, RMIT 81%. The University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane records 79% for international graduates, and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) 76%.

One consistent structural feature is the concentration of graduate employment in professional services, healthcare and technology sectors across all three cities. Sydney holds a relative advantage in financial services and technology firms—the city hosts 48% of ASX-listed company headquarters and the largest concentration of fintech businesses in Australia, absorbing a large pool of commerce and computer science graduates. Melbourne’s strength lies in engineering, construction and biomedical research, while Brisbane’s economy is more reliant on infrastructure delivery, resources-related services and tourism. These sectoral weights affect the speed and type of entry-level employment available.

Full-Time Salary Medians

Wage outcomes represent a critical piece of the post-study decision. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) biannual Employee Earnings and Hours survey provides the broadest reference, but it does not isolate international graduates. A more targeted source is the Graduate Outcomes Survey Longitudinal data, which asks graduates to report pre-tax full-time annual earnings at the four-month and three-year marks.

For the 2023 cohort, median full-time earnings for international bachelor graduates in Sydney were $65,700, compared with $63,200 in Melbourne and $60,400 in Brisbane, according to aggregated institutional submissions to the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) survey. At the postgraduate coursework level, Sydney posts $79,400, Melbourne $76,100 and Brisbane $72,800. Research graduates command higher figures but the sample sizes in individual cities are small enough that year-to-year swings can be misleading.

Adjusting for cost of living sharpens the picture. Sydney’s rental median for a one-bedroom apartment in a suburb accessible to the CBD was $750 per week in March 2025, data from Domain Group shows. Melbourne’s equivalent stands at $590, and Brisbane’s at $560. Applying a rough 30% of gross income threshold to housing, a Sydney graduate on the median full-time salary would spend approximately 37% of pre-tax pay on rent, while a Melbourne counterpart would spend 29% and a Brisbane graduate 28%. A UTS Centre for Business and Social Innovation working paper published in February 2024 modelled the net discretionary income after housing for international graduates working entry-level roles and concluded that Brisbane and Melbourne graduates retain 9–12% more disposable income in their first year than those in Sydney.

Study NSW has flagged the cost variable by co-funding the NSW International Student Employment and Accommodation enablement program, which tracks accommodation price growth and its intersection with graduate location decisions. The program’s 2024 dashboard indicates that 23% of international graduates who left Sydney within two years of completion cited housing affordability as the primary reason for relocating to another Australian city, predominantly Melbourne or Brisbane.

Employer-Sponsored Visa Nominations

Beyond the 485 visa, the bridge to permanent residency often runs through employer-sponsored pathways. The Department of Home Affairs publishes the number of Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS, subclass 482) and Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS, subclass 186) nominations approved by state, allowing a comparison of labour-market demand for international talent.

In the 2022–23 financial year, NSW employers lodged 18,900 primary TSS nominations and 9,300 ENS nominations, together representing 42% of the national total. Victoria followed with 14,100 TSS and 7,800 ENS nominations (30% of the national total), and Queensland with 7,200 TSS and 4,600 ENS (14%). Approximately 60% of TSS nominations in NSW were for occupations in financial and insurance services, professional/scientific/technical services, and health care, sectors with high intake of international graduates. Melbourne’s nominations concentrate in IT, engineering and health, while Brisbane’s tilt toward construction, mining-related engineering and agricultural services is visible in the occupational breakdowns.

Crucially, recent policy adjustments allow onshore 485 holders to shift to a TSS without having to leave Australia, a pathway that the Department of Home Affairs estimates was used by 26,000 temporary graduates nationally in calendar year 2024. The volume of such transitions is highest in NSW, partly because the head-office density in Sydney creates a larger number of accredited sponsors familiar with the nomination process. A UNSW Business School analysis published in late 2023 notes that 64% of international graduates who gained a TSS visa in NSW had completed a qualification in the state, compared with 58% in Victoria and 51% in Queensland, suggesting a stronger pipeline effect between the local education system and employer demand in Sydney.

Regional Policy Activation and Remote-Area Employment

The designation of regional campuses and postcodes for extra migration benefits became a prominent factor after the 2019 regional migration reforms. While Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane themselves are not classified as regional, all three states contain regional centres where international graduates can access an additional one to two years of post-study work rights and a pathway to the Skilled Work Regional (subclass 491) visa.

New South Wales mapped 11 regional campus clusters within the Regional NSW Network. Study NSW’s 2024 report on regional graduate outcomes states that enrolment in regional NSW universities by international students increased 31% between 2019 and 2023. Employment outcomes for those graduates in regional areas show an employment participation rate of 89.6%, 5.4 percentage points above the Sydney figure. Approximately 48% of international graduates from regional NSW campuses accepted a job in a regional area immediately, with 29% moving to a metropolitan centre and 23% departing Australia. The most common sectors were health care (Wagga Wagga and Lismore), viticulture and agriculture (Orange and Armidale) and education (Newcastle).

Victoria’s regional activity concentrated in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the Latrobe Valley. The Victorian Skills Authority reports that 78% of international graduates from regional Victorian universities found employment within six months, and that 41% stayed in regional postcodes. Queensland’s regional footprint is geographically more diffuse, with Cairns, Townsville, Toowoomba and the Fraser Coast each absorbing small cohorts. Queensland Treasury data shows a 22% increase in international graduate employment in regional Queensland between 2020 and 2024, albeit from a low base, with health care and hospitality the main employers.

What makes this salient for a three-city comparison is the potential for relocation arbitrage. Graduates who finish in Sydney and Melbourne are increasingly using regional visas to lever permanent residency while building professional experience in designated areas. The Department of Home Affairs 491 visa nomination data shows that in 2023–24, 4,100 primary 491 visas were granted where the nominating state was NSW, compared with 3,200 for Victoria and 2,100 for Queensland. This pattern is consistent with the larger international graduate pool in NSW; however, the conversion rate—the number of 491 grants per 100 temporary graduates—is higher in Queensland, at 6.2 per 100 compared with 4.8 in NSW and 4.1 in Victoria.

Side-by-Side Snapshot

The table below aggregates the primary metrics discussed. All figures correspond to the most recent 12-month data release where available.

Observations from the Data

The city-by-city differentials cannot be reduced to a single ranking. Sydney produces the strongest raw employment and salary numbers and the largest absolute volume of employer sponsorship, but it also records the highest housing cost pressure and the biggest share of graduates who relocate in search of affordability. Melbourne sits within narrow bands of Sydney on most metrics—participation rates are less than three percentage points apart—yet offers a material housing-cost buffer. Brisbane registers lower headline earnings and employer nomination activity, but the gap with Sydney is partly offset by lower living costs and a higher regional visa conversion rate that appeals to graduates with a priority on residency security.

The longitudinal picture adds nuance. A graduate who secures a TSS visa in Sydney within two years of completion may see high earnings growth; the UNSW study tracked a cohort of 2019 finishers and found that those employed in financial services in Sydney recorded annualised salary increases of 8.1% between 2022 and 2024, versus 6.7% in Melbourne and 5.4% in Brisbane. Meanwhile, graduates who move into regional areas within the first post-study year achieve permanent residency earlier on average—the median time from graduation to permanent residence among the 2019 cohort was 3.7 years for those who accepted a regional role versus 4.9 years for those who remained in a metropolitan centre, according to a joint analysis by Study NSW and the NSW Department of Education released in December 2023.

The data also highlights a behavioural shift among international graduates: the 2023–2025 window shows more graduates deliberately splitting their post-study period between metropolitan employment and regional residence to capture both wage premia and migration benefits. In addition, the presence of six large universities within Sydney (USYD, UNSW, UTS, Macquarie, WSU and the Sydney campus of Charles Sturt University) generates a dense network of industry partnerships that frequently feed into internships, cadetships and graduate programs, producing a pipeline effect that is harder to replicate in cities with fewer institution-employer clusters.

FAQ

How does the 485 visa duration differ across the three cities?

The base duration of the Post-Study Work stream is set nationally, not by city. Bachelor and master by coursework graduates receive two years, master by research three years, and PhD graduates four years. The additional one- to two-year extensions introduced in 2023 are linked to fields of study on the national skilled occupation list, not to the city. However, a graduate who completes a qualification at a regional campus in NSW, Victoria or Queensland can access an extra one to two years, and the proportion of international enrolments at regional campuses is highest in NSW.

Which city has the strongest employer-sponsored pathway numbers?

Sydney, and by extension New South Wales, produces the highest volume of employer-nominated (subclass 186) and Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) visa nominations. In 2022–23, NSW generated 28,200 combined TSS and ENS nominations, roughly 42% of the national total. The city’s concentration of corporate headquarters and accredited sponsors gives graduates a larger pool of potential nominating employers.

Are full-time salaries in Sydney always higher than in Brisbane?

Median full-time salaries for international bachelor and master graduates are consistently higher in Sydney than in Brisbane, with differences of $5,000–$6,000 per year at the bachelor level and around $6,600 at the master by coursework level. Once cost-of-living differences are factored in, disposable income tends to be higher in Brisbane for entry-level roles. The ranking can invert for some professional services roles in finance and tech, where Sydney wage premia outstrip the higher housing costs over a multi-year trajectory.

What is the employment participation rate for international graduates in Sydney compared with Melbourne?

In 2023 the NSW Department of Education reported an 84.2% participation rate for Sydney-based international graduates. Victoria’s equivalent metric, released by the Victorian Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions, was 81.7%. The two percentage-point difference sits within the margin of survey error but has remained consistent since 2019, driven in part by Sydney’s larger share of graduates in fields with tight labour markets such as information technology and health.

How do regional migration policies affect post-study work outcomes across the three cities?

While Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane themselves are not designated as regional, each state contains regional centres where graduates can access extended post-study work rights and regional skilled visas. The regional employment participation rate for international graduates in NSW (89.6%)