Common Reasons Why People Move to Sydney

People move to Sydney for a job, for the coast, for family, or for the pace of a big harbour city. Each reason below comes with a practical note on what it means once you arrive.

Beaches on the doorstep

Sydney is one of the few large cities where an ocean beach is a normal part of the working week. Bondi, Bronte, Coogee and Maroubra sit on the eastern side, Manly, Dee Why and Palm Beach run up the northern beaches, and Cronulla serves the south. Add harbour beaches such as Balmoral and Nielsen Park and the eastern, northern and southern coastal suburbs are all within a short drive of a swim. Rents rise the closer you get to the sand, so many people settle a few suburbs inland and drive or catch a bus to the beach.

Work and career

Sydney’s central business district and North Sydney hold the head offices of many banks, insurers, law firms and consultancies, and the technology sector has grown around Surry Hills, Pyrmont and Macquarie Park. Health and education employ large numbers across the city’s hospitals and universities, and Parramatta has become a second business centre for western Sydney. The breadth of employers is the reason most professionals give for moving, because a change of role rarely means a change of city.

Climate

Sydney has warm, humid summers and mild winters, with most rain falling in late summer and autumn. Frost is rare near the coast and heating bills are modest compared with Melbourne or Canberra. Summer heat is more intense in the western suburbs, which sit further from the sea breeze, so check whether a home has cooling before you sign a lease there.

Food, culture and nightlife

The city eats out. Chinatown and Haymarket, the Vietnamese restaurants of Cabramatta, the Italian strip in Leichhardt and the harbourside dining at Barangaroo each draw a crowd every night of the week. The Sydney Opera House, the theatres around Walsh Bay and Darling Harbour, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Museum of Contemporary Art fill the calendar, and Vivid Sydney lights the harbour across late May and June. Nightlife is centred on the inner city, Newtown and Surry Hills.

A multicultural city

Sydney has communities from almost every country, and that shows in the suburbs. Many suburbs have a grocer, a place of worship and a community group serving a particular community. For families arriving from overseas this often decides the suburb before anything else does.

Family life and schools

Sydney has large public parks such as Centennial Park and the Royal Botanic Garden, playgrounds in nearly every suburb, and long stretches of harbour foreshore for weekends. Public schools enrol by catchment, so the school you want can dictate the streets you can live on. Check the catchment map before you rent or buy, and enrol early, because popular schools fill their intake years.

Universities

The University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales, the University of Technology Sydney and Macquarie University are all in the metropolitan area, along with several TAFE campuses. Students and academics make up a noticeable share of the people moving into the inner west, Kensington and Macquarie Park each year.

Landmarks and history

Sydney is the oldest European settlement in Australia and its history is on show around the harbour.

• Sydney Opera House: The building on Bennelong Point hosts opera, ballet, concerts and theatre year round, and the forecourt is free to wander.
• Sydney Harbour Bridge: The steel arch links the city with North Sydney. You can walk or cycle across it for nothing, or book a guided climb to the top.
• Hyde Park: The city’s oldest park, with the Anzac Memorial at its southern end and St Mary’s Cathedral on its eastern edge.
• The Rocks: The first settlement area, now a district of sandstone lanes, weekend markets, pubs and small museums beside Circular Quay.
• Sydney Tower: The observation deck above Pitt Street Mall gives a full view of the harbour, the city grid and the Blue Mountains on a clear day.

Getting around

Sydney runs trains, the Metro, light rail, buses and ferries on a single Opal fare system, and you can tap on with a bank card. Ferries from Circular Quay are a daily commute for people in Manly, Mosman and Balmain as much as a tourist ride. Driving is slower than the map suggests, with tolls on most of the motorways and tight parking in the inner suburbs, so many households drop to one car after they move.

National parks within reach

Royal National Park sits at the southern edge of the city, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park at the northern edge, and Sydney Harbour National Park wraps around the headlands in between. The Blue Mountains are a day trip by train or car. Bushwalking, coastal tracks and camping are all possible without leaving the metropolitan area.

Moving to Sydney with Careful Hands Movers

We move households into Sydney from Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra, and around the city once you are there. On an interstate run you can book a whole truck or a backload, which puts your goods on a shared truck and charges you for the space they use. Our crews wrap furniture in blankets and plastic and strap it in the truck, a supervisor leads every job, and quotes are free and obligation-free. See our Melbourne to Sydney removals page for that route, our Sydney removalists page for local moves, or call 1300 724 553.