Worst Places To Live In Australia - 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Australia In 2025

Top 10 Worst Places To Live in Australia. Sh*t Towns of Australia: Worst places revealed. Worst Towns of Australia. Top 10 Worst Cities To Live In Australia. Moving to Australia. Don't move here in Australia. 10 Places in Australia You Should NEVER Move To. 10 Most Dangerous Cities To Live In Australia. Top 10 worst places to live in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory in Australia. Top 10 worst cities to live in Australia. Crime in Australia. Most dangerous cities to live in Australia. Australia is one of the best places to live in the world. But like all countries, Australia has some bad places too. Beautiful and friendly Australia has places that aren’t so exciting to live in. The ranking is roughly based on crime index and public opinions.

10 Worst Places In Australia

10. Sydney, New South Wales
9. Dandenong, Victoria
8. Byron Bay, New South Wales
7. Geelong, Victoria
6. Wollongong, New South Wales
5. Ballarat, Victoria
4. Townsville, Queensland
3. Darwin, Northern Territory
2. Cairns, Queensland
1. Rockhampton, Queensland

According to the United Nations, Australia is the second-best country in the world to live, due to its excellent quality of life index. Australians live in a safe and stable country with a friendly and relaxed culture that makes it easier to achieve a work-life balance. However not all cities and towns are best places to live. Even in Australia, 1 in 8 live in poverty. There are dangerous, boring and rough places too. Let’s find out which are 10 most dangerous cities to live, work, retire or raise a family in Australia.

10. Sydney, New South Wales

Despite its charms, ranging from the iconic Opera House, the beautiful harbour and ready access to numerous beaches, Sydney has been named Australia's worst city by its own residents. Sydney faces hobbled nightlife with draconian lockout laws, terrible traffic and fail-prone public transport, inadequate building standards, worsening overcrowding and stressed inhabitants, overpriced housing costs, ugly built environments, government failures and corruption. It looks great on a postcard but gotten worst. People in Sydney are sick of broken promises from politicians when it comes to things like infrastructure and transport

9. Dandenong, Victoria

Dandenong is a suburb of Melbourne, 35 km south-east from the central business district. Residents living in Dandenong feel less safe, unhappy and unhealthy compared to their counterparts living in other regions of Victoria. Here the Apex gang has become notorious for their home invasions and carjackings. Only 1/3 of residents would like to walk alone at night. Buying house in Dandenong is real estate suicide. The overall crime index is 69 with high crime in drugs, vandalism, theft & armed robbery, breaking & entering and assaults. City is one of the Australia's biggest drug-dealing hot spots. Dandenong has become a haven for drug users, squatters, hustlers and troublemakers.

8. Byron Bay, New South Wales

Byron Bay is a coastal town in New South Wales. It may be heaven for tourists but worst coastal town to live. It is Australia's most hippie town and spoiled paradise. Byron Bay is Disneyland for dropouts, drug dealers, hippies, tattooed surfers, barefoot bogans, drunken drongos, schoolies, cashed-up Boomers and overseas millionaires. This town is pretty much liberal about drugs and has become victim of its own success. The housing crisis here is real, house prices have absolutely exploded, and show no signs of slowing down. The overall crime rate is 55.29 with high crime in drugs, vandalism, theft & stealing, breaking & entering, assaults and racism.

7. Geelong, Victoria

Geelong is a city southwest of Melbourne and the second largest Victorian city. Its suburbs are among the worst in the state for home break-ins, with residents facing the highest risk of burglary in regional Victoria. The city is quiet, boring and missing a lot of the advantages of Melbourne. This city is home to bogans, hicks and rednecks. The city is described as “Very poor man’s Melbourne”. The city got terrible nicknames including ‘The Pivot’, ‘Sleepy Hollow’, ‘Gateway City’ and ‘The Small Smoke’. The crime rate is 52.10 with high crime in drugs, vandalism and theft.

6. Wollongong, New South Wales

Wollongong, informally referred to as "The Gong", is a city located in New South Wales. This city has lived and died on steel making and coal mining since forever. Local believes that coal companies have completely destroyed this city. Coal miners lose their jobs and turn to drug abuse. The crime rate skyrocketed with unemployment. Due to lack of job opportunities, many youth moved away. The overall crime rate is 52.50 with high crime in drugs, vandalism, theft and home breaking. Beaches are all massively polluted by both local litterbugs and Port Kembla. Full of decaying buildings and relying on a raft of dying heavy industries, the crime-ridden industrial wasteland is essentially a rustier version of Newcastle. The city is described as Newcastle for People Who Have Given Up.

5. Ballarat, Victoria

Ballarat is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria. It is one of worst places for burglaries in Victoria. City is facing serious ice' 'nightmare'. The Four Corners program has uncovered evidence of crystal meth being manufactured and distributed in western Victoria by bikie gangs working with major international drug cartels. The demographic for ice is changing and children as young as 10 were using the drug around Ballarat. Crime index of 53.79 makes it another most dangerous city in Australia.
 

4. Townsville, Queensland

Townsville is a coastal city and one of the most dangerous places to live in Queensland with crime index of 56.91. The local newspaper, the Townsville Bulletin, has dubbed its own city “Crimsville”, saying it is the state’s “undisputed crime capital”. Crimes statistics show a large contributor to high crime rates in Townsville are drug offences, which have increased 162% in the 15 years. City suffers from social issues like drugs and crime, endemic unemployment and under-employment, low wages, poor economy, high cost of living, large wandering population, high racism, poor education infrastructure and vigilantism that goes on. Climate is hot and sunny most of the year

3. Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory and one of the most dangerous cities in Australia with crime index of 58.41. Drugs, violence, vandalism and theft are high in crime. Healthcare is worst, economy is tanking, cost of living is high, public screaming and violence is common and city is drug heaven. You may encounter more ice/meth problems in Darwin than Melbourne. After dark, gangs of thieves, log grassers and ice addicts congregate. There are crocodiles in the sea and they sometimes come on shore and box jelly fish in the sea- so no swimming. Mosquitoes, snakes and spiders are problems too. A local summarized Darwin in one line, “The crap that goes down here is not acceptable elsewhere.”.

2. Cairns, Queensland

One of the hardest things about living in Cairns besides the wicked humidity is the job market. It's a tropical city, which means the temperatures are generally pretty high in summer. Public transport is horrible and traffic and parking is bad. Beware of jellyfish and crocodiles, while swimming in the oceans at Cairns. City lacks sufficient housing and suffers from high crime rate. There is a lot of youth crime at the moment. It is advised to lock the doors, never leave valuables in your car and get a dog if possible. Cairns is one of the most dangerous cities in Australia with crime index of 61. Drugs, theft, vandalism, home breaking or being insulted is common here. Cannabis, meth and MDMA have long dominated the local drug market in Cairns and lately it is boomed.

1. Rockhampton, Queensland

Rockhampton is one of the oldest cities in Queensland and in Northern Australia. It was nicknamed as the "City of the Three S's", of which were "Sin, Sweat, and Sorrow". It is most dangerous city in Australia with crime index of 71.60. According to locals, it’s a hot, boring, very regional rural city. There has always been violence and crime but there is an increase in last 5 to 6 years. Expect an elevated level of racism and homophobia. The people are nice, but there are a lot of yobbos. Poverty and meth are biggest problems here. Drugs are definitely an underlying factor.

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