Diversity & Representation · Indicator 4
Ticket price, wage-normalised
What this indicator asks
How many hours of minimum-wage work does one club night and one festival day cost in Sydney?
66.0/ 100 · Sydney
The Australian minimum wage is A$26.44 an hour.
The median club entry price is about A$30, which is 1.1 hours of work. Some clubs are free early in the night, such as Club 77 before midnight. Across 45 large festivals in 2025, the median price of a paid day ticket was around A$150, which is 5.7 hours of work. Drinks, travel, VIP tickets and free events are not counted.
Of large festivals, 20% are free to enter, including Yabun Festival and Manly Jazz. And 90% of survey respondents said free or outdoor events in public space are important to the city’s nighttime culture.
A participant compared Sydney’s hospitality businesses with Disneyland, which now aims more of its products at richer visitors:
“You’re seeing the same thing in hospitality. People are turning their offerings more and more towards people with more money, and you have this missing middle where people are either not going out at all or they’re going to DIY or they’re just spending more and more money on food and beverage.”