HOUSEHOLD spending on transport increased in the September quarter with typical city residents outlaying 15.8 per cent of income on mobility.

This was up 2 per cent on the previous quarter and only quelled by the rise being offset by increasing incomes, the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) reported in its latest quarterly transport affordability index.

The AAA, the nation’s peak motoring body, showed typical household spending on transport increased across the nation in the September 2025 quarter by an average of 2 per cent in the capital cities and by 1.6 per cent across representative regional centres. But the AAA’s quarterly ‘transport affordability index’ shows that while transport-related costs increased in the first three months of the 2025-26 financial year, the rises were offset by increasing incomes, meaning transport affordability – the relationship between expenditure and income – remained stable from the June quarter to the September quarter. 

In the three months to September 30, the nationally-averaged typical capital city household spent 15.8 per cent of its income on transport (equal to its June quarter figure). 

The nationally-averaged typical benchmark regional centre household spent 15.4 per cent of its income on transport (down slightly from 15.5 per cent in the previous quarter).  

The AAA report said that throughout the 2024-25 financial year, national transport affordability improved in four consecutive quarters for the first time since 2020. 

But the turnaround in mid-2024 followed seven consecutive quarters of rising total household transport costs. 

It said affordability had not yet returned to where it was in 2022, let alone to pre-pandemic levels. 

In Q4 2019, the typical Australian household spent 13.9 per cent of its income on transport. This  proportion rose over the next few years, reaching 14.9 per cent in Q3 2022, and peaking at 17 per cent in the June quarter of 2024. 

AAA said national figures obscured big regional variations. In the September 2025 quarter, the typical Hobart and Launceston households spent 18.1 per cent and 19.4 per cent, respectively, of their incomes on transport. 

By comparison, the typical Brisbane and Wagga Wagga households’ respective transport expenditures were 14.7 per cent and 11.8 per cent.

AAA managing director Michael Bradley

AAA managing director Michael Bradley said transport costs remained a major pain point for many  households. 

“Transport cost relief over the past year has been welcome, but transport still consumes a  significantly larger portion of household incomes than it did five years ago,” Mr Bradley said. 

“Transport is a significant and unavoidable expense. Governments at all levels must consider these cost pressures when formulating policy.” 

The AAA began publishing the transport affordability index in 2016 to keep track of long-term trends in costs across a range of transport categories, including fuel, loan servicing, public transport, registration, insurance and vehicle servicing. 

The index examines transport costs in all Australian capital cities as well as a benchmark regional city in each state and the Northern Territory. 

It uses economic modelling to illustrate changes over time to transport costs relative to movements in the CPI and household incomes. 

The AAA said that this longitudinal approach provides a way of understanding the degree and direction of change in costs by location over time. It is conceptually akin to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ “basket of goods” used to identify and track CPI over time. 

Footnote: The AAA is the nation’s peak motoring body, representing Australia’s state-based motoring clubs and their 9.5 million members. It is an apolitical and technology-neutral advocate for federal transport policy that improves safety, equity, and sustainability.