Depending on who you ask, there’s many perks to being single. But financially speaking, most will agree it can be a burden. The “single's tax” has become a shorthand for something many single people will recognise: that life costs more when you’re navigating it solo, in a world largely designed for two.
As a 27-year-old single woman, I know that it's not always visible in obvious ways. More often, single's tax accumulates slowly, in rent that isn't halved, or bills that happen to stack up at all at once. It could be booking a group trip with couples and having to cop the price of a room to yourself instead of sharing with a partner, or simply not having anyone to split your weekly groceries with.
Increasingly, these costs are becoming harder to ignore. According to research by Finder, the average Australian with a partner has $50,192 in savings, compared to $30,932 for singles. Yes, that's a a gap of nearly $20,000.
Broken down on a monthly level, singles are saving around $651, while couples put aside $1,086. That $435 difference doesn’t just influence spending capacity, but over time compounds into things like slower savings growth, reduced financial buffers when plans go awry, and fewer pathways into housing.
Daily expenses are the most costly factor
Take housing, for example. It's well documented that even the most basic housing situations are increasingly inflated across Australia, and for single people, the burden is even greater.
The ABC found that to rent or purchase a one bedroom apartment is not half the price of a two-bedroom apartment. For example, a one bedroom apartment in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown is, on average, $510 per week in rent. By comparison, a two-bedroom apartment is $555. A couple could rent the bigger space for $277.5 each (or even less should they opt for a one-bedroom), whereas a single person must weather the full cost on their own.
Food represents another major factor. A 2024 Canstar survey found a single-person household spent $107 a week on groceries, while two people spend $163 — or $81.5 each. What's more, single people are more likely to experience food waste thanks to recipes that are designed to feed in bulk.
Throw in other living costs like electricity, internet, streaming subscriptions, and petrol and you've got a serious financial burden.
But there are social costs, too
The social economy of being single is harder to quantify, but just as real. Weddings are the clearest example: according to Finder, the average cost of attending one in Australia is now $2,593 once flights, accommodation, outfits and gifts are factored in. For couples, that cost is often absorbed together, while for single guests, it isn’t.
There's a plethora of other milestones — which are almost exclusively geared towards coupledom — that add to this: engagement parties, hens and bucks weekends, baby showers, first birthdays. More often than not, these couple- and family-centred milestones are treated as more significant than, say, a birthday — and thus more deserving of travelling for, or investing in big gifts. It’s not unusual for wedding gifts received to reach into the thousands, sometimes more.
Travel is another good example. While there’s freedom that comes with booking a solo trip, it’s rarely the most economical option. Hotels, Airbnbs, rental cars are all priced with sharing in mind. Split between two, they feel manageable, but paid alone they can quickly become prohibitive.
Even day-to-day life admin carries a different weight when you’re single. There's no one to remind you to pay a bill, cancel a subscription, pick up a parcel, or renew your insurance. When everything sits with one person, things inevitably slip, and those small oversights can compound.
Australian policy hasn't caught up
There are small acknowledgements of the single's tax at a policy level. The Age Pension, for instance, pays $1,200.90 per fortnight to singles, compared to $1,810.40 combined for couples, because it recognises that living alone is more expensive per person.
But outside of this, much of modern life still assumes partnership as the default, even at a time when fewer Australians are following that path. Marriage rates are declining, people are coupling up later, and more are choosing to remain single altogether. Particularly for women, financial independence has shifted the equation; raising the bar for relationships, or removing the urgency for one entirely.
