FIRE Number for Melbourne, Australia

A workable but disciplined Melbourne life in an outer-west or northern suburb — Footscray, Sunshine, Reservoir — a studio or small one-bedroom near a train line, with most meals cooked at home and supplemented by the city's superb multicultural cheap eats. Medicare does not apply to a non-resident, so genuine private cover is carried. The free tram zone, free galleries at the NGV, and St Kilda's beaches keep leisure affordable; the famously changeable weather and gray winters are the main adjustment.

A nice one-bedroom in Fitzroy, Carlton, or South Yarra puts the best of inner Melbourne within walking distance. Dining at hatted restaurants, Australian Open and Grand Prix tickets, a car for Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley trips, and premium private health insurance are all comfortably affordable. Melbourne's cultural depth supports this level of spending easily.

A luxury CBD or Southbank penthouse, or a Toorak/Brighton prestige apartment, with regular housekeeping, a driver when wanted, and first-class international travel. Private boxes at the MCG and Rod Laver Arena, concierge and international-plus-evacuation health cover, and dining anywhere in the city without a second thought. Melbourne is expensive enough that even this budget is absorbed more fully than in a smaller city — the lifestyle is less about visible flash than about convenience and never weighing a cost.