RefDat Weather

Hottest Cities in Australia

Annual average maximum temperatures ranked across 200+ locations Updated 2024

Australia is one of the hottest inhabited continents on the planet, and a handful of its towns push the limits of what people can comfortably live with. While coastal capitals enjoy sea breezes and moderate maximums, the remote interior bakes under relentless sun, with daily highs that stay above 35C for much of the year.

This ranking orders locations by annual average maximum temperature, the single clearest measure of how hot a place runs day to day. We also show each city's hottest summer month and its tally of days above 35C, so you can tell the difference between steady year-round warmth and short, brutal summer peaks.

#2
WA
35.5C
Summer peak: 40.1C
196 days above 35C
#1
WA
35.7C
Summer peak: 43.4C
204 days above 35C
#3
NT
34.2C
Summer peak: 38.6C
116 days above 35C
Did you know?

Marble Bar in WA tops this ranking with an annual average maximum of 35.7C. Marble Bar in the Pilbara is famous for once recording 160 consecutive days at or above 37.8C, a streak that still stands as one of the longest hot spells anywhere on Earth. In the hottest inland towns, heat is not a summer event but a year-round baseline that shapes work, water use, and daily routine.

Highest average max
35.7C
Marble Bar, WA
Hottest summer peak
43.4C
Marble Bar, WA
Most 35C+ days
204
Marble Bar
Coolest average max
10.6C
Cradle Mountain, TAS
Average max temperature
23.8C
Across all 213 cities
Locations ranked
213
Across all states and territories

Full Rankings

Click any column header to re-sort. Data from Open-Meteo Historical Weather API (2024).

Rank City State Avg Max Summer Peak 35C+ Days % of Year

Understanding the Rankings

Annual average maximum temperature captures the typical daytime high across all twelve months. The towns at the top of this list, almost all in remote Western Australia and the Northern Territory, sit deep inland where there is no coastal moderation and the sun beats down through clear skies for most of the year.

The far north runs hot for a different reason to the desert interior. Tropical towns like Jabiru and Wyndham stay warm because they sit close to the equator, with humid build-up seasons rather than dry desert heat. The Pilbara and Kimberley combine both effects, producing the highest sustained maximums in the country.

Average maximum tells you the baseline, but summer peak and days above 35C tell you the extremes. A town can have a moderate annual average yet still deliver dangerous heatwaves, so we include all three measures to give a complete picture of how hot each location really gets.

Explore More Rankings

🌡
Extreme Heat Days
Most days above 35C ranked by location.
#1 Alice Springs at 135 days
Coldest Cities
Lowest average temperatures, most frost days, and coldest winters.
#1 Hobart at 8.7C avg min
Driest Cities
Least rainfall, fewest rain days, and longest dry spells.
#1 Alice Springs at 261mm/year
Wettest Cities
Annual rainfall totals, rain days, and heaviest single months.
#1 Cairns at 2,849mm/year
Sunniest Cities
Highest solar exposure measured in megajoules per square metre.
#1 Alice Springs at 22.2 MJ/m2/day
🌞
Most Comfortable
Our proprietary comfort score combining temperature, humidity, rain, and UV.
Where would you enjoy living most?

About This Data

All weather data comes from the Open-Meteo Historical Weather API, which combines official weather station observations with reanalysis models to provide accurate data for any location in Australia. Data shown here is from the 2024 calendar year. Production rankings will use 10 to 30-year normals to smooth out year-to-year variation.

This page ranks cities by annual average maximum temperature. 'Summer peak' is the hottest calendar month's average daily maximum. '35C+ days' counts calendar days where the recorded daily maximum reached or exceeded 35 degrees Celsius.