How Much Should You Spend on an Engagement Ring in Australia?

Spend what you can pay for without borrowing, dipping into your emergency fund or taking from a house deposit or wedding budget. For context, Australian couples spent an average of $6,842 on an engagement ring in the 2026 Easy Weddings survey, which is about three quarters of a month of average full-time earnings. There is no rule that says you need to reach that figure.

The stone type does most of the work on price. A complete moissanite engagement ring starts from $1,910 with us, and a complete 1 carat lab-grown diamond ring from about $2,400, so a ring well under the average can still carry a substantial stone.

$6,842, according to the Easy Weddings 2026 Australian wedding industry report, a 14.5% increase on the year before. The survey covers more than 4,000 engaged and recently married couples, who spent an average of $38,252 on the wedding itself.

A few things to know about that number:

• It is an average, so a small number of very expensive rings pull it up. Many couples spend less.
• It includes natural diamond, lab-grown diamond and moissanite rings together.
• It covers the engagement ring alone, not the wedding bands.

Easy Weddings also asked its audience how much they spent, in an informal poll rather than the main survey:

• Under $1,500: 10%
• $1,500 to $5,000: 49%
• $5,000 to $10,000: 21%
• Over $10,000: nearly 20%

In the same poll, 76% said three months' salary is too much to spend, and more than 80% said a month's salary or less is the right amount. Because it was a social media poll without a stated sample size, treat it as a sense of where couples land rather than a precise breakdown.

It was never a rule, it was advertising. De Beers adverts first suggested spending one month's salary on an engagement ring, and by the 1980s they were asking "How can you make two months' salary last forever?" The figure stuck because it was repeated for decades, not because it reflects what a ring should cost.

In Australian dollars, the rule would be a large number. Full-time adults earned an average of $2,083.70 a week in May 2026, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which is about $9,030 a month before tax. Two months' salary would be about $18,060, more than two and a half times what couples actually spend on average.

A better question is whether you can pay for the ring from savings without taking from something you need. If you can, you have found a number that works. Our guide to the three months' salary rule covers the history in more detail.

These are complete ring prices with us, in Australian dollars, checked on 17 September 2026.

Under $3,000

• A moissanite solitaire in solid 14k gold, from $1,910 with a 6.5mm stone that looks like a 1 carat diamond, or $2,650 with an 8mm stone that looks like 2 carats.
• A 1 carat lab-grown diamond solitaire in 14k gold, from about $2,400, with an IGI certified stone in D to F colour and VS1 clarity or better.

$3,000 to $6,000

• A larger moissanite, up to 11mm, or a moissanite in a halo, hidden halo or pavé setting.
• A 1 carat lab-grown diamond in 18k gold or platinum, or in a more detailed setting.
• A 2 carat lab-grown diamond ring. Across Australian jewellers, complete 2 carat rings run about $3,900 to $6,800, as our 2 carat price guide shows.

$6,000 and over

• A 3 carat lab-grown diamond ring, which runs about $4,700 to $9,000 across Australian jewellers, according to our 3 carat price guide.
• A fully custom design in platinum, a three stone ring or a larger elongated stone.
• A natural diamond, which costs far more than a lab-grown diamond of the same size.

This is the biggest lever on what your budget buys. Moissanite costs the least for its size: an 8mm round moissanite costs $1,390 as a loose stone, against a median of $2,500 for a lab-grown diamond of the same width on our stone feed. A lab-grown diamond is a real diamond, and the ABC reports lab-grown diamonds are 30 to 70 per cent cheaper per carat than natural ones.

A natural diamond costs more for the same size, but holds more of its resale value. A lab-grown diamond has little resale value, so buy it for the ring you want to wear rather than as an investment. Our comparison of natural, lab-grown and moissanite stones covers the differences, and our moissanite cost guide compares moissanite and lab-grown prices size by size.

• Choose the stone type first. Moissanite or a lab-grown diamond changes the budget more than any other choice.
• Stay in the colourless range without paying for the top grades. For a lab-grown diamond, D to F colour with VVS2 or VS1 clarity looks colourless and clean. Our guide to the best colour and clarity for a lab-grown diamond shows what each grade costs.
• Prioritise cut on a round diamond. An Ideal or Excellent cut grade decides how much a round stone sparkles. See what diamond cut quality means.
• Choose 14k gold if you want the lowest price. In our Hailey solitaire, 14k gold costs $1,260, 18k gold $1,560 and platinum $1,610, so platinum costs only $50 more than 18k gold.
• Keep the setting simple. A solitaire puts more of the budget into the stone. A pavé band adds $350 to our settings.
• Give yourself time. A custom ring takes about 6 to 8 weeks from the first conversation to delivery, so starting early avoids paying for a rush. The full timing is in when to buy an engagement ring.

Only if you could pay the full amount from savings anyway and the repayments fit your budget. Moneysmart warns that buy now, pay later services make it easier to spend money you cannot afford, that fees add up if you miss payments, and that applications and missed payments can appear on your credit report. It suggests setting a limit you can afford, using one service at a time and linking a debit card rather than a credit card.

A useful test: if your partner found out exactly what the ring cost and how you paid for it, would they be happy with both? If the honest answer is no on either, the number is too high.

Any amount that takes you into debt, dips into savings you needed for something else, or causes stress for months after the proposal. Write the figure next to everything else you are saving for over the next two years, such as the wedding, a house deposit and an emergency buffer. If the ring leaves the others looking thin, it is too high.

If you want to see what fits your budget, our engagement ring collection shows complete prices for lab-grown diamond and moissanite rings, and a consultation is the fastest way to get a quote for a custom design.

Thanks for reading, Jared and Brie