Sydney is worst city - as voted by Aussies

Sydney is Australia's worst city - according to Aussies themselves. Photo / Supplied

SYDNEY - Sydney has been branded Australia's worst city - by its own residents.

Despite its obvious charms, ranging from the iconic Opera House, the beautiful harbour and ready access to numerous beaches, Sydneysiders say their city is the pits.

They hammered its natural environment, schools, housing, cleanliness, cultural integration and road network, ranking it bottom of the nation's eight biggest metropolises.

Adelaide is the nation's best city, followed by Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Hobart, Brisbane and Darwin, according to an Auspoll survey commissioned by the Property Council of Australia.

The survey quizzed 4072 across the nation about the cities they live in.

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally hit back at the findings, sarcastically questioning why more people don't live in Adelaide.

"I did a bit of a survey myself this morning and I checked the population figure," she told reporters on Saturday.

"The population of Adelaide - a little bit over 1.2 million people. The population of Sydney - a bit more than 4.5 million people. I think those figures speak for themselves.

"Adelaide is a great city but if it's so fantastic why aren't more people living there?"

But Property Council chief executive Peter Verwer reckons Sydneysiders are on the money.

Although he admitted the results can be read just as much as a verdict on politicians as the cities themselves.

"I don't think Sydneysiders have been overly harsh here, I think they've been realistic," he said on Saturday.

"Sydney has been consistently on the slide since the (2000) Olympics.

"The reality is people in Sydney are sick of broken promises from politicians when it comes to things like infrastructure and transport."

Sydney was ranked a little higher for its entertainment options, finishing second behind Melbourne.

Its climate was ranked third best.

Mr Verwer said he hoped the results would "shock governments into action".

- AAP