New Zealand
- Capital
- Wellington
- Region
- Australia and New Zealand
- Population, 2025
- 5.3 million
- Currency
- NZD
- Area
- 270,467 km²
Across New Zealand's 41 priced cities, one person needs about $2,194 a month, rent included; the average net salary is $2,887.
Livability
The same seven domains as for cities, scored at country level; safety falls back to the homicide rate where Numbeo has no survey.
68out of 100
- Purchasing power25%73
- Safety20%51
- Health care15%68
- Climate10%97
- Air quality10%97
- Connectivity10%79
- Cost10%21
How each domain is scored
- Purchasing power, 25%
- What a local net salary buys against local prices, as a percentile.
- Safety, 20%
- Numbeo safety index for the city, or for its country when the city has no survey.
- Health care, 15%
- Numbeo health care index, city first, then country.
- Climate, 10%
- Numbeo climate index where surveyed, otherwise a comfort score from NASA climate normals.
- Air quality, 10%
- 30-day mean US AQI on a 0-100 scale: 100 at AQI 25 or cleaner, 0 at 150 or worse.
- Connectivity, 10%
- Percentile of median fixed broadband download speed, city first, then country.
- Cost, 10%
- Cheaper places score higher: the percentile of the cost-of-living plus rent index, inverted.
- Livability rank among countries
- #19
What it costs
Averages over the country’s cities, weighted by population. New York = 100.
Cost of living index
60.4
New York = 100, rent excluded
Rent index
27.3
New York = 100
Purchasing power
155.5
New York = 100
One person
$2,194
A month, rent included
Net salary
$2,887
Average, a month after tax
Rent, one bedroom in the centre
$1,258
A month
Economy
World Bank development indicators; each figure is the latest year with data.
GDP per person
$49,591
2025
Growth
+0.5%
2025
Unemployment
5.1%
2025
Inflation
2.8%
2025
Life expectancy
82.0 years
2024
Internet users
94%
2024
Taxes
Headline rates side by side from three references, with the source of each.
- Top income tax rate
- 39%
- SourcePwC
- Lowest income tax rate
- 10.5%
- SourceWikipedia
- Corporate tax
- 28%
- SourcePwC
- VAT or sales tax
- 15%
- SourceTrading Economics
- Social security, employee
- 10%
- SourceTrading Economics
- Social security, employer
- 3.5%
- SourceTrading Economics
- Inheritance tax
- 0%
- SourceWikipedia
Headline statutory rates as of Sep 2026; brackets, allowances and regional taxes change what a given person pays.
Safety and internet
Numbeo’s crime survey, the World Bank homicide series and the Speedtest Global Index.
Safety
- Safety indexNumbeo, higher is safer
- 51.2
- Crime indexNumbeo, lower is better
- 48.8
- HomicidesPer 100,000 people, 2022
- 1.5
Internet
- Fixed downloadMbps, median, #32 worldwide
- 215
- Mobile downloadMbps, median, #21 worldwide
- 145
- Change in a yearFixed download speed
- 0%
Cities in New Zealand
Sort by any column. Livability and cost use the same scales as every city page.
| 1Dunedin | 70 | 60.6 | $889 | $2,529 | 160.7 | 132.8K | Medium confidence, 15 contributors |
| 2Wellington | 68 | 63.1 | $1,249 | $2,841 | 147.9 | 381.9K | High confidence, 71 contributors |
| 3Tauranga | 66 | 59.1 | $1,119 | $3,017 | 172.0 | 161K | High confidence, 29 contributors |
| 4Christchurch | 66 | 59.6 | $1,241 | $2,720 | 145.5 | 419.2K | High confidence, 51 contributors |
| 5Auckland | 66 | 63.8 | $1,297 | $3,068 | 155.5 | 1.5M | High confidence, 118 contributors |
| 6Hamilton | 65 | 56.4 | $971 | $2,704 | 170.1 | 192.1K | Medium confidence, 12 contributors |
| 7Kerikeri | 65 | 58.4 | — | $5,802 | 367.2 | 8.4K | Low confidence, 3 contributors |
| 8Rotorua | 65 | 54.4 | $690 | $3,746 | 284.2 | 65.9K | Medium confidence, 14 contributors |
| 9North Shore | 64 | 57.6 | $1,329 | $2,887 | 150.4 | 258.7K | Medium confidence, 12 contributors |
| 10Lower Hutt | 64 | 55.2 | $1,430 | $3,173 | 160.6 | 114.2K | Medium confidence, 12 contributors |
| 11Invercargill | 63 | 55.8 | $610 | $2,811 | 221.9 | 58K | Medium confidence, 12 contributors |
| 12Whakatane | 63 | 56.7 | — | $4,065 | 261.0 | 18.6K | Low confidence, 4 contributors |
| 13Wanaka | 63 | 58.8 | $991 | $4,342 | 264.8 | 13.2K | Medium confidence, 12 contributors |
| 14Blenheim | 62 | 55.7 | $686 | $2,492 | 187.0 | 29.8K | Medium confidence, 8 contributors |
| 15Cambridge | 61 | 58.1 | $763 | $2,631 | 183.9 | 15.2K | Medium confidence, 6 contributors |
| 16Cromwell | 60 | 60.9 | $928 | $3,085 | 191.4 | 5.2K | Low confidence, 2 contributors |
| 17Manukau | 60 | 57.4 | $1,258 | $1,811 | 97.7 | 362K | Low confidence, 3 contributors |
| 18New Plymouth | 60 | 58.9 | $927 | $2,858 | 180.4 | 90.1K | Medium confidence, 7 contributors |
| 19Porirua | 60 | 61.4 | — | $2,901 | 179.2 | 61.5K | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 20Canterbury | 60 | 59.7 | $915 | $2,764 | 174.5 | — | Medium confidence, 6 contributors |
| 21Palmerston North | 60 | 55.9 | $913 | $2,545 | 166.0 | 90.5K | High confidence, 28 contributors |
| 22Papamoa Beach | 59 | 59.5 | $464 | $1,617 | 136.1 | — | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 23Masterton | 59 | 55.1 | — | $2,402 | 156.4 | 28.9K | Medium confidence, 8 contributors |
| 24Napier | 58 | 60.4 | $1,221 | $3,081 | 165.4 | 66.4K | Low confidence, 4 contributors |
| 25Whangarei | 58 | 66.2 | $429 | $2,361 | 189.5 | 50.9K | Medium confidence, 10 contributors |
| 26Matamata | 56 | 61.2 | $290 | — | — | 6.3K | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 27Hastings | 56 | 54.9 | $819 | $1,601 | 111.4 | 88.3K | Medium confidence, 12 contributors |
| 28Nelson | 56 | 59.9 | $1,044 | $2,086 | 122.7 | 54.4K | High confidence, 25 contributors |
| 29Gisborne | 55 | — | — | $4,290 | — | 38.1K | Low confidence, 4 contributors |
| 30Gore | 55 | — | — | — | — | 13.1K | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 31Queenstown | 55 | 64.7 | $1,520 | $3,104 | 142.4 | 10.4K | High confidence, 26 contributors |
| 32Dargaville | 55 | — | — | — | — | 5.2K | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 33Feilding | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | Low confidence |
| 34Waihi | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | Low confidence |
| 35Wairoa | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | Low confidence |
| 36Waiheke Island | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 37Fox Glacier | 55 | — | $598 | $1,674 | — | — | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 38Whanganui | 54 | 56.0 | $915 | — | — | 49.2K | Medium confidence, 7 contributors |
| 39Waitakere | 53 | 55.9 | — | — | — | — | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 40Eltham | 53 | 57.4 | — | — | — | — | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 41Ashburton | 53 | 58.8 | — | — | — | 21.6K | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 42Greymouth | 53 | 59.0 | — | — | — | 9.4K | Low confidence, 2 contributors |
| 43Timaru | 53 | 59.5 | — | — | — | 29.3K | Medium confidence, 8 contributors |
| 44Taupo | 53 | 59.8 | — | — | — | 27K | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 45Te Awamutu | 53 | 61.2 | — | — | — | 14K | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 46Thames | 53 | 61.2 | — | — | — | 7.1K | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 47Pukekohe | 53 | 61.3 | — | — | — | — | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 48Upper Hutt | 53 | 63.0 | — | — | — | 47.4K | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 49Levin | 53 | 55.7 | $1,035 | — | — | 19.8K | Low confidence, 3 contributors |