Where to live in New Zealand
We track 3 cities in New Zealand: Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. Average temperatures run from 13°C to 16°C. We estimate a couple needs €3,598 to €3,812 a month to live centrally. New Zealand sits in our low to medium tax tier. For citizens from outside Australia and New Zealand, long-term residency is possible, with conditions.
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- Tax tier
- Low to medium
- Moderate personal income tax
- Languages
- English
- English everywhere
- Safety
- 62/100
- country-level
- Healthcare
- 74/100
- country-level
- Internet
- ~180 Mbps
- median fixed broadband
The 3 cities we track
| City | Size | Setting | Avg temp | Rain a year | Est. cost a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auckland | large | coastal | 16°C | 1,354 mm | €3,812 |
| Christchurch | mid-sized | coastal | 13°C | 807 mm | €3,612 |
| Wellington | mid-sized | coastal | 14°C | 1,332 mm | €3,598 |
Source: City size from GeoNames, temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages), rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals), coast distance from Natural Earth. Cost is our model estimate for a couple living centrally.
Taxes
New Zealand sits in our low to medium tax tier: moderate personal income tax. The tier applies to every city here, and couples who cap tax below it will not see these cities in their results.
Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.
Residency and visas
Possible, with conditions, for people from outside Australia and New Zealand. The realistic path is the points-based Skilled Migrant Category, which requires a skilled job offer from an accredited employer rather than any fixed capital, while a high-value investor residence route and an age-gated temporary retirement visa exist as money-based alternatives.
Citizens of Australia and New Zealand have freedom-of-movement or simplified residency rights here.
For short visits, 1 of 198 passports can enter visa-free, 60 can get an e-visa or visa on arrival and 137 need a visa in advance.
Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).