Moving to New Zealand from the US

Our residency index: 60/100, possible, with conditions. It is our own rating of how realistic long-term residency in New Zealand is for US citizens, based on the routes New Zealand publishes. 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.

Our dataset has no self-funded income or savings threshold for New Zealand. Check the official requirements before you apply.

For short visits, US passport holders need an e-visa or eTA before a visit, according to the passport-index dataset. Short-stay entry covers visits; living there takes a residence permit.

Ranked by our match model for a typical couple who both hold US passports, using the preset answers of our best places to live list. Your own answers would change the order. We pick the cities, up to five, by how often English Wikipedia readers looked them up over the past year.

1. 1

   1. Auckland

   85% match

   Est. cost

   €3,812/mo

   Avg temp

   16°C

   Safety index

   62/100

2. 2

   2. Wellington

   84% match

   Est. cost

   €3,598/mo

   Avg temp

   14°C

   Safety index

   62/100

3. 3

   3. Christchurch

   81% match

   Est. cost

   €3,612/mo

   Avg temp

   13°C

   Safety index

   62/100

Our estimate for a couple living centrally runs from €3,598 a month in Wellington to €3,812 in Auckland. For comparison, we estimate €4,640 a month in New York City. Use these figures to compare places rather than to set a budget.

New Zealand is in our low to medium tax tier (moderate personal income tax); the US is in our low to medium tax tier (moderate personal income tax). Tiers describe each country's own income tax. They do not cover tax you may still owe in the US after you leave, or the treaty between the two countries, so check both with a tax adviser before you move.

• Best English-speaking cities to move to
• Best coastal cities to live in
• Best cities with a mild climate
• Best places to live in the world
• Best cities for remote workers with fast internet
• Best small and mid-sized cities to live in abroad

• Moving to New Zealand from the UK
• Moving to New Zealand from Canada
• Moving to New Zealand from Australia
• Moving to New Zealand from Ireland

Every country and origin we cover

Every figure here comes from the datasets behind our city and country pages:

• Short-stay entry: the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT license), which records the entry rule for short visits on each passport.
• Residency index, routes and thresholds: the OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. It is a summary, not legal advice.
• City ranking: our match model, the one behind the quiz, run with a typical couple's preset answers and both partners holding US passports. It ranks up to five of the country's best-known cities: of the cities in our quiz (100,000 people or more, capitals and a few towns movers seek out, such as Faro), the five most read about on English Wikipedia over the past year. It folds suburbs into their main city and leaves out countries with a residency index under 40 and areas under a US State Department Level 4 advisory, as our best-cities lists do.
• Costs: our cost model, a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026).
• Tax tiers: three coarse bands we assign by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation.