Quality of Life in Auckland, New Zealand

Purchasing Power Index 131.29   Very High
Safety Index 49.93   Moderate
Health Care Index 69.24   High
Climate Index 99.89   Very High
Cost of Living Index 62.24   Moderate
Property Price to Income Ratio 11.20   Moderate
Traffic Commute Time Index 37.37   Moderate
Pollution Index 31.35   Low
ƒ Quality of Life Index: 181.47   Very High

Minimum contributors for an underlying section: 142

Maximum contributors for an underlying section: 622

Last update: November 2024

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22 Comments so far
Chris T. on Jun 28, 2024:
Anyone here saying Auckland is a great place to live, is either completely delusional, or paid to do so.

Not only are the prices ridiculous (California +), healthcare is outright scary, air quality gone down, you will see many addicts walking around (Crime +++), and lastly, not enough jobs or business opportunities to (over)pay for all of this.

You will feel isolated, far away from the real world.
Luke H on Jun 02, 2024:
Comparing to San Francisco, US: Cost of living is definitely less than most cities in the US. Everything you need is around just lacking in the variety sometimes.

Higher quality food. Everyone minds their own business, prob too much.

Great infrastructure for family/nature.

Some goods more expensive but most are much less than San Francisco. Not a tipping culture (currently nearly compulsory to add 18-20% in SF).

Quality of life very high - suburban feel neighborhoods close to CBD (within 10 mins). Low traffic, easy parking, well-tended spaces, low trash as compared to other major global cities. Sleepy town element even as a big city, lower ambition, little bit of friendly but stifled vibe.
Alex on Apr 17, 2024:
'To anonymous on April 16 2024'Its because Britian Is a greedy country that only cares about it self and no one else.
Anonymous on Apr 16, 2024:
How did Britain make New Zealand and Australia the most British countries outside the UK nearly 250 years ago?
Did the British use Wormhole technology and travel to New Zealand that is 20,000 kilometers away from Great Britain?

New Zealand and Australia are the farthest countries from the UK geographically on Earth, and yet the 2 most British countries after UK are New Zealand and Australia.
Christopher on Aug 14, 2023:
I really cannot recommend NZ to anyone. We both work and make good wages, still we can't make ends meet.

Already a lot of poor and addicted folks around, and with these ever increasing prices this will only become worse.

Australia is not much better, if any.

Have to admit that northern Europe is the better destination for the coming years.
Raj Singh on Jul 10, 2023:
very backward country with alot of poverty, this is not a first world country its a developing country thats going more backwards than forwards , it appears Maori want to rule and make it a zimbabwe or somalia
Fabrisio Allende on Jul 10, 2023:
I am from Spain and have travelled to New Zealand in 2013 back then things were quite cheap in New Zealand and the economy strong. I have just recently travelled to New Zealand in May of 2023 and the changes I saw are shocking, New Zealand is a very expensive country $6 for a cucumber, something has gone terribly wrong in this country, I spoke to many New Zealanders who are thinking about leaving or are in the process of leaving, as the cost of living is way too high compared to salary. House prices in Auckland are over 1 million and rent for a 3 bedroom is around 800/wk average salary per week here is not even 1000 dollars. People are also saying they are being taxed too much. Alot of New Zealanders are moving to Australia the SA or Canada some i spoke to are going to either Portugal or spain. In my area of barcelona I saw alot of kiwi families living there now. From what I saw in New Zealand is a bad government. Healthcare is also terrible from what I heard,
Josiah on Jun 14, 2023:
I read Emilies comment below and it immediately resonated with me as I too was "bullied" by a cliquey band of boomer feminists at work! As a man from a tradionally masculine country who was brought up to respect woman and our elders this was completely alien to me and I did not know how to deal with it so I turned to management which was a big big mistake and made it all worse.
My wife left numerous workplaces also because of the same sort of behaviour and I can also vouch for the fact that we we're told a couple of times to "just go back to your own country", even a mother at school, who we saw and greeted every day, had the audacity to say this to my kids one day when she heard them speak a language other than english! Horrible country hope never to have to go back there for any reason even though we have citizenship.
Emilie on Jun 05, 2023:
Hi there all,

Sadly, I agree with most comments written here.
I'm a brit who's have just come back from Auckland NZ having lived there for 15 years.
Even with citizenship, I never felt like I belonged. there is a serious clique problem esp in the film industry in Auckland.

I took a lot to leave but after being subjected to Alfa Feminist Bullies in the work place, I just had enough. there are simply too many insecure therefore nasty caty women and they haver stripped men of their capabilities to be men, ie most men are henpecked its embarrassing! The darkest times I ever had where in Auckland.
"Go back to your country" social nepotism is extremely high so even though you worked hard to get your qualifications, friends and family will be hired over you and often with far less skill. Sadly its not a place I can ever go back to as I am greatly traumatised. I got sick and tired of hearing ' Swallow some cement and harden up!"
there is simply no culture or tolerance for vulnerability. Its a cut throut place to live if you ever wanted to entertain or create art!

Beautiful but not worth the bullying, rasim and overely expensive demands in return got very little. 4/10
Zhang on May 31, 2023:
Poor career and job opportunities, low paid economy, very expensive country to live in.
Insanely expensive rent and housing prices. Many people are priced out of the market.
Tall Poppy Syndrome due to the fact we have a big gap between our very wealthy and our poor.
Too many people working two or even three jobs and still struggling to provide the basics of life.
Our shaming culture to those with mental health and OCD problems. Very little help for such people.
Massive bullying and mental abuse problems in our schools and also our workplaces. Usually the boss does nothing about it and the victim is seen as the trouble maker.
Victim shaming.
Due to the above things an insanely high rate of suicides.
A negative attitude to any change even if it is best for our country and will help us in the long-run.
Poor public transport in much of the country. They want us to get rid of cars but the truth is you simply have to own a car in New Zealand.
Anonymous on May 31, 2023:
hi New Zealand has high rates of youth suicide, teen pregnancy, and alcoholism. I will not presume to speculate as to what fuels New Zealand’s rates of domestic violence.

There’s a raging methamphetamine epidemic, fuelled by the Asian gangs who import it, the local gangs who distribute it, and the economic hopelessness of increasing numbers of people who have been left behind thanks to the neoliberal reforms of the last 30 years (and the insane property market of the last 10 years). Needless to say, where there’s meth, there’s violence.

While New Zealand is less violently racist, and less legislatively racist than most countries with relatively high proportions of minorities (over one third of the country is Maori, Asian, and Polynesian), Maori and Pacific Islanders feature at the bottom of most statistics. Maori in particular

New Zealand also suffers from what’s known locally as “tall poppy syndrome,” a.k.a. the politics of envy and resentment. This syndrome is so-called because the tallest poppies in a field are the ones that get cut down. It’s an extension of how New Zealanders value humility - arguably a good thing - but it’s taken to an extreme, wherein anyone who succeeds at something, or is perceived to be succeeding, is invariably assumed to be arrogant and big headed, and therefore worthy of mockery, and/or condescension, spite, and negativity. It’s often naked jealousy, and the polar opposite of how Americans like to celebrate success.

New Zealand is a small, young, backward place isolated country of 4.5 million people. (It’s so far away from everywhere that it was the last country in the world to be discovered by humans.) Which is probably what drives a national insecurity that has yet to be fully overcome. This insecurity manifests itself in the pettiness and parochialism you find in many locations that are small and/or isolated. Kiwis like to bury their heads in the sand calling New Zealand godzone which is far from the truth when you look at our statistics in comparison to OECD countries

These are probably the worst aspects of life in New Zealand. While these dark sides are certainly not ignored within New Zealand, they are not commonly known in the rest of the world.

EDIT: There are many wonderful facets to living in New Zealand that, for the vast majority of people, vastly outweigh the dark sides. But they are beyond the scope of this question. Kiwi culture can be very violent a number of backpackers have been murdered over the years and immigrants exploited there is huge distrust between maori/ Pacific islanders and pakeha, NZ is a divisive country that needs to heal if this country wants to move forward
Josh on May 31, 2023:
New Zealand is a small (population-wise) and isolated country. It means that import is expensive and there’s a lack of competition in many sectors. Transportation between cities is also expensive, of course. Also too many people on the beneft and commiting H ardoworking people taxed too high whilst people on benefit commit crimes
Housing is surprisingly expensive, even outside the major cities, considering the low population density which ought to make land cheap. I think zonal regulations are to blame. But also mortgage interests are relatively high for some reason, maybe because of the small currency area. And lack of competition in the building material import/production sector makes it expensive to build.
Anonymous on May 31, 2023:
to blindly say this is a piece of heaven or Godzone, it is not just misguided patriotism, but a brand complacent stupidity that serves no one, especially a country we love.

Many of the dark sides come actually together with the bright sides—- to have light, there must be also darkness:

Racism (cons) Maori are racist to pakeha, pakeha racist to maoris — Multiculturalism ( pros) : Yes, we are supposed to be bi-cultural ( English and Maori) or Multicultural. However, colonial mentality can still often be found. Topic regarding the Treaty of Waitangi can still be sticky and it is frequent for someone neither European or Maori to hear about the two groups badmouthing each other. When it comes to immigration, there are still always preference for English speaking people from UK or other Anglosphere. Despite that we are much more closer to South Pacific and Asia geographically.
Environmental pollution (cons)—small population ( pros): This is an odd pairing at a glance, but the reason I put them together is about the NZ “green and clean “ image being false. Sure, we have still got miles of greenery outside the cities and our rivers are not visibly odd colour. However, half of the rivers are not swimmable and the green you see are not original flora (pasture grass and pine trees for logging). We have too many cows ,our recycling system is really too simplistic and we use poisons in the fields. When there are not a lot of people, any man made pollution would be less obvious as oppose to the same level of mess in a much more denser populated place. I believe this is make people more careless with the environment than they otherwise would. “ Well, the landfill is full, plenty of other sites we have here..etc”
Tall poppy syndrome (cons)—Humble and easy going attitude( pros): This is really two side of the same coin. As a people we are chilled, but we are often not chilled enough to tolerate others who are “not chilled”. There can be sense of conforming as in you don’t want to be the “ show off” one or the “ trouble making one” in a flock.
There are also dark sides that I don’t see any light side pairing unless you are a sith lord :

Under-regulated housing market
Domestic violence and child poverty
Gender Wage Gap
As an Asian female who is outspoken and does not come with parental cash, I am not very well setup for this at all. However, I can still focus on the light sides and make them work for me, at least I think I can. Trouble is, I can do very little with the last three.

I am pessimistic in nature and believe if we are not careful enough, the dark sides will over take the light sides in a near future eventually.

If we are no longer a friendly, clean, and fair society, what other advantage we have so far away from the rest of the world, in the middle of no where?
Sam on May 23, 2023:
Forget about affordability. "Healthcare" is a nightmare.

Australia the same problem.

We are relocating to Europe and be done with it. Sad, but this is not the paradise we thought it'd be.
Ryan on Apr 18, 2023:
New Zealand has changed . It's very expensive to live and really not worth it anymore alot of family and friends are relocating to Australia Canada and the US salaries too low compared to cost of living
Tundra on Apr 13, 2023:
NZ is expensive and salaries are low basics like food and shelter are becoming more expensive every day. If you are single and dont mind living the nomad lifestyle for a while you'll be fine there but if you have a family and want to make a living there, buy a house etc. Just forget about it its too expensive and trust me NZ just isnt worth the effort.
Anonymous on Apr 04, 2023:
New Zealand changed it's not affordable anymore wages are low cost of things so high . Dental unattainable . Country is going backwards fast I know alot of friends moving elsewhere Canada or Australia
DJ on Nov 19, 2022:
What sort of salary do you need to have in Auckland to live a comfortable life?
cruz on Sep 21, 2022:
New Zealand is a great place to live overall. However, it's not what the world portrays it to be.

The most challenging thing about living here is your weak purchasing power combined with the extremely high cost of living and low salaries. That all combined makes living here very hard, especially if you're not rich or wealthy.

Living here all my life though, and having traveled and lived in many different parts of the world, I must say though that the price to pay here is well worth it. New Zealand isn't exactly an exciting place to live, in fact, if you're after the hustle and bustle you won't get that here. Far from it and quite the polar opposite actually. But if you're after a peaceful, quite, humble life then New Zealand is perfect.
Solarnut on Jul 25, 2022:
New Zealand has been ranked second-worst place in the world to move by immigrants, according to a survey.
The expatriate networking organisation InterNations surveyed nearly 12,000 respondents of 177 different nationalities, living in 181 countries. Respondents were asked how their new homes performed on factors including quality of life, cost of living, safety, financial outlook, bureuacracy, and ease of fitting in.
In a resulting ranking of 52 countries – those for whom there was a large enough sample size – Aotearoa New Zealand ranked in the doldrums, at 51. It was beaten to the bottom by Kuwait.
Solarnut on Jul 07, 2022:
Ironically an article in the news (newshub) today to support what I said previously.
"Cost of Living: MYOB poll shows more than 1 million Kiwis actively considering leaving NZ
When asked why they were considering a move abroad, half said they could get a better salary, 44 percent said it's for a better quality of life or the cost of living is better overseas while 34 percent wanted to experience living and working in another country."

Population of NZ is about 5m, so 1/5th want to leave for better lifestyle.
Solarnut on Jul 03, 2022:
If you dont have real wealth you will have a very poor lifestyle in NZ. New immigrants work themselves to death as modern slaves trying to obtain a lifestyle reserved for rich land-owners and wealthy farmers. You will never get there especially not if you rely on a salary as income as the system is heavily geared against you. As a new immigrant you will be doing most of the work because Kiwi's really dont like to work, just dont expect to paid for your time and if you complain they'll get your visa cancelled and kick you out of the country. Best to go where your skills will be appreciated, NZ is not it.