Compare Regions

Use the drop-down lists on this page to compare statistics across any three regions, to help you make an initial assessment of those that might suit you best.

Keep in mind that while accurate, figures don't always tell the whole story. Consider searching online for the many local information sites that exist for all of these areas.

You will also find well researched, indepth information about all regions in the online encyclopaedia www.teara.govt.nz and the online history site www.nzhistory.govt.nz

Text version of regional data

	Northland	North Shore	West Auckland (Waitakere)	Central Auckland	South Auckland (Manukau)	Waikato	Bay of Plenty	Gisborne	Hawke's Bay	Taranaki	Manawatu-Whanganui	Porirua (Wellington Region)	Hutt Valley (Wellington Region)	Wellington Central (Wellington Region)	Nelson /Tasman	Marlborough	West Coast	Canterbury	Otago	Southland
Population
total population	148,470	295,164	186,447	404,658	433,086	382,716	257,379	44,499	147,783	104,127	222,423	48,546	136,116	179,466	87,513	42,558	31,326	521,832	193,803	90,876
Age																					-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
median age	38.9	37.85	33.6	33.4	33.00	35.6	37.8	34.7	37.5	38	36.7	32.6	35.95	33.1	39.85	41.7	40.2	37.6	36.9	38
% over 65	14.5	12.85	9.3	9.6	10.10	12.4	14.8	12	13.9	14.8	14.3	7.9	11.7	8.4	14.1	16.2	13.8	13.9	13.8	13.9
% under 15	23.4	20.85	23.7	18.8	25.00	22.9	23	26.2	23	21.8	21.8	26.2	22.5	17.7	20.35	18.6	20.4	19.6	17.6	21.2
Ethnic Groups																					-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
European	67.99%	71.78%	59.01%	54.36%	47.33%	70.44%	67.14%	54.26%	68.48%	76.96%	73.01%	56.81%	67.89%	70.12%	81.55%	78.42%	79.65%	77.38%	79.59%	78.65%
Maori	31.70%	6.99%	13.06%	7.80%	16.45%	20.96%	27.53%	47.27%	23.51%	15.76%	19.62%	20.91%	16.17%	7.71%	7.87%	10.47%	9.67%	7.22%	6.56%	11.78%
Pacific	2.70%	2.93%	15.30%	13.11%	22.75%	3.23%	2.63%	3.11%	3.69%	1.36%	2.73%	26.60%	8.84%	5.16%	1.23%	1.57%	0.93%	2.15%	1.68%	1.65%
Asian	1.88%	13.93%	16.16%	24.45%	17.87%	4.98%	3.18%	1.77%	2.46%	2.15%	3.77%	4.53%	7.44%	13.21%	1.92%	1.56%	1.14%	5.74%	4.16%	1.30%
Middle Eastern/ Latin/ African	0.25%	1.36%	1.55%	1.78%	1.27%	0.66%	0.32%	0.22%	0.40%	0.22%	0.51%	0.51%	0.98%	2.09%	0.30%	0.48%	0.23%	0.66%	0.69%	0.16%
New Zealander	10.70%	10.70%	8.31%	7.55%	6.61%	11.45%	12.23%	9.22%	12.69%	13.57%	12.40%	8.88%	10.71%	10.58%	14.34%	16.22%	16.70%	13.80%	14.04%	15.67%
Other	0.04%	0.06%	0.05%	0.05%	0.05%	0.04%	0.03%	0.04%	0.02%	0.02%	0.03%	0.02%	0.02%	0.05%	0.04%	0.02%	0.02%	0.03%	0.03%	0.02%
Migration																					-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
% of people born outside NZ	14.2	34.4	33.7	37	32.9	16	14.9	8.7	13	11	12.6	23.1	20.3	28.2	16.4	13.3	9.4	17.9	15.6	7.6
Birthplace of Population (%)																						-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
New Zealand	78.99%	62.06%	62.16%	56.40%	60.54%	79.68%	80.68%	85.20%	83.29%	85.03%	83.96%	72.64%	76.75%	69.05%	80.01%	82.60%	86.70%	79.42%	81.15%	89.44%
Australia	1.77%	1.82%	1.40%	1.75%	1.23%	1.52%	1.63%	1.17%	1.30%	1.41%	1.30%	1.17%	1.29%	1.90%	1.94%	1.52%	1.76%	1.63%	1.89%	1.17%
Pacific	0.66%	1.49%	7.80%	7.18%	12.00%	1.27%	0.80%	0.89%	1.40%	0.45%	1.01%	9.77%	3.87%	2.63%	0.44%	0.57%	0.35%	0.98%	0.69%	0.51%
UK and Ireland	6.00%	11.13%	6.71%	5.60%	4.98%	5.40%	6.26%	3.26%	5.49%	4.78%	4.82%	6.03%	6.89%	7.59%	8.12%	6.01%	3.68%	6.44%	5.76%	3.07%
Europe Excl UK and Ireland	1.58%	2.67%	2.29%	2.26%	0.95%	1.49%	1.40%	0.71%	1.17%	1.08%	0.98%	0.95%	1.78%	2.78%	2.35%	1.49%	1.15%	1.75%	1.51%	0.97%
North American	0.75%	0.90%	0.56%	0.94%	0.39%	0.53%	0.57%	0.44%	0.41%	0.40%	0.47%	0.51%	0.48%	1.28%	1.13%	0.69%	0.53%	0.70%	0.91%	0.31%
Asian	1.15%	11.25%	10.19%	17.29%	10.20%	3.27%	2.18%	0.93%	1.53%	1.45%	2.50%	2.10%	4.36%	8.28%	1.44%	1.17%	0.76%	8.08%	3.06%	0.82%
Other	1.12%	5.18%	2.63%	2.80%	3.48%	1.70%	1.32%	0.73%	1.12%	0.98%	1.06%	1.32%	1.65%	2.70%	1.01%	1.23%	0.74%	0.00%	1.22%	0.51%
_{Source: Statistics New Zealand}
Employment
median annual earnings ages 25-64	$36,296.00	$45,864.00	$45,864.00	$45,864.00	$45,864.00	$41,912.00	$39,884.00	$40,872.00	$40,872.00	$45,864.00	$39,936.00	$39,300.00	$39,800.00	$47,892.00	$39,884.00	$39,884.00	$32,300.00	$42,016.00	$43,472.00	$40,508.00
unemployment rate %	6.50%	3.85%	5.70%	5.70%	7.00%	5.20%	6.10%	7.20%	4.60%	4.70%	5.20%	6.90%	5.35%	4.80%	3.35%	2.50%	3.20%	3.90%	4.50%	3.80%
_{Source: Statistics New Zealand}
Weather
sunshine hours	2021	2060	2060	2060	2060	2009	2260	2180	2188	2182	1888	2065	2065	2065	2405	2409	1860	2100	1800	1614
rainfall (mm)	1412	1240	1240	1240	1240	1190	1198	1051	803	1432	924.5	1249	1249	1249	970	655	2875	648	855	1112
wind (mean speed)	15.5	17	17	17	17	12	16	15	14	20	17.5	22	22	22	12	13	11	15	10	18
wind (gale days- wind speed at least 65 k/hr)	2	2	2	2	2	2	5	2	3	5	4	22	22	22	2	4	2	3	5.5	18
highest summer temperature (celsius)	30.5	30.5	30.5	30.5	30.5	34.7	33.7	38.1	35.8	30.3	32.65	31.1	31.1	31.1	36.3	36	30	41.6	34.1	32.2
lowest winter temperature (celsius)	0.4	-2.5	-2.5	-2.5	-2.5	9.9	-5.3	-5.3	-3.9	-2.4	-4.15	-1.9	-1.9	-1.9	-6.6	-8.8	-3.4	-7.1	-8.1	-9
mean temperature	15.6	15.1	15.1	15.1	15.1	13.7	14.5	14.3	14.5	13.7	13.65	12.8	12.8	12.8	12.6	12.9	11.7	12.1	10.7	9.9
_{Source: Based on information from NIWA}
Housing costs
Average weekly rental 2 bedroom house	$229	$357	$315	$408	$273	$217	$235	$184	$197	$182	$175	$288	$264	$400	$264	$217	$235	$231	$202	$170
Average weekly rental 3 bedroom house	$266	$435	$378	$529	$348	$263	$291	$224	$252	$212	$219	$345	$361	$488	$337	$291	$288	$278	$258	$186
Average house price	$324,751	$513,879	$400,369	$607,054	$399,432	$294,348	$385,958	$222,598	$243,490	$207,729	$226,395	$416,116	$364,455	$542,191	$368,524	$317,652	$201,942	$368,784	$250,445	$186,142
_{Source: Based on information from Department of Building and Housing [see disclaimer](average rental) and QVonline (average purchase price).}
Facilities
Doctors (GPs in main centres)	131	163	113	507	232	487	180	37	130	69	157	40	106	200	84	33	25	471	169	107
Hospitals public	4	1	1	3	1	2	3	1	1	2	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	7	2	1
Hospitals private surgical	2	2	0	8	0	3	3	1	1	1	3	0	0	5	1	1	0	4	1	1
Dentists	19	14	21	232	22	59	30	7	27	16	25	4	28	85	21	4	3	130	76	12
no of rural primary schools	106	15	0	0	16	165	68	30	43	49	109	0	1	0	25	15	27	106	63	47
no of urban primary schools	24	77	58	123	98	102	69	17	61	33	71	29	64	71	22	13	7	152	63	26
no of urban schools secondary	11	18	12	30	21	26	23	7	24	6	21	5	12	17	7	2	2	49	16	10
no of rural schools secondary	27	0	0	0	1	28	15	6	5	9	12	0	0	0	5	2	6	17	13	6
no of tertiary institutes	1	2	0	3	1	3	3	1	1	1	3	1	1	2	1	1	1	4	3	1
no of early childhood centres	202	292	203	436	345	465	390	73	225	110	265	68	160	190	86	40	24	498	201	91
Banks in the area
ANZ	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y
ASB	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y
BNZ	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	-	-
Kiwibank	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y
National	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y
SBS	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	y	n	y	y	y
TSB	n	n	n	y	n	y	y	n	y	y	n	n	n	y	y	n	n	n	n	n
Westpac	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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