Cities with lowest unemployment in New Zealand
Queenstown, New Zealand has the lowest unemployment rate of the 27 cities compared: 1.5 % (Stats NZ, 2023-12-31).
New Zealand municipalities ranked by their own published total unemployment rate, without regional substitutes.
- Items compared
- 27
- Countries represented
- 1
- Last checked
- 2026-08-26
Source-backed answers
Compare each answer with its unit and checked date; the complete source ledger is below.
Showing all 27 rows
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| Original rank | City or place | Source and scope | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Queenstown, New Zealand | 1.5 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 2 | Blenheim, New Zealand | 1.8 % | 2026-08-26 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 3 | Cambridge, New Zealand | 1.9 % | 2026-08-26 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 4 | Rolleston, New Zealand | 2 % | 2026-08-26 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 5 | Paraparaumu, New Zealand | 2.5 % | 2026-08-26 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 6 | Ashburton, New Zealand | 2.6 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 7 | Timaru, New Zealand | 2.8 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 8 | Pukekohe, New Zealand | 2.9 % | 2026-08-26 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 9 | Nelson, New Zealand | 3.4 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 10 | Taupo, New Zealand | 3.6 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 11 | New Plymouth, New Zealand | 3.7 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 12 | Upper Hutt, New Zealand | 3.7 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 13 | Invercargill, New Zealand | 3.8 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 14 | Masterton, New Zealand | 3.8 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 15 | Tauranga, New Zealand | 4 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 16 | Christchurch, New Zealand | 4.1 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 17 | Hastings, New Zealand | 4.1 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 18 | Napier, New Zealand | 4.3 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 19 | Lower Hutt, New Zealand | 4.4 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 20 | Palmerston North, New Zealand | 4.5 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 21 | Whangarei, New Zealand | 4.6 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 22 | Dunedin, New Zealand | 5 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 23 | Porirua, New Zealand | 5.2 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 24 | Hamilton, New Zealand | 5.6 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 25 | Gisborne, New Zealand | 6.1 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 26 | Whanganui, New Zealand | 6.1 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
| 27 | Rotorua, New Zealand | 6.4 % | 2026-08-03 | Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31 |
What the numbers say
- Queenstown, New Zealand leads at 1.5 %.
- Rotorua, New Zealand sits at the other end with 6.4 %.
- The middle of this ranking is 3.8 %, across 27 places that publish the metric.
- The spread between first and last is 4.9 %.
Quick answer
What does Cities with lowest unemployment in New Zealand show?
Queenstown, New Zealand has the lowest unemployment rate of the 27 cities compared: 1.5 % (Stats NZ, 2023-12-31).
How this list is built
Every row is a published unemployment rate observation measured in %, ranked lowest first. The values were observed in 2023. A place appears only when it publishes this exact metric, so an absent place means missing data rather than a low value. Only published cities with at least 20,000 residents and city-level observations qualify.
- Compare the displayed value, unit, source date and geographic grain together.
- A city label does not change a regional observation into a city measurement.
- Rows
- 27 places
- Geographic grain
- city
- Observation period
- 2023-12-31
- Last checked
- 2026-08-26
- With an official source link
- 27 of 27
Cite this page
Open a format to select or copy this ImmigrationDB compilation citation. The native disclosure and text fallback work without JavaScript.
APA citation
ImmigrationDB. (2026, September 29). Cities with lowest unemployment in New Zealand [ImmigrationDB compilation; version d687ed4343be009827a4ea6ad3baf831]. ImmigrationDB. https://immigrationdb.com/reports/new-zealand-cities-with-lowest-unemployment/ Retrieved 2026-09-29. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/BibTeX citation
@misc{immigrationdb_immigrationdb_cities-with-lowest-unemployment-in-new-zealand_e2a6160aadc1,
author = {ImmigrationDB},
title = {Cities with lowest unemployment in New Zealand},
publisher = {ImmigrationDB},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-09-29},
version = {d687ed4343be009827a4ea6ad3baf831},
url = {https://immigrationdb.com/reports/new-zealand-cities-with-lowest-unemployment/},
note = {Retrieved 2026-09-29. ImmigrationDB compilation. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/},
}Markdown citation
[Cities with lowest unemployment in New Zealand](https://immigrationdb.com/reports/new-zealand-cities-with-lowest-unemployment/) — ImmigrationDB; ImmigrationDB; version d687ed4343be009827a4ea6ad3baf831; retrieved 2026-09-29; built 2026-09-29.This citation identifies the ImmigrationDB compilation/page. Underlying source publishers and datasets retain their own terms; inspect the Sources section and cite those records separately. View the underlying source records.