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Largest cities in New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand has the highest population of the 29 cities compared: 1,798,300 people (Stats NZ, 2024-12-31).

JSON Markdown

New Zealand cities ranked by their own published resident population.

Items compared
29
Countries represented
1
Last checked
2026-08-13

Source-backed answers

Compare each answer with its unit and checked date; the complete source ledger is below.

Showing all 29 rows

Original rankCity or placePublished valueSource and scope
1Auckland, New Zealand1,798,300 people2026-08-03
Source Scope: city · Period: 2024-12-31
2Christchurch, New Zealand380,079 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
3Wellington, New Zealand202,689 people2026-07-29
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-01-01
4Hamilton, New Zealand174,741 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
5Tauranga, New Zealand161,000 people2026-08-03
Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
6Dunedin, New Zealand132,800 people2026-08-03
Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
7Lower Hutt, New Zealand114,200 people2026-08-03
Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
8New Plymouth, New Zealand90,100 people2026-08-03
Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
9Palmerston North, New Zealand78,021 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
10Napier, New Zealand64,695 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
11Porirua, New Zealand58,080 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
12Rotorua, New Zealand55,326 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
13Nelson, New Zealand54,300 people2026-08-03
Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
14Whangarei, New Zealand53,841 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
15Gisborne, New Zealand52,700 people2026-08-03
Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
16Invercargill, New Zealand48,987 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
17Hastings, New Zealand47,682 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
18Upper Hutt, New Zealand42,903 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
19Whanganui, New Zealand41,481 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
20Paraparaumu, New Zealand28,938 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
21Blenheim, New Zealand28,788 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
22Rolleston, New Zealand28,449 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
23Timaru, New Zealand28,095 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
24Pukekohe, New Zealand27,042 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
25Taupo, New Zealand25,374 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
26Queenstown, New Zealand25,050 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
27Masterton, New Zealand21,606 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
28Cambridge, New Zealand21,366 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07
29Ashburton, New Zealand20,346 people2026-08-13
Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-03-07

What the numbers say

  • Auckland, New Zealand leads at 1,798,300 people.
  • Ashburton, New Zealand sits at the other end with 20,346 people.
  • The middle of this ranking is 52,700 people, across 29 places that publish the metric.
  • The spread between first and last is 1,777,954 people.

Quick answer

What does Largest cities in New Zealand show?

Auckland, New Zealand has the highest population of the 29 cities compared: 1,798,300 people (Stats NZ, 2024-12-31).

How this list is built

Every row is a published population observation, ranked highest first. The values were observed between 2023 and 2025. 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
29 places
Geographic grain
city
Observation period
2023-01-01 to 2025-12-31
Last checked
2026-08-13
With an official source link
29 of 29

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, August 13). Largest cities in New Zealand [ImmigrationDB compilation; version 203dbf1bb71deb7c827a65d36459de29]. ImmigrationDB. https://immigrationdb.com/reports/new-zealand-largest-cities/ Retrieved 2026-08-13. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
BibTeX citation
@misc{immigrationdb_immigrationdb_largest-cities-in-new-zealand_e33e6e151c85,
  author = {ImmigrationDB},
  title = {Largest cities in New Zealand},
  publisher = {ImmigrationDB},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-08-13},
  version = {203dbf1bb71deb7c827a65d36459de29},
  url = {https://immigrationdb.com/reports/new-zealand-largest-cities/},
  note = {Retrieved 2026-08-13. ImmigrationDB compilation. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/},
}
Markdown citation
[Largest cities in New Zealand](https://immigrationdb.com/reports/new-zealand-largest-cities/) — ImmigrationDB; ImmigrationDB; version 203dbf1bb71deb7c827a65d36459de29; retrieved 2026-08-13; built 2026-08-13.

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.

Sources

  1. Stats NZStats NZ · Checked 2026-08-03
  2. Stats NZ Urban Rural 2023 place summaries — Census populationStats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa · Checked 2026-08-13
  3. Wellington City profile — population and census summaryStats NZ · Checked 2026-07-29
  4. Stats NZStats NZ · Checked 2026-08-03
  5. Stats NZStats NZ · Checked 2026-08-03
  6. Stats NZStats NZ · Checked 2026-08-03
  7. Stats NZStats NZ · Checked 2026-08-03
  8. Stats NZStats NZ · Checked 2026-08-03
  9. Stats NZStats NZ · Checked 2026-08-03