Country Overview

Wages and Prices in New Zealand

New Zealand offers an Oceania comparison point where wage history and current price categories remain transparent, separately dated, and free from automatic data substitution.

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Wage history

How Wages Have Changed in New Zealand

Explore New Zealand’s PPP-adjusted annual wage history using a reported range rather than a filled-in series.

PPP-adjusted annual wage (USD)2000–2025 · touch or hover points for the selected range

Price levels

Price Levels in New Zealand

Compare everyday price levels using the United States benchmark of 100.

Overall

81.60Below U.S.18.4% below U.S.

Food

102.00Above U.S.2.0% above U.S.

Clothing

76.20Below U.S.23.8% below U.S.

Housing

105.00Above U.S.5.0% above U.S.

Health

45.60Below U.S.54.4% below U.S.

Transport

92.00Below U.S.8.0% below U.S.

Recreation

91.60Below U.S.8.4% below U.S.

Restaurants

103.00Above U.S.3.0% above U.S.

How to Read This View

Use 100 as the reference

The United States is fixed at 100 for every category. A value of 81.6 means that New Zealand’s price level is about 18.4% below the U.S. benchmark, while a value of 105 means it is approximately 5% higher.

Compare categories, not household bills

Each row represents a separate spending category. The values show relative price levels rather than the actual amount a household spends. A higher housing index does not necessarily mean that total living costs are higher by the same amount.

Check the selected year

The year buttons update all displayed categories together. Missing observations are shown as unavailable and are never replaced with values from another year.

Relative context

New Zealand in Context

See how New Zealand’s wage and selected price level compare with the OECD median and the United States.

Average Annual Wage

New Zealand$60,896

OECD Median$60,690

United States$86,977

Selected Price Level

New Zealand81.60

OECD Median67.25

United States100

Read the placement

New Zealand’s 2025 PPP-adjusted annual wage is close to the OECD median. Its 2024 Overall price index of 81.6 is 18.4% below the U.S. benchmark, meaning that it combines a higher wage with a lower price level in this dataset. Wage and price observations refer to separately labelled years and should not be read as a household affordability score.

Country note

Understanding Wages and Prices in New Zealand

New Zealand is shown with its current common-year wage and a separate price-year label. The chart exposes the selected historical span without interpolation, while the page avoids converting a measured change into a causal story.

Across the reported categories, New Zealand shows its highest readings in Housing (105.00), Restaurants (103.00), and Food (102.00); the overall index remains below the United States reference. Each figure is a comparative index value rather than a household-cost forecast.