Average Household Income NZ 2025: Key Data & Trends

Few numbers reveal as much about daily life in New Zealand as the average household income — the figure that shapes budgets, defines living standards, and quietly answers whether we’re keeping up. Drawing from the latest Stats NZ release and Infometrics projections, this piece unpacks the 2025 snapshot: the gross numbers, what they mean after tax, and how regional disparities colour the picture.

Average gross household income (year ended June 2025): $139,111 ·
Average gross household income (June 2024): $134,599 ·
March 2026 estimate: $147,909

What is the average family income in NZ?

What is the average household income in NZ after tax?

The most direct answer comes from Stats NZ’s household income and housing-cost statistics for the year ended June 2025. Average annual household disposable income — the figure after taxes and transfers — stood at $108,329 for all households. That’s up 5.1% from $103,118 the year prior (Stats NZ).

When adjusted for household size through equivalisation — a method that accounts for economies of scale within a home — the average disposable income drops to $63,009 before housing costs, and just $48,535 after housing costs are stripped out (Stats NZ). Those after-housing numbers show exactly how much the cost of a roof squeezes what households actually have to live on.

What is the average household income in NZ before tax?

Average gross household income for the year ended June 2025 was $139,111, according to Stats NZ. That’s a 4.9% jump from $132,630 in the previous year (Stats NZ). The figure includes all income sources: wages, self-employment, investments, and government transfers, before any tax is deducted.

The implication: a household earning exactly the gross average is pulling in about $11,593 per month pre-tax, but only around $9,027 per month after tax. That’s the difference between a comfy headline and a tighter lived reality.

What is the average household income in Auckland?

Auckland’s median gross household income — reported as a median rather than an average by Figure.NZ using Stats NZ data — stands at $130,595 for the year ended June 2025 (Figure.NZ). That’s notably higher than most other regions, but it also comes with a cost of living — especially housing — that erases much of the advantage.

For context, Wellington’s median sits at $125,204, and Canterbury at $104,847. At the lower end, Northland ($83,361) and Southland ($83,019) trail significantly (Figure.NZ). One regional picture: a household in Southland earns about 36% less than one in Auckland, yet faces housing costs roughly half those in the super-city.

What is the average household income in NZ in 2026?

Infometrics projects that the average gross household income will reach $147,909 by March 2026 (Infometrics). That’s a projected 2.9% increase from the 2025 figure — noticeably slower than the 4.9% growth recorded between 2024 and 2025.

Why the deceleration? Slower wage growth and a cooling labour market are the likely drivers. The trade-off: income gains may be easing, but so is the inflation that has been eating into them.

How many people in NZ earn over $100,000?

How many people earn over $200,000 in NZ?

The available official data does not include the precise percentage of individuals earning above $200,000. Stats NZ’s household-income reports aggregate by household rather than individual salary bands in this format. Precise thresholds for high-income percentiles require analysis from the Inland Revenue Department’s tax data or specialised reports from the Household Economic Survey that go deeper than the headline release.

What is the top 1% salary in NZ?

The specific income threshold for the top 1% of earners in New Zealand is not provided in the current Stats NZ household-income release. Research from the Ministry of Social Development and IRD tax data typically defines top 1% thresholds, but those figures are not part of the standard income and housing-cost statistics publication. As a general benchmark, top 1% earners in New Zealand have historically been estimated at incomes exceeding roughly $300,000–$350,000 per year, but exact figures vary by data source and year.

What is the top 5% household income in NZ?

Similarly, the top 5% household income threshold is not broken out in the public release of Stats NZ’s household-income data for the year ended June 2025. Official reports from Stats NZ or Treasury — such as the Household Incomes Report — would provide those percentile distributions, but they are not included in the standard annual release that covers the national averages.

Is $70,000 a good salary in New Zealand?

At $70,000 a year for an individual, you’re earning roughly half the average gross household income of $139,111 (Stats NZ). For a single person without dependants, $70,000 can be adequate — especially outside Auckland where housing costs are lower. But it’s below the national household average, and for anyone supporting a family, it sits well short of covering typical expenses in most urban centres.

Is $100,000 a good salary in New Zealand?

$100,000 for an individual is closer to the national average household gross income, but it still falls below the $139,111 household figure. For a single earner, $100,000 places you above the median individual income, and in regions like Canterbury or the South Island, it stretches further. In Auckland, the higher cost of living means $100,000 provides a comfortable middle-class existence but doesn’t guarantee the same lifestyle as it might in smaller centres. The pattern: salary adequacy depends as much on where you live and how many people depend on that income as on the dollar figure itself.

What is a middle class income in NZ?

Stats NZ does not publish an official “middle class” income band. Most definitions in policy and journalism use income percentiles: middle-class households are often considered those earning between 75% and 150% of the median household income. With the median gross household income reported at $75,774 (from 2016 data — the most recent median figure included in the input sources), a rough middle-class range would place households between roughly $57,000 and $114,000. However, median figures have risen since 2016, so these numbers are outdated.

What is considered upper middle class income in NZ?

Upper-middle-class income thresholds are similarly undefined in official statistics. A common working definition among economists is households earning between 150% and 200% of the median. Using the 2016 median of $75,774 as a baseline, that would suggest a range of roughly $114,000 to $152,000. With the 2025 average well above that at $139,111, many households fall within that upper-middle band by income alone — but high housing costs, particularly in Auckland and Wellington, compress the lifestyle that income buys.

How does household income vary by age in New Zealand?

The public data in this release does not break household income down by age brackets. That said, typical patterns from broader Stats NZ analysis show that household income tends to rise through the 30s and 40s as careers peak, then declines in retirement when many households switch from employment to superannuation and savings. Without the specific age-banded data from the latest release, it’s best to consult Stats NZ’s full Household Economic Survey for precise breakdowns by age group.

The catch: Without age-specific data in this release, any generalizations about income trajectories rely on older survey results.

Confirmed facts vs what remains unclear

Upsides and downsides of New Zealand’s household income picture

The growth in equivalised disposable income after housing costs from $45,645 to $48,535 suggests that households are seeing real gains even after the biggest cost — housing — is accounted for.

Stats NZ (household income release, June 2025)

A household earning the national average gross income of $139,111 in Auckland faces a different cost structure than one in Southland earning a median of $83,019 — the gap isn’t just income; it’s what that income buys after housing.

Figure.NZ (regional income data sourced from Stats NZ)

What the numbers reveal for New Zealand households is a story of genuine progress tempered by real constraints. The average gross income of $139,111 sounds robust, but the $48,535 that remains after tax, housing, and equivalisation is a more honest measure of living standards. For the Auckland household earning the regional median of $130,595, higher housing costs compress that figure further. For the Southland household at $83,019, lower costs may stretch it further. The implication for policy: income growth matters, but progress in housing affordability and regional development will determine whether those rising numbers actually improve lives.

Related reading: Minimum Wage NZ 2018 · Who Is New Zealand’s Richest Person?

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