My daughter lives in NZ and I can tell you that the cost of living is out of sight compared with the US. I don’t know how the NZ citizens, especially young couples starting out, can live with the exorbitant prices for food and energy and homes. They also have their share of crime, which makes many areas not as safe to live (more property theft than murders and robberies thankfully). Buyer Beware, even you Elitists.
The crime rate has continued to decline in the twenty-first century. In 2010, the number of murders in New Zealand dropped by nearly a quarter over the previous year (from 65 to 46), while overall reported crime fell 6.7 percent. In 2011, New Zealand's recorded crime rate was at its lowest in 15 years, down another 5.6% on the figures from 2010. In 2012 (financial year), the crime rate dropped another 5.9 per cent on the previous year - taking into account an increase in the population of 0.7%. Homicide and related offending dropped by 21.5%. The total number of offences in 2012 was the lowest since 1989, and gave the lowest crime rate per head of population since before electronic records were maintained.
Despite the falling crime rate, New Zealand has followed the pattern of many Western countries by locking up more and more of its citizens. The number of people in prison has been growing steadily for the last 50 years and since 2010, the rate of imprisonment has been just under 200 per 100,000 of population. This gives New Zealand the second highest rate of imprisonment out of 29 countries in the West. New Zealand's rate is much higher than countries it tends to be compared with, such as Canada (117), Australia (129), England and Wales (154) and is more on par with many third world countries like Morocco (where the rate is 199), Gabon (196), and Namibia (191)
A victim survey undertaken in 1996 found that 67% of the population were not subject to any criminal activity, 14% suffered from two or more criminal offences, and 4% had been the victim of five or more criminal activities. The New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey conducted in 2006 showed that Māori have a much higher risk of victimisation than other groups. The figures showed that each year around 47% of Māori were victims of crime and Māori were also more likely to be victimised multiple times (4.3 incidents per victim compared with 2.7 for European victims). The risk of victimisation for Māori was particularly high for serious offences, including sexual violence and violence by partners. For example, 8% of Māori women experienced sexual victimisation - twice as high as the national rate for women.
You are correct. I have friends in NZ who pay $1200/month for a small, rather shabby apartment in Wellington. They thought their energy costs were moderate when they were paying $12/day for electricity. Appliances are also expensive and not that great, IMO.
OTOH, if your income/wealth is USD, currently, the NZ$ is about 72% of a USD. While that also drives prices higher, there is a premium for American money. And from what few reports I have had, salaries are higher in NZ than in the US.
If you eat locally grown food, it isn’t that expensive. Haven’t visited since 2000, but the restaurant prices at the marina in Auckland were ridiculously low in American terms.
Of course, they also complain of the *cold* when it is 44F!!