🌆 Largest Urban Areas in New Zealand
Major and large urban areas ranked by estimated population.
Auckland45%
Christchurch12%
Wellington6.1%
Hamilton5.5%
Tauranga4.6%
Lower Hutt3.3%
Dunedin3%
Palmerston North
Hibiscus Coast2%
Napier1.9%
New Plymouth
Porirua
Rotorua
Whangārei
Invercargill
Nelson
Hastings
Upper Hutt
Whanganui
Gisborne
1
Auckland
1,547,200
2
Christchurch
407,800
3
Wellington
209,800
4
Hamilton
192,100
5
Tauranga
160,900
6
Lower Hutt
113,200
7
Dunedin
104,000
8
Palmerston North
81,200
9
Hibiscus Coast
67,800
10
Napier
66,400
11
New Plymouth
60,200
12
Porirua
60,100
13
Rotorua
58,500
14
Whangārei
56,100
15
Invercargill
51,200
16
Nelson
50,800
17
Hastings
49,800
18
Upper Hutt
44,500
19
Whanganui
42,800
20
Gisborne
38,100
Highlights
Within New Zealand, Auckland ranks first in 2024 with 1,547,200, followed by Christchurch (407,800) and Wellington (209,800).
Auckland is 3.8 times higher than Christchurch, the runner-up.
Across 20 entries, values run from 1,547,200 (Auckland) to 38,100 (Gisborne), with a median of 63,300.
Source: Stats NZ, subnational population estimates (via Wikipedia), 2024. Unit: people.
Source: Stats NZ, subnational population estimates (via Wikipedia) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikipedia); underlying data © the cited publisher · fetched Oct 13, 2026