Austin vs. Auckland
The Economist just released their top places to live in the world, and for the first time, Auckland tops the list! The last time Auckland made the top 10 was in 2017 when it came in 8th, and while our top spot is mainly due to New Zealand being covid-free, it is good to see the charms and resources available here are appreciated on the world stage. This new report, combined with a Kiwi-hopeful who was looking for some Austin-comparable places to live in New Zealand, made me wonder about exactly how Austin compares to Auckland. I decided to do a little research to see how similar the two cities are, and it was fascinating to see what’s different and what’s nearly the same:
Population - The population estimate for the greater Austin area (the U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines the Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos MSA as including Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties) in 2019 is 2,227,083 with a median age of 33 while the Austin-only population is estimated at 988,218 in 2020. The 2018 census put the Auckland region’s population at 1,571,718 with a median age of 34.7.
The population density in Austin is 3,088.8/sq mi while in Auckland it is 6,300/sq mi (2,400/km2)
While the Austin area may have a higher overall population, Auckland feels like a much more vibrant/bustling city because of the population density. There is also a different attitude about being out and about. People walk much, much more here than in Texas (most likely thanks to incredible weather throughout the year.) There are also lots of little commercial centers that are hubs for getting together and supporting smaller businesses in Auckland. These villages dot the city and are usually walkable hubs for neighbourhoods, and people take advantage of this all the time.
Ethnicity - In Austin, 73.5% of the population is white, 7.8% is African American, 7.3% is Asian, .5% is Native American, Native Hawaii, or Pacific Islander, and the remainder is either two or more races or other races. In Auckland, 53.5% is European (aka white), 28.2% is Asian, 15.5% is Pacific people, 11.5% is Maori (the Kiwi equivalent to Native American in terms of who was on the land first), and 3.4% everyone else.
What’s really interesting about Auckland is that 41.6% of Aucklanders were born overseas. In Austin, that number is only 13.5%. Auckland definitely feels like a more multi-cultural city, too. There are dozens of festivals and cultural events celebrating every ethnicity under the sun here, and it is not unusual to hear a multitude of languages walking down the street. One morning at a local playground, I heard Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, English, French, and what I think was Hindi.
Housing - In the Auckland region, 40.6% of the population rents with an average weekly rent of NZ$550 (this is about an average monthly rent of US$1,679.15). In Austin, 54.8% of the population rents with an average rent of $1439, though this is not an “official” number for the greater Austin area, only an estimate by the industry for the city of Austin.
The average home price in Austin was $395,000 pre-pandemic while the average home price in Auckland just broke NZ$1,000,000 - about US$650,000. Since the pandemic, Austin housing prices have increased 23.6% while in Auckland, they’ve gone up 21.6%. In Austin, a typical property tax bill for that $395,000 house would be US$7,636 per year. In Auckland, the average rates payment in 2019 was NZ$3,386.64 (or US$2,205). To put this in perspective, we just paid our rates for our house this year and we did the math compared to our property taxes in Austin which are about the same value-wise. Our rates are 12% of what we paid back in the US.
Housing in New Zealand is just different, too. There are lots of weird layouts, bizarre building practices, and interesting quirks to get used to moving from the US. If you haven’t already, check out my other housing posts.
Education - In Austin, about half of the adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher. In Auckland, it is about 40% of the adult population. The University of Texas is ranked 65th in the world by QS World University rankings while the University of Auckland ranks 81st.
Both cities have robust public and private education offerings. Austin has 28 high schools while Auckland has 72 secondary schools.
Earnings - The average earnings in Auckland in 2018 was NZ$34,400 (US$22,360) with 19.8% earning over NS$70,000 ($45,500). In Austin, the medium per capita income is US$32,621.
There are some things to note about the significantly less earnings in Auckland, namely there are some VERY big expenses that we don’t have in Auckland that we did have in Texas, primarily crazy health insurance and other health related costs and insane property taxes. There are other perks to Kiwi life, too, like 20 hours of free early childhood education for kids 3-6. Some of our biggest expenses in Texas ($2,000 a month for preschool/childcare for the kids, $2,000 a month in health insurance premiums and I don’t even want to admit how much we were paying in property taxes because it was obscene) aren’t a burden here.
The numbers are interesting to play with, but the two cities feel a lot more similar than different. There are plenty of green spaces in both. There are many different pockets of the community that you can fall into in both. Want to be a crunchy yogi? No problem. Want to focus on sports cars and driving fast? Also not a problem. Want to be all in for your local sports team? Opportunities abound - though in Auckland you’ll be cheering for rugby as opposed to football.
Sources:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/austin-tx-population
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:High_schools_in_Austin,_Texas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Secondary_schools_in_Auckland
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/austincitytexas,US/PST045219
