Prices in New Zealand 🇳🇿
What 7 everyday items cost in New Zealand, shown in US dollars, in NZD, and as roughly how long someone earning the average local wage works to buy one.
New Zealand exports most of what it farms, so domestic dairy prices track world markets rather than local production costs — which is why milk is not as cheap as a country of that many cows might suggest. Groceries generally run above Australian levels.
What things cost
| Item | USD | Local | Work time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Mac | $4.94 | 8.6 NZD | 13 min |
| Coca-Cola (330ml can) | $2.22 | 3.8 NZD | 6 min |
| Cappuccino | $3.45 | 5.87 NZD | 9 min |
| Milk (1 litre) | $1.85 | 3.15 NZD | 5 min |
| Eggs (dozen) | $6.31 | 10.74 NZD | 17 min |
| Apples (1 kg) | $2.87 | 4.88 NZD | 8 min |
| Gasoline (1 litre) | $1.75 | 2.98 NZD | 5 min |
Local-currency figures are converted from US dollars at recent exchange rates, except the Big Mac, which is published in local currency by The Economist and converted the other way. Work time divides the dollar price by an estimated average hourly wage — the roughest number on this page. See methodology.
How New Zealand compares
Relative to the rest of the game, New Zealand is most expensive for coca-cola, where it ranks 2nd out of 33 countries at $2.22 — against a global median of $1.37.
It is relatively cheapest for big mac at $4.94, which is 23rd of 33 — only 10 countries in the game are cheaper.
Measured against local earnings rather than dollars, the item that takes the longest to afford here is eggs, at roughly 17 minutes of the average wage. Dollar prices and work-time prices often rank countries very differently — that gap is usually the more interesting number.
Play a puzzle
New Zealand comes up in the daily puzzle roughly once every 33 days, paired with a different item each time. Play today's puzzle or browse the archive of past rounds.