Cost of Living in New Zealand as a RN: A Thorough Breakdown
DISCLAIMER: This breakdown is very personalized to our current lifestyle and can vary GREATLY depending on how many people you are supporting, how you live and spend your spare time. For reference, my partner and I are living in New Zealand working full-time (36 hours/week) as nurses with no kids or pets! We are fortunate and have worked hard not to have debt or extraneous bills and can solely focus on our cost of living in New Zealand.
My most asked question is how is the cost of living as a nurse in New Zealand compared to the U.S. and while it’s been hard to articulate that since there are so many variables, I’m going to break down my monthly budget in New Zealand Dollars (NZD). For reference, My partner and I are both working here as nurses working 36 hours/week with no kids or pets.
Yearly Salary of 1 RN with 7+ years Experience as of 2025: $106,000 NZD (taxes are roughly 33%)
Monthly Budget of 2 RNs Living in New Zealand ($12,400 NZD after taxes)
Keep in mind this monthly budget can fluctuate based on your experience, if you’re working more night shifts/weekends/holidays but this is a rough estimate.
Rent- $1250NZD/month furnished for 2 bedroom/1 bath (If you are interested in browsing housing options suitable for you, Trademe is a great website to browse). One thing I must mention about housing: most cheaper housing options tend to have very poor insulation in the house which could make your electricity bill significantly hire in the winter months. Older New Zealand homes are notorious for having poor insulation so this is something to take into consideration when browsing housing options.
Electricity/Natural Gas/Internet- $240NZD/ month - This can vary depending on the season; water, trash & recycling is included in our city.
Phone- $100NZD/ month
Car Insurance- $16NZD/ month -Basic catastrophic car insurance is all that is required by law in NZ
Groceries- $1500-2000NZD/ month -My partner and I love to eat and cook often and prefer high quality groceries. While groceries are quite expensive in NZ there are many ways to reduce spending in this category just none that we want to implement.
Gym- $160NZD/ month
Other (Travel, Petrol, Entertainment, Personal items)- $5000NZD/month
Savings- $2320NZD/month -Our goal is to save at least 20% of our income monthly which varies if we have trips planned, visitors or unseen expenses.
Health- Basic healthcare is free however, for a basic Primary Care or GP appointment with labs included, we paid $64. A full dental appointment (X-rays & cleaning) is roughly $100 as well as eye appointments.
This general budget has worked for us, but in some months we tend to travel more, resulting in less savings for that month. Coming from travel nursing in the U.S., we definitely had to make lifestyle adjustments and carefully track our budget (which we should have been doing anyway!). We love to spend our time outdoors hiking, which is a very cost-effective hobby, but our trips traveling from North to South Island were not cheap (flights within New Zealand during peak summer can be pricey!). New Zealand has a lot of ways to explore the outdoors without having to spend a lot of money with the plethora of freedom camping sites (there are strict regulations on how your car fits the criteria but FREE campsites), holiday parks (campgrounds with fully equipped kitchens & amenities) and modest campgrounds. We do find petrol (or gas) to be quite expensive here but you can always opt for a hybrid to help you save on costs. Motels are affordable, simple and often have a small kitchenette for use.
Costs of Every Day Varying Items for Reference
DISCLAIMER: These prices can vary depending on where you live in New Zealand, but these reflect prices at the standard grocery stores on the North Island. Occasionally, we will find stores with prices slightly higher or lower, but these prices reflect the most common grocery stores shopped at in New Zealand.
eggs- $7-11/dozen NZD
petrol- $2-3/Liter NZD ($9-11/gallon NZD)
whole chicken- $13-25 NZD (meat may seem pricey, but you will NOT find bad quality meat in New Zealand (compared to the U.S.!). Even the “cheaper” grade is still such high quality)
1 pound ground beef- $7-10 NZD
Pint of Beer- $12-17 NZD
Olive oil- $17-23 NZD for 500mL bottle
Coffee- $5-9 NZD
Meal at a cafe- $25- 50 NZD (we have found eating out to be pricey, but keep in mind they do not tip here! )
Womens toiletries & makeup- I can’t individually price each item but it was quite an adjustment having to find new products since the products I use in the U.S. are sometimes not available in New Zealand or are astronomically higher in price. I do think there’s a replacement for everything you’ll need but just know this part can take time to adjust to.
Overall we have both found the cost of living to be high compared to the wages for an experienced nursing salary in New Zealand. We have been accustomed to a higher wage from 5 years travel nursing in various states and saving came a lot easier. Working as a staff nurse in the southern U.S. for example may be a similar wage to New Zealand. I would like to note that the job is less stressful compared to the U.S. and a more relaxed work environment, I will be writing another post shortly on those differences!
