Waikato Region

Waikato is centred on Hamilton, with Taupō, Cambridge, Te Awamutu and Tokoroa as the other main towns spread across a largely rural, river-and-farmland landscape. The region grew 8.9% between the 2018 and 2023 censuses -- well ahead of the 6.3% national average -- and Hamilton city itself grew 8.6% over the same period, so new-build supply and commute times around the city's fringes have been shifting quickly.

Dairy farming is still the single largest contributor to the region's GDP (around 10.9%), but its share of regional employment has actually been shrinking, from about 6% to 4% of jobs between 2005 and 2022, while healthcare and social assistance has overtaken it as the biggest employer (growing from 9% to 11% of employment over the same period). In practice that means Hamilton's job market is more diversified than "dairy region" suggests -- worth knowing if you're assuming agriculture is the only real local industry.

The region's regional GDP is around $29.2 billion (2021), roughly 9% of New Zealand's total, and has been growing at about 2.3% a year over the past two decades.