Quality of life comparison
compared to
If you lived in New Zealand instead of Illinois, you would:
Economy
make 29.8% less money
Illinois has a GDP per capita of $70,691 as of 2024, while in New Zealand, the GDP per capita is $49,591 as of 2025.
Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (2024), World Bank (2025). How we calculate this
Compare further: Illinois vs. New Zealand
Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
New Zealand is 17.9% cheaper than Illinois
→
Size Comparison · See true size
Illinois is about 1.9 times smaller than New Zealand.
→
Moving from Illinois to New Zealand · Cost, visas & climate
Compare cost of living, salary and climate.
→
City Size Comparison · See true size
Compare the size of Chicago vs Auckland
→
New Zealand: At a glance
New Zealand (sometimes abbreviated NZ) is a sovereign country in Australia-Oceania, with a total land area of approximately 264,537 sq km. The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. That same year, the British began the first organized colonial settlement. A series of land wars between 1843 and 1872 ended with the defeat of the native peoples. The British colony of New Zealand became an independent dominion in 1907 and supported the UK militarily in both world wars. New Zealand's full participation in a number of defense alliances lapsed by the 1980s. In recent years, the government has sought to address longstanding Maori grievances.
Read more
How big is New Zealand compared to Illinois? See an in-depth size comparison.