Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in New Zealand instead of South Dakota, you would:

Economy

be 2.1 times more likely to be unemployed

In South Dakota, 2.4% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In New Zealand, that number is 5.1% as of 2025.

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make 19.7% less money

South Dakota has a GDP per capita of $61,724 as of 2024, while in New Zealand, the GDP per capita is $49,591 as of 2025.

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Sources: World Bank (2025), Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025), Bureau of Economic Analysis (2024). How we calculate this

Compare further: South Dakota vs. New Zealand

Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
New Zealand is 5.4% cheaper than South Dakota
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Size Comparison · See true size
South Dakota is about 1.4 times smaller than New Zealand.
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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.
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How big is New Zealand compared to South Dakota? See an in-depth size comparison.

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