The State of the City: Benchmarking Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s international performance 2025

The report explores Auckland’s performance among a high calibre group of liveable peer cities. Over the course of this three-year study, the challenges facing Auckland have been magnified. Yet, the city’s enviable and enduring strengths have come into focus as a strong foundation for future success.

The 2025 edition finds that despite Tāmaki Makaurau’s reputation for resilience and a strong sense of community, the city’s slower-than-expected recovery from the pandemic, the impact of the 2023 floods, and rising inflation have collectively contributed to Auckland slipping behind its international peers against several pillars of performance.

While the region has weathered these shocks better than many, it now has to work harder to keep pace with global peers in key areas such as productivity, business appeal, innovation performance, and urban experience.

Auckland is New Zealand’s economic engine, with a nearly 40% share of the country’s GDP, but despite its size and role in the economy, it lags many other comparable global cities when it comes to productivity.

With other cities investing in high-value industries and future-ready workforces, Auckland must be bold if it’s to attract capital, talent and other opportunities.

The report calls for urgent action on long-standing and systemic issues to improve Auckland’s performance, advocating for focus on four key areas:

• Tackle the systemic challenges that hinder Auckland’s productivity and flow on to other areas of performance: Improvement to Auckland’s land use, transport, housing and regulatory settings. This requires coordinated public sector action and a shift from strategy to delivery.
• Invest in catalysts for growth: Prioritise initiatives that can reignite momentum - such as attracting investment, growing high-potential sectors, accelerating innovation, and strengthening sustainability and inclusion efforts.
• Elevate the quality of place through partnership: Improve urban experience by enhancing transport connections, raising development standards, diversifying housing formats, and celebrating local identity. Collaboration with mana whenua and communities is essential to maintaining Auckland’s liveability and appeal.
• Craft and promote a strong global narrative: Develop a compelling story about Auckland’s past, present, and future that communicates its values, culture, and ambitions to the world. This will help improve its global visibility, attract talent and investment, and strengthen the region’s brand.

About the report

The State of the City is a three-year study assessing Auckland's preparedness for the future of jobs, urban lifestyle, and climate change, focusing on five core pillars: opportunity and prosperity, innovation and knowledge, culture and experience, place and connectivity, and resilience and sustainability.

This Benchmarking Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland report is the third edition of an ‘outside-in’ review of Auckland’s international performance and perception.

The report has been initiated by the Committee for Auckland in partnership with Deloitte and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, on behalf of Auckland Council, with support from Koi Tū: the Centre for Informed Futures and the New Zealand Government’s Auckland Policy Office. It is based on more than 140 global city benchmark and research studies, which together span more than 900 comparative metrics in which Auckland features. This is complemented by publicly available real-time datasets.

The report provides continuity in assessing Auckland’s aggregate performance for a third successive year among a consistent group of ten peer cities, across five pillars. Where appropriate, it also contextualises Auckland’s position compared to larger cities as well as fast-developing cities in emerging economies.

Get in touch with our experts for more on how to propel Auckland to the forefront of global performance.