Young and living in NZ? It’s probably better than you think

By Madison Burgess-Smith

First published on the The Post.

There’s something oddly cliché about watching your friends board a one-way flight to London with nothing but a debit card and the belief that happiness starts at Heathrow. Or to Sydney, where the sun supposedly shines more generously, the pay is allegedly double, and even the dentists are hotter. We’ve been doing this for decades—calling it our OE, or more recently, “just seeing how things go”.

For the generation before us who did the same, who put in the hard yards and came home with a house deposit, it was a leg-up. Now it often ends in debt, burnout, and a disturbing tolerance for warm beer.

We love to complain about New Zealand — the rent, the wages, the price of whatever the media is fixated on at the time — but stacked against the places we flee to in our 20s and 30s, it quietly holds its own.

When you zoom out, New Zealand actually holds some surprisingly strong cards, especially if you’re young and thinking long-term. Yes, the cost of living is high and wages could do with a bump. But unlike many of the countries we escape to, New Zealand has policy settings that still support people who want to build a life, a family, a business.

The social contract still means something here. We don’t have everything right, but we do better than we give ourselves credit for.

Our tax system is simple and progressive. Public healthcare is free at the point of use. Tertiary education is subsidised — explain interest-free student loans to an American and they’ll look at you like you’ve discovered fire.

We also forget how uniquely liveable this country is. Working full-time? You’re entitled to at least 20 days of paid leave — more if you’ve charmed your boss — plus 12 public holidays. It’s a holiday allowance many countries can only dream of.

Our parental leave policy offers up to 26 weeks of funded leave, with your job held for a year. Compare that to the US (where the average is zero weeks) or Australia, where the schemes are shorter, stingier, and more means-tested.

Sure, buying a house requires a small miracle (or favourable rates at the Bank of Mum and Dad), but that’s true in most major cities. And while renting here isn’t a dream either, tenants have rights.

Rent can only be raised once a year, and landlords must give 90 days’ notice — unless you’ve committed some truly creative offence, like farming alpacas in the lounge.

Thanks to the Healthy Homes Standards, rentals legally require insulation, heating and ventilation, not just hope and a dehumidifier. It’s not perfect, but compared to the wild west elsewhere, New Zealand is starting to look like a relatively civilised place to pay too much for too little.

Remote and flexible work has also taken hold, not just in the big cities but in regional hubs where lifestyle perks often outweigh the premium rents.

In places like Napier, Tauranga or Queenstown, it’s increasingly possible to earn a decent salary and still start your day with a swim, a surf, or a bush walk and be in the office by 9.

Here, you don’t have to chain yourself to a desk to prove your worth. There’s still an expectation of balance: long weekends, Januarys that stretch into February, and time to enjoy life.

Amid climate anxiety, congestion and burnout, we forget what we have: clean air, green space, affordable renewable energy, coastlines, mountains, and a food system that — while not cheap — delivers fresh, local produce. That’s something to remember next time you’re abroad, sipping a $22 gin and tonic through a turtle-murdering plastic straw, chilled with ice that took a coal mine to produce.

And then there’s the scale of New Zealand, or lack thereof. We need to start viewing that as an opportunity, not a drawback. It’s easier to build a network here. In London, you’re one of 10 million. In Wellington, you’re two degrees from the minister and probably dated their cousin.

The ladder’s shorter here. Yes, the ceiling is lower too, but so are the barriers to getting somewhere. It’s easier to start a business and know someone will take your call. We’re small enough that you can still get in the room and make a difference. Sure, we chop down our tall poppies, but we also give them a damn good patch of soil to grow in.

So yes, go overseas. Get paid. Live large. Stay a while. But don’t be surprised if, somewhere between your fifth rent inspection and your first British winter without central heating, you start to think: New Zealand might just be one of the best places in the world to be young, broke-ish, and building a life.