Household living-costs price indexes
Inflation is not one number. It is fourteen.
Stats NZ measures inflation separately for 13 household groups, plus an average across all households. In the March 2026 quarter they ranged from 0.7% to 3.9% — a 3.2 percentage point gap between the households under the most and least price pressure.
- Superannuitants3.9%
- Lowest spending3.6%
- Lowest income3.2%
- Beneficiaries2.8%
- Lower-mid income2.8%
- Lower-mid spending2.7%
- Average household2.1%
- Māori2.1%
- Middle income1.9%
- Middle spending1.8%
- Upper-mid spending1.6%
- Upper-mid income1.3%
- Highest income1.1%
- Highest spending0.7%
What the gap is made of
In the year to the March 2026 quarter, living costs rose 3.9% for superannuitant households and 0.7% for the highest-spending fifth of households. The 3.2 percentage point gap between them is the widest Stats NZ has recorded since the series began, matched only in the September 2025 quarter and in mid-2009. The average across all households was 2.1%. Headline CPI inflation was 3.1%. Three different answers to how much prices rose, all of them correct, all measuring something slightly different.
Falling interest payments explain most of the gap. Interest costs dropped between 18% and 20% for every household group. But a fall in interest payments only reaches a household that is paying interest. Superannuitant households own their homes outright at high rates, so they collected almost none of that relief. They still absorbed a 6.7% rise in housing and household utilities, because rates, insurance and maintenance land on owners whether or not they hold a mortgage. Higher-spending households, more likely to carry a mortgage, saw falling interest costs pull their overall increase down toward zero.
The pattern has reversed. In the March 2024 quarter the ranking ran the other way: the highest-spending households faced the steepest increases and superannuitants the mildest, with 1.4 percentage points between the extremes. Rising mortgage rates were doing to those households then what falling rates are doing for them now. The gap widened through 2025 and has stayed at record levels since.
This is why a single national inflation figure can describe almost nobody. The groups above are Stats NZ's official household categories, which is as close as the published statistics get to any particular household. The calculator on this site takes the next step, reweighting the CPI basket to a specific mix of housing, transport, food and energy.
Who these households are
A living-costs figure only means something once you know whose costs it describes. Household counts, home ownership and income come from the 2024 Household Economic Survey. A percentage point is the difference between two percentages: a household group at 3.9% and one at 0.7% are 3.2 percentage points apart.
Population groups
| Household group | Annual change | Households | Own home | Avg. income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All households | 2.1% | 1,940,088 | 65.8% | $83,076 |
| Beneficiary households | 2.8% | 238,869 | 26.4% | $41,844 |
| Superannuitant households | 3.9% | 476,116 | 85.7% | $41,033 |
| Māori households | 2.1% | 414,587 | 47.0% | $87,527 |
By household income
| Household group | Annual change | Households | Own home | Avg. income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest income (bottom fifth) | 3.2% | 388,962 | 66.7% | $25,916 |
| Lower-middle income | 2.8% | 387,814 | 53.2% | $55,557 |
| Middle income | 1.9% | 387,328 | 59.9% | $86,078 |
| Upper-middle income | 1.3% | 388,316 | 69.9% | $110,716 |
| Highest income (top fifth) | 1.1% | 387,667 | 79.1% | $166,788 |
By household spending
| Household group | Annual change | Households | Own home | Avg. income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest spending (bottom fifth) | 3.6% | 388,173 | 60.5% | $43,882 |
| Lower-middle spending | 2.7% | 388,216 | 58.8% | $60,393 |
| Middle spending | 1.8% | 387,843 | 61.4% | $86,206 |
| Upper-middle spending | 1.6% | 388,260 | 65.7% | $101,919 |
| Highest spending (top fifth) | 0.7% | 387,595 | 82.3% | $132,560 |
Why this differs from the headline CPI figure
The consumers price index measures the price change of a single national basket, and it excludes mortgage interest. The household living-costs price indexes measure what it costs each household group to maintain its own spending, and they include interest payments. When interest rates move sharply, the two measures can tell noticeably different stories about the same three months.
Generated from the Stats NZ HLPI time series indexes CSV. Only the All-groups headline series and the NZHEC division movements are retained; subgroup and class detail is left in the source file. Unlike the CPI, the HLPIs include interest payments, which is the main reason a household group's living-costs movement can differ sharply from headline inflation.
Common questions
Does everyone in New Zealand experience the same inflation rate?
No. In the March 2026 quarter, Stats NZ's household living-costs price indexes ranged from 0.7% for the highest spending (top fifth) group to 3.9% for superannuitant households, a gap of 3.2 percentage points.
What is the difference between the CPI and the HLPIs?
The consumers price index measures the price change of one national basket and excludes mortgage interest. The household living-costs price indexes measure the cost of maintaining the spending of 13 specific household groups, plus an all-households average, and do include interest payments. That single difference is often why the two measures diverge.
Which households face the highest inflation in New Zealand?
In the March 2026 quarter, superannuitant households faced the largest annual increase in living costs at 3.9%, compared with 2.1% for the average household.
Why did the average household's living costs rise less than CPI inflation?
Living costs for the average household rose 2.1% in the March 2026 quarter while CPI inflation was 3.1%. Interest payments are included in the living-costs measure and excluded from the CPI, so a period of falling interest rates lowers the living-costs figure relative to headline inflation.