KEY POINTS:
It's official. Windy Wellington is absolutely, positively the best place in New Zealand to bring up a family.
So says the latest ASB TopSpots report, due out this week, which ranks Queenstown Lakes District as second, Selwyn District third and North Shore City as fourth out of 50 territorial authorities. Auckland City is sixth equal - with Waimakariri district, near Christchurch - pulled down by its higher crime rate.
The report's publisher, Stephen Hart, used "family friendly" criteria to award points to different territories, including house price affordability in relation to income levels, the number of school leavers with qualifications, truancy rates, rates of tertiary education, unemployment, crime rates, household deprivation levels, health statistics, the number of young people living in the area and the number of GPs per 100,000 head of population.
Wellington excelled in the education scores, coming first for school-leavers with NCEA level 1 and above and adult degree graduates, and second for university qualifications.
It ranked the lowest for levels of truancy and school-leavers with no formal qualifications.
It scored well (fourth highest) for low crime rates, youth apprehensions and availability of GPs, and it had the highest average household income levels in the country.
North Shore had the highest number of school-leavers eligible to attend university (56 per cent) and the lowest crime rate. It also scored well for being a low deprivation area (fourth), second-highest for school-leavers with NCEA level 1 or more, and third for percentage of people with bachelor's degrees.
Porirua, near Wellington, scored the lowest in three categories connected with education.
Auckland City had the highest crime rate (Waitemata had the lowest), but the lowest rate of youth apprehensions. It had the highest number of GPs available per head of population (96.3 per 100,000 population), while Whanganui had the lowest (52.7 per 100,000).
Auckland had the second-highest percentage of adult graduates behind Wellington, while South Waikato had the lowest. Auckland ranked third for school-leavers qualified to go to university and fifth for school-leavers with NCEA level 1.
South Waikato also had the worst unemployment rate, with Queenstown Lakes the best.
Southland was the most affordable place to live (average house price 3.6 times the median income); Waikato (4.23 times income) and Tauranga (8.1 times income) the worst. Wellington's average house price was 6.87 times income and Auckland was 8.6 times income. Hart's team took into account factors that affected children and parents in determining which places were the best for families.
Families liked to be close to other families, he said, so his team looked at districts with a high rate of under-15-year-olds. Manukau and South Waikato scored highest.
Points were also awarded for good health care, strong neonatal health records and low crime rates and youth apprehension levels.
Timaru and the Waitaki district were first equal for having low truancy rates. Manukau City recorded the highest truancy levels, the Far North ranked second and Waikato and Waitomo districts were third equal.
Queenstown had the lowest unemployment rate; South Waikato, the Far North and Manukau had the highest.
Queenstown had no school-leavers leaving without some sort of formal attainment. Porirua had the highest number at 13.6 per cent.
Rural Waimakariri is justifiably chuffed it has drawn equal billing with Auckland City. Waimakariri District Council chief executive Jim Palmer said people wanting a lifestyle balance were attracted to the area, largely from Christchurch and Britain.
A number of 4ha blocks available meant people could have a rural lifestyle but still commute to Christchurch to work.
Some British immigrants bought their properties sight-unseen after surfing the net, others settled in the district after travelling New Zealand to compare different areas.
Palmer said Waimakariri was close to Canterbury and Lincoln universities, offered recreation at rivers and beaches, and provided a range of opportunities for children that might not be available in a city.
Waimakariri residents Guy and Andrea Martin say the rural lifestyle close to services in towns like Rangiora and Kaiapoi, and nearby Christchurch, suits their needs.
Andrea works as a secretary at the local Loburn School and Guy runs a concrete contracting company and horse-training business.
The Martin children - Georgie, 13, and Sam, 11 - can ride their horses after school and play polo at the weekends but still live close enough to town to catch a movie if they want.
The Martins value the district's strong sense of community. Both have been heavily involved with the school and children's sports, rugby, basketball and netball.
Guy Martin knows three-quarters of the parents in the area, something he feels would not be possible living in a big city. "There's not the hustle and bustle and the traffic and the pressure. We've got a bit of elbow room, open spaces."
* The top ten
1. Wellington
2. Queenstown Lakes
3. Selwyn
4. North Shore
5. Ashburton
6=. Auckland
6=. Waimakariri
8. Porirua
9. Christchurch
10. Rodney
