Brad Olsen
Andrew Whiteford
The 2024 Infometrics Creativity Index shows a further unbeaten trend for the top spot, although the prominence of job opportunities in the creative sector has declined slightly in 2024 for some areas. Alongside confirming the most creative parts of the country, and those areas with a growing creative focus, our analysis also highlights the rising productivity gains across the creative sector.
Wellington City remains New Zealand’s most creative city
Wellington City remains unbeaten for its position atop the Infometrics Creativity Index, with the highest proportion of jobs being in the arts and creative sector of any area in New Zealand.
The Index measures the proportion of the workforce that is employed in creative industries and occupations, and in 2024 showed that Wellington City had 6.72% of its workforce employed in creative work.
Queenstown holds onto the second spot
Queenstown and Auckland have long been vying for second place in the Creativity Index. The silver medal has switched between the two throughout our analysis, although Queenstown has held second place for the last five years now. In 2024, 5.54% of Queenstown’s workforce was employed in the creative sector, compared to 5.18% of Auckland’s workforce.
The 2024 Creativity Index is notable for recording some declines in the proportion of the workforce employed in the creative sector in the last year. Although the relative position of the top six areas haven’t changed, the top five areas have all seen a slight decline in the intensity of creative employment locally. Wellington, for example, has dropped back slightly from 6.77% of its workforce in 2023 to 6.72% in 2024 being employed in the creative sector.
Employment conditions in the creative sector overall have been tougher, as household spending tightened and left more limited opportunities for various parts of the creative sector. Broadcast activity has taken a hit as advertising revenue has dropped, and heightened competition and higher operating costs also hit the screen sector to a degree.
Wellington Region dominates the Top 10
Six of the eight territorial authorities in Wellington Region are in the Top 10 in the Creativity Index, with only Upper Hutt and Masterton not in the Top 10. Carterton District has moved into the Top 10 in 2024, jumping from 14th place in 2023 to 7th in 2024. Creative employment in Carterton has increased from 3.54% in 2023 to 4.13% in 2024, with a nearly 18%pa boost in the local creative workforce.
Carterton’s leapfrogging has sent Christchurch and Lower Hutt down a notch each, and has sent Nelson just outside the Top 10, from 9th spot in 2023 down to 13th in 2024.
Some big movers over the past 10 years
The last decade has seen some larger moves across the board to the full ranked list of the Creativity Index. Manawatu District has seen the largest leap in position, rising from 45th a decade ago to sit in 19th position in 2024, with most if the gains coming in the last five years. The Far North and Thames-Coromandel have also moved up the rankings and now sit just outside the Top 10.
As previously noted, Wellington Region has a strong dominance over the top ranks of the Creativity Index, helped by the fact that both South Wairarapa and Carterton have both shifted into the Top 10 in the last decade.
Creative productivity on the rise
The creative sector has also become increasingly productive over the last two and a half decades. GDP per worker in the creative sector in 2000 was around 80% of average, total economy GDP per worker, but has increased to be on par with average productivity levels in the last few years.
In 2024, creative sector GDP per worker stood at around $167,000, compared to $166,000 on average across the economy. Part of closing this gap occurred in 2022, when productivity in the creative sector improved again.
Although the gap closed in 2022, the long-term trend has showed a considerable trend of enhanced productivity. On average over the 10 years to 2024, total economy GDP per worker rose 0.4%pa, compared to 1.7%pa for the creative sector.
This rise in productivity is likely due to rising digital integration across the creative sector, and continued work across the film industry to enhance outputs. Rising productivity in the creative sector has also been driven by an upwards shift in the skilled roles being undertaken. Over the last decade, low-skilled roles in the sector have reduced from 15% to 12% of the creative workforce, and high skilled roles have increased from 66% to 69%.
Technical note
The creative sector has been measured using Infometrics Sector Profiles. We have defined a sector which includes a range of creative industries (for example, motion picture and video production, performing arts operation) and occupations (for example, musician, architect). The online profile provides a wide variety of indicators for the creative sector including employment, contribution to GDP, demographic characteristics of the workforce, and earnings.
Previous Creativity Index editions
- Wellington Central - February 2025 by Brad Olsen. Copyright 2025.
