Which is cheaper, Dunedin or Wellington?

Wellington is cheaper: about $2,396 per month versus $2,950 for one person.

Is Dunedin or Wellington safer?

Dunedin scores higher on safety (89 vs 89), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.

Where is the internet faster, Dunedin or Wellington?

Wellington: a measured median of 90.1 Mbps versus 64.2 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

Dunedin vs Wellington

for digital nomads

Under balanced weights Wellington edges it, 62 to 56, winning 4 of the 9 factors. Dunedin is stronger on nothing outright; Wellington on climate. Change the weights in the ranker to see which one wins for you.

Dunedin

out of 100

Scottish-flavoured university city with wildlife on the doorstep

Full Dunedin profile →

Wellington

out of 100

Compact creative capital with wild weather

Full Wellington profile →

Factor scores (0–100, balanced weights)

Metric	Dunedin	Wellington
Cost of living	20	29 ✓
Safety	89	89
Healthcare	90	90
Internet	80	86 ✓
Visa ease	6	6
Getting there & around	21	28 ✓
Climate	0	33 ✓
Air quality	100	100
Quality of life	95	95

Cost

Metric	Dunedin	Wellington
Monthly cost, one personcountry-level estimate for at least one city	$2,950	$2,396 ✓
Central one-bedroom rent	no data	$1,576

Safety and health (country-level)

Metric	Dunedin	Wellington
Homicides per 100k	1.2	1.2
Political stability (0–100)	85.5	85.5
UHC service coverage (0–100)	89	89
Life expectancy	82.2 yrs	82.2 yrs

Internet (M-Lab measured medians)

Metric	Dunedin	Wellington
Download	64.2 Mbps	90.1 Mbps ✓
Upload	59.4 Mbps	68 Mbps ✓

Visa

Metric	Dunedin	Wellington
Nomad visa	none listed	none listed
Minimum income for the visa	no data	no data
Visa-free days, US passport	visa or e-visa required	visa or e-visa required
Visa-free days, EU passport	visa or e-visa required	visa or e-visa required
Visa-free days, UK passport	visa or e-visa required	visa or e-visa required

Getting there and around

Metric	Dunedin	Wellington
Non-stop airport destinations	4	22 ✓
Walkability (1–5, editorial)	4	4
Transit (1–5, editorial)	2	3 ✓

Climate and air

Metric	Dunedin	Wellington
Comfortable months per year	0	4 ✓
Annual mean PM2.5	5 µg/m³	5 µg/m³

✓ marks the better value in each row; ties and missing data are left unmarked.

Frequently asked

Which is cheaper, Dunedin or Wellington?: Wellington is cheaper: about $2,396 per month versus $2,950 for one person.
Is Dunedin or Wellington safer?: Dunedin scores higher on safety (89 vs 89), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.
Where is the internet faster, Dunedin or Wellington?: Wellington: a measured median of 90.1 Mbps versus 64.2 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

More comparisons

Sources: Cost of Living Global 2026 (city rows); 2026 Cost of Living Index (country level); Digital Nomad Visas 2026; Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100); Estimates of rates of homicides per 100 000 population; UHC service coverage index; Life expectancy at birth (years), both sexes; M-Lab NDT statistics (city aggregates, 2024); Airport destinations (Wikipedia airline and destination tables); NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means); WHO Ambient Air Quality Database, June 2026 update (V8); SatPM2.5 satellite-derived annual PM2.5 (V6.GL.02.04); Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023); EF English Proficiency Index 2024 (band); Walkability and transit ratings (editorial); Passport Index dataset (visa requirements, 199 passports × 199 destinations). Dataset 2026.09.4. See each city page for per-metric footnotes and the methodology.