Does one person live for half the cost of a couple?

On the published averages a one person household spends about $817.70 a week against a couple's $1,527.80, around 54 per cent. But one person households are not couples cut in half: they are more often older, renting and carless. A surviving partner who keeps the house and the car should plan on needing well over half the couple's budget, with the one person average as the floor of that range rather than the estimate.

Are these figures averages or medians?

Averages, which is what Stats NZ publishes for this survey, and averages are pulled upward by high spenders. A typical household spends somewhat less than the average figure in most categories. The survey is also triennial: these figures were collected in 2023 and prices have moved since.

What do these figures leave out for a retirement budget?

Two big things. Health spending rises with age in a way an all-ages average understates. And housing depends almost entirely on whether the mortgage is finished: the housing figures here include households still paying rent, so a mortgage-free retiree spends materially less on housing than the published average, while a retiree renting spends more.

What Retirement Actually Costs to Live

Q: How much does a retired couple spend a week in New Zealand?

Stats NZ does not publish spending by age, so the honest starting point is the two person household: across the categories published without suppression in the 2023 Household Economic Survey, average two person household spending sums to about $1,527.80 a week. Most retired households are one or two people, but these figures cover working-age one and two person households too, so treat the figure as a starting point to adjust, not a measurement of retirees.

Most retirement budgets start from a rule of thumb: seventy per cent of your working income, or a lump sum with a zero count that felt round enough. This guide starts from the other end, with what households actually spend, measured by Stats NZ, and works up from there.

One thing has to be said before any number, because it shapes all of them. The Household Economic Survey is not published by age, so nothing on this page is a measurement of retirees. What it measures is spending by household size, and most retired households are one or two people. So the one and two person columns are the honest starting point, with two corrections you make yourself: health spending rises with age, and housing costs depend almost entirely on whether the mortgage is gone.

The scale of it, from the 2023 survey: across every category published without suppression, average weekly spending sums to about $817.70 for a one person household and $1,527.80 for a two person household. Multiply by 52 and a couple's year runs to about $79,446. Those are averages, pulled up by high spenders, and they include working-age households, which cuts both ways: more commuting and childcare than a retiree, but also more years of mortgage still being paid.

Living alone: what the data says, and what it cannot say

The folklore of retirement planning says a single person needs about seventy per cent of what a couple needs. These figures show something more interesting. A one person household averages about $817.70 a week against a couple's $1,527.80: 54 per cent, much closer to half than the folklore says.

Look inside the total and the halving is wildly uneven. Food runs about $132.40 for one against $270.20 for two, close to proportional. Housing and utilities run $263.40 against $373.50: the dwelling does not halve when the household does. Transport falls by more than half, because one person households simply drive less.

Now the part the data cannot say, which matters for planning. The one person households in this survey are not couples cut in half: they are systematically different people, more often older, more often renting, more often carless. A surviving partner keeps the couple's house, the couple's car and the couple's habits, so their spending lands somewhere between the one person average and the couple's, usually nearer the folklore's seventy per cent than this table's 54. Use the one person column as the floor of that range, not as the plan.

The hard consequence stands either way: a couple's plan has to survive becoming a one person plan, and on any reading of the data the survivor needs well over half the budget while, in most households, the income drops by more.

The two corrections you make yourself

Housing, which the averages get most wrong for retirees

The housing figures above include every one and two person household: renters, mortgage payers and the mortgage-free together. Retirement splits those three worlds apart. A mortgage-free homeowner keeps rates, insurance and maintenance, a fraction of the published average. A retiree still renting keeps the full weekly rent for life, and rent rises while a repaid mortgage does not. This one difference moves a retirement budget more than every other category combined, and it is why the rent or buy decision is at heart a retirement decision.

Health, which rises exactly when the averages stop looking

Health spending in an all-ages average is small, because most households are young enough to barely use it. Insurance premiums climb steeply with age, and out-of-pocket costs follow. The honest treatment is to take the published health figure as a floor, then look at what cover actually costs at your age on the health insurance calculator, because the difference between the average and your premium is the correction.

After those two corrections, the remaining categories, food, transport, recreation, clothing, communication, travel more gently through retirement, some down, recreation often up in the early years. The household spending section holds every category by household size, so each line of a draft budget can be checked against a measured figure rather than a guess.

From a weekly figure to a retirement number

Once a weekly spending figure exists, the rest of retirement arithmetic hangs off it in a fixed order. NZ Super arrives first: check the current rates against your situation on the NZ Super rate calculator. The gap between Super and your weekly figure is what savings have to fund. The income gap calculator turns that gap into a required lump sum, and the drawdown calculator tests whether a given pot survives a given draw.

Run the arithmetic twice: once at the couple's figure and once at the one person figure. If the plan only works at the first number, it is not yet a plan.

And a note on the survey year, because it is the honest asterisk on every figure here: the survey is run every three years, these figures were collected in 2023, and prices have moved since. Use them for proportions and for the shape of the budget; use current prices for the level.

Test Your Knowledge

Quiz on what retirement costs

1. Why does this guide use one and two person household figures rather than figures for retirees?

Because retirees spend the same as everyone else

Because the survey is not published by age, and most retired households are one or two people, so household size is the honest starting point

Because retiree data exists but is unreliable

Because one and two person households are all retirees

2. Inside the one person versus couple comparison, which cost falls the LEAST?

Food, which is bought per person

Housing and utilities, because the dwelling and its bills do not halve when the household does

Transport, because one car is still one car

All categories fall in the same proportion

3. Which category do the published averages get most wrong for a mortgage-free retiree?

Food

Housing, because the average mixes renters and mortgage payers with the mortgage-free

Communication

Clothing and footwear

4. The published health figure should be treated as what?

An overestimate, since retirees are healthier than average

A floor, because it averages all ages and both premiums and out-of-pocket costs climb with age

Exactly right for any age

Irrelevant, because healthcare is free

5. Why should a retirement plan be run at the one person figure as well as the couple's figure?

Because a survivor keeps needing most of the couple's budget while the household income usually drops by more

Because couples always separate in retirement

Because the one person figure is half, so it is an easy check

Only for tax reasons

6. These spending figures are averages from a triennial survey. What follows from that?

They are exact and current

A typical household spends somewhat less than the average, and prices have moved since the survey year, so use them for shape and proportion rather than the exact level

They understate what everyone spends

They cannot be used for planning at all

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a retired couple spend a week?

There is no published figure for retirees. Average two person household spending sums to about $1,527.80 a week in the 2023 survey, and that is the honest starting point to adjust for a finished mortgage and rising health costs.

Does living alone cost half as much?

The averages say about 54 per cent of a couple's spending, but one person households are systematically different people, not split couples. A survivor keeping the house and car should treat that figure as the floor, not the estimate.

Are these figures medians?

No, averages, which is what Stats NZ publishes for this survey. Averages sit above what a typical household spends, because high spenders pull them up.

Where do I check a single category?

Every category, by household size, region, tenure and income group, is in the household spending section, each with its own page and history back to 2007.