Tauranga's population is growing almost twice as fast as it was a decade ago.
Statistics New Zealand's provisional estimates put Tauranga's population at 131,500 residents - up more than 11,000 in four years.
By comparison, it took Tauranga eight years to grow by that many people between the 2006 and 2013 censuses.
In the 12 months to June 30, Tauranga's population swelled by 3200 people.
The 2.5% increase was mainly due to more people moving to the city from elsewhere in New Zealand or the world than leaving Tauranga.
The city's net migration was 2700 while the natural increase - births minus deaths - was 500.
Ann Kerewaro of Multicultural Tauranga - which provides services to help new migrants settle in and meet people - said her team was as busy as they had ever been.
Many of the people who sought their help in the past year had been Indian, but she had also noticed more Chinese people than in past years.
Nigel Tutt, chief executive of economic development agency Priority One, said it was no surprise Tauranga was growing.
It was "a desirable location for people to move to" and employment prospects were good, he said.
The rapidly rising population had gone some way towards easing the number one complaint of local business owners: not being able to find enough good-quality staff.
"More people moving to Tauranga is helping that dynamic."
The local economy was strong, on the back of a strong national economy, he said, but the population growth did bring challenges.
Chief among them, in his view, was ensuring infrastructure kept up. Residents would have noticed the traffic congestion building over the past few years.
Improving transport links was one of the problems Tauranga City Council has been grappling with as it worked to prepare a plan for how the city would cope with the continued growth expected in the next decade.
Housing was another big issue. By 2013 Tauranga had 50,085 houses. Since then another 5233 have been built.
Statistics New Zealand's figures last week also showed a rise in the median age of Tauranga residents to 41.2 from 40.6 in 2013.
That put the city right between the "youngest" area - Hamilton, 31.6 - and the "oldest" - Thames-Coromandel, 52.8 years.
Tauranga has been growing by an average of 2.3%, or 2810 people, each year since 2013, when Tauranga's population was 119,800.
The Western Bay district has also grown, hitting an estimated population of 49,000, up from 45,500 in 2013.
Population growth in major centres from 2013 to 2017
Auckland: 1,493,200 to 1,657,200
Hamilton: 150,200 to 165,400
Tauranga: 119,800 to 131,500
Wellington: 197,500 to 212,700
Christchurch: 356,700 to 381,500
Dunedin: 123,500 to 128,800
