The biennial survey questioned 6994 Kiwis about their life in New Zealand's main centres - Christchurch, Auckland, Dunedin, Hamilton, Hutt City, Porirua, Tauranga and Wellington - last year.
Out of the 524 respondents in Christchurch, just 38% said they have confidence in the council's decisions, compared to 29% in 2022. Across New Zealand's big cities, the average was just 30%.
However, 80% of the survey respondents said they are enjoying life in Christchurch, compared to 81% in 2022. The city ranked slightly higher than the average for New Zealand's big cities of 77%.
Most other cities saw a larger drop in quality of life between 2022 and 2024.
Of the respondents, 26% said their quality of life in Christchurch had increased, compared to 12 months ago, up from 19% in 2022.
Said Christchurch City Council monitoring and research team leader Kath Jamieson: "Personal and social factors are the main reasons that Christchurch people are citing as responsible for their positive sense of wellbeing.
"That includes good physical and mental health, relationships and support networks, and lifestyle.
"Those who said their quality of life had decreased in the last couple of years - 30%, down from 34% - mainly cited issues like financial wellbeing and work issues, alongside reduced health and wellbeing.
"Of those in work, 64% are satisfied with their work/life balance, higher than the big cities average of 59%."
Christchurch was also considered a great place to live by 77% of people. They cited the central city coming back to life and access to recreational facilities as reasons for living in the city.
Those who thought the city had become a worse place to live cited concerns about rising crime and roading developments.
The proportion of people saying they had enough money to meet their everyday needs has dropped from 46% in 2022 to 35%, with just 54% saying they have enough set aside to cover a large unexpected bill.
The number of respondents who said they used public transport has also risen to 17%, compared to just 8% in 2022. But the percentage of public transport users was still very low compared to other big cities.
People's perception of public transport in the city was positive, with 61% saying it is easy to access and 64% deeming it affordable. But this has not translated into use - just 40% of the respondents saw public transport as a viable alternative to driving.
Many respondents also felt environmental and climate-related issues were a problem for Christchurch. They cited coastal erosion (54%), flooding (51%), landslips (30%), droughts and water supply issues (42%), and increased heat and fire risk (69%) as concerns.
While 28% said they experienced stress most or all of the time, more than 80% said they had someone to turn to for support.
However, rates of support have declined since 2022 and only 40% of people reported feeling a sense of community in their neighbourhood, down from 48% in 2022, but similar to the big cities average of 42%.
The proportion of people who saw racism or discrimination as an issue for Christchurch was still high at 61%, but down from 71% in 2022.
- The full survey results can be found here.
