The unique nature of the Queenstown Lakes district makes it a "pretty exciting" environment for children to grow up in, but challenges and pressures still exist for families, Mayor Clive Geddes said yesterday.
Mr Geddes was asked for comment on the latest ASB TopSpots report, which claims the district is the second best place in New Zealand to raise a family.
It was pipped to the No 1 ranking by Wellington.
Selwyn district came third, North Shore city fourth, Ashburton fifth, and Auckland city was placed sixth equal with Waimakariri district, near Christchurch, out of 50 territorial authorities.
Mr Geddes said researchers tended to focus on Queenstown as if the resort were the entire district, "but, of course, it's not.
"I would imagine [being] a kid growing up in Kingston or Glenorchy or Lake Hawea is a pretty exciting thing . . .
"You've got this unique combination of winter and summer activities that children can't experience anywhere else in New Zealand, as far as I'm aware."
However, Mr Geddes said people raising families in Queenstown faced many challenges, including the affordability of rental accommodation and home ownership.
"Because it's an economy that demands it works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are pressures on many working parents bringing up children, and that's been well understood by the council, central government and social support services."
The report was published by Stephen Hart, who used family-friendly criteria to award points to different territories.
Points were allocated for house-price affordability in relation to income levels; unemployment, crime rates, health statistics, the number of school leavers with qualifications, truancy rates, rates of tertiary education, household deprivation levels, the number of young people living in the area and the number of GPs per 100,000 head of population.
The report, released last week, came a month after the Queenstown Lakes district was rated as New Zealand's most affluent place.
In a similar report, also published by Stephen Hart and commissioned by the ASB Bank, the Lakes district and tourist town just scraped home over North Shore city, in Auckland.
The earlier report ranked 20 cities and districts based on house prices.
