Usual residence is a key variable for determining the geographic characteristics of the population. Usual residence data is used widely in both the private and public sectors and in determining electoral boundaries.
Usual residence is a flat classification with over 45,000 categories – excluding residual categories. The classification consists of a combination of classifications that are ordinarily stored independently of each other. For more details of how the classification is derived see Classification and coding process. The residual categories are defined in Glossary and references.
Usual residence indicator is a flat classification with four categories. The category ‘elsewhere in New Zealand’ includes responses that were coded to ‘New Zealand not further defined’ in the usual residence classification. ‘elsewhere in New Zealand’ may therefore include cases where the respondent’s usual residence was in fact the same as their Census night address but it has not been possible to determine this (for example, vague or non-response). ‘no fixed abode’ is a category for respondents who indicate that they have no usual residence.