A long-held perception Christchurch is the racist capital of New Zealand may be unfounded, a study suggests.

The biennial New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS) is the largest social survey Statistics NZ carries out after the census, questioning 8795 people. It finished in March.

The results showed Cantabrians may be more lenient with those from different countries than their northern neighbours.

About 78 per cent of Cantabrians said they would be "very comfortable" or "comfortable" with a new neighbour who was from a racial/ethnic minority, compared to 76 per cent of Aucklanders and 78 per cent of Wellingtonians.

Only 16 per cent of Cantabrians had felt discriminated against in the past 12 months, compared to 17.7 per cent of Aucklanders and 18.3 percent of Wellingtonians.

Christchurch has long been regarded as New Zealand's "whitest" city, with its cultural makeup at the 2013 Census showing almost nine in 10 Cantabrians (87 per cent) are of European descent. The New Zealand average about seven in 10 (74 per cent).

The data also showed Aucklanders were the most worried about finances.

Aucklanders were the mostly likely to be just scraping by, with 26.7 percent rating themselves as having "only just enough money", compared to 20 percent of Wellingtonians and 23.8 percent of Cantabrians.

Those in Auckland were also the most likely (12.2 percent) to feel that they had "not enough money" to meet everyday needs, compared to Wellingtonians at 10.4 percent and Cantabrians at 9.1 percent.

New Zealanders were generally satisfied with their lives, with 82.6 percent of those questioned rating their "overall life satisfaction" at seven out of 10 or higher. The majority also felt like their lives were going somewhere, with 87.1 percent rating their "sense of purpose" at 7/10 or above.