Mary Moeke describes herself as a middle-class Māori.

She earns a decent wage teaching early childhood education at the Manukau Institute of Technology. Moeke is highly educated and is currently studying for a PhD.

But she is struggling. Until recently, she was homeless. Moeke’s single income has to cover the costs of living for herself and three sons, aged 3, 6 and 8. She has very little; most of what is in her Housing New Zealand home is donated.

“Very scary, very alone. You feel very vulnerable especially being a single mother with young children under the age of 8 years old. Insecure and unsafe, that is how I would describe it.”

Moeke is part of what is being called the New Urban Crisis - the decline of the middle class. It’s a global phenomenon and Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, is no exception.

It’s been a decade since the Global Financial Crisis and although the developed world has slowly recovered, at a macro or city level, the economic gains haven’t helped residents who were struggling with poverty. Instead, New Zealand’s strong economic recovery since 2012, has widened the disparity to include the poor and now, the working and middle class.

Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) and Infometrics have identified a range of issues in their Auckland Prosperity Index released exclusively to Newshub and Stuff.

The index measures prosperity for all 21 Local Boards using 24 indicators grouped into six domains: skills and labour force, demography, connectedness, business activity, economic quality and household prosperity.

The most prosperous boards are Albert-Eden, Devonport-Takapuna, Orākei, Upper Harbour and Waitematā. The boards with the least wealth are all of the five South Auckland boards Mangere-Ōtāhuhu, Manurewa, Maungakiekie-Tāmaki, Ōtara-Papatoetoe and Papakura.

Six boards are experiencing average prosperity but the bottom two from West Auckland, Henderson-Massey and Whau have similar levels to South Auckland.

The results for the five outlying boards (including Waiheke, Great Barrier, Franklin, Rodney and the Waitakere Ranges) have to be viewed in isolation because of the locations and lifestyles of the residents in those areas.

ATEED describes prosperous households as those with high incomes, employment, disposable income, not on benefits, and more likely to be able to buy their own home.

The results track:

Annual household income

Home ownership rate

Percentage of 15 to 64-year-olds who are on benefits

Rental affordability

Unemployment rate

Each household was scored from 0-10, the Auckland average is 4.7.

The differences between the lowest and highest boards are astounding.

Ōtara-Papatoetoe is 0.7 compared to Ōrākei at 9.8.

The report shows Auckland is two cities - one city for the haves and another for the have nots; a wide gap between the rich and poor.