Location

Johnsonville lies 7km north of Wellington City at the top of the Ngauranga Gorge. It is bordered by the suburbs of Broadmeadows, Newlands, Paparangi and Churton Park, and by the Ohariu Valley.

​A small part of eastern Johnsonville is physically separated by SH1, with access over the motorway provided by the Helston Road overpass and pedestrian underpasses at the ends of Burgess Road and Disraeli Street.

​The southwest side of Johnsonville sits beneath the slopes of Mt Kaukau in the Outer Green Belt and is the starting point of the Northern Walkway.

People

Population

Johnsonville is one of the largest suburbs in Wellington with a population of 10,239 people at the 2013 census. Johnsonville’s population is expected to reach 13,000 by 2043, while neighbouring suburbs, such as Paparangi, Woodridge, Grenada Village and Churton Park — which all use Johnsonville’s facilities — are expected to see even faster growth.

Growing fast

​Wellington City Council has identified Johnsonville as being the largest and most significant town centre in Wellington outside the central city and playing a key role in servicing the northern suburbs. The long term vision of Wellington City Council, as detailed in the Johnsonville Town Centre Plan (2008), is that Johnsonville will become the service centre of the northern suburbs and the second largest centre in Wellington city.

​The Council expects that by 2031, Johnsonville will have a quarter of all medium density housing in Wellington City.

Ethnicity

In the last census just under two-thirds of Johnsonville’s population identified as European, one quarter as Asian, and 8% as Maori. Almost a third of people living in Johnsonville were born overseas, and of those residents half were born in just four countries – the UK, China, the Philippines and India.