Ōkato

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

Town in Taranaki, New Zealand

title: "Ōkato" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-taranaki", "new-plymouth-district"] description: "Town in Taranaki, New Zealand" topic_path: "general/populated-places-in-taranaki" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōkato" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Town in Taranaki, New Zealand ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
name	Ōkato
image_skyline	Hempton Hall, Ōkato.jpg
image_caption	Hempton Hall in Ōkato in 1968
area_footnotes
area_total_km2	1.02
population_footnotes
population_as_of
population_total
population_density_km2	auto
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	New Zealand
subdivision_type1	Region
subdivision_name1	Taranaki Region
subdivision_type2	Territorial authority
subdivision_name2	New Plymouth District
subdivision_type3	Ward
subdivision_name3
subdivision_type4	Community
subdivision_name4	Kaitake Community
seat_type	Electorates
seat
leader_title	Territorial Authority
leader_name	New Plymouth District Council
leader_title1	Regional council
leader_name1	Taranaki Regional Council
leader_title2	Mayor of New Plymouth
leader_name2
leader_title3	New Plymouth MP
leader_name3
leader_title4	Te Tai Hauāuru MP
leader_name4
coordinates
mapframe	yes
mapframe-zoom	9
::

::callout[type=note] the township in New Zealand ::

The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "place of Kato" for Ōkato. While "Kato" was probably a personal name, an alternative translation is "place of full tide/tsunami". In July 2020, the name of the locality was officially gazetted as Ōkato by the New Zealand Geographic Board.

Ōkato has all the elements of a New Zealand rural community with sporting facilities (rugby grounds, bowling club, squash courts, tennis courts and swimming pool), Coastal Taranaki School, a police station, and a volunteer fire brigade.

Ōkato was also notable as the home of Okato Cheese which was manufactured by the Okato Co-operative Dairy Company. This manufacturing site closed some years after merging with Egmont Co-operative Dairy. Activities in the Ōkato area include the Stony River walkway, which has a number of locations for photographing Mt Taranaki.

The rural community of Puniho is located just south of Ōkato.

Demographics

Ōkato is described by Stats NZ as a rural settlement which covers 1.02 km2. It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Ōkato is part of the larger Kaitake statistical area.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Okato_boarded_up_store.jpg" caption="Boarded up store in Ōkato"] ::

Ōkato had a population of 711 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 105 people (17.3%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 150 people (26.7%) since the 2013 census. There were 342 males, 366 females, and 3 people of other genders in 258 dwellings. 3.0% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 35.2 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 192 people (27.0%) aged under 15 years, 99 (13.9%) aged 15 to 29, 333 (46.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 87 (12.2%) aged 65 or older.

People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 87.8% European (Pākehā); 24.1% Māori; 1.3% Pasifika; 1.3% Asian; 0.4% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 3.4% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 96.2%, Māori by 5.9%, and other languages by 4.2%. No language could be spoken by 3.0% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.4%. The percentage of people born overseas was 17.7, compared with 28.8% nationally.

Religious affiliations were 19.0% Christian, 1.3% Māori religious beliefs, 0.4% New Age, and 0.4% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 67.5%, and 11.0% of people did not answer the census question.

Of those at least 15 years old, 123 (23.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 282 (54.3%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 117 (22.5%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $37,100, compared with $41,500 nationally. 30 people (5.8%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was 246 (47.4%) full-time, 87 (16.8%) part-time, and 21 (4.0%) unemployed.

Kaitake statistical area

Kaitake statistical area covers 170.29 km2 and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.

Kaitake had a population of 2,232 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 300 people (15.5%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 600 people (36.8%) since the 2013 census. There were 1,086 males, 1,143 females, and 3 people of other genders in 780 dwellings. 2.3% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 39.1 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 540 people (24.2%) aged under 15 years, 285 (12.8%) aged 15 to 29, 1,086 (48.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 318 (14.2%) aged 65 or older.

People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 93.1% European (Pākehā); 15.3% Māori; 1.1% Pasifika; 1.5% Asian; 1.1% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 3.5% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 97.3%, Māori by 4.2%, Samoan by 0.1%, and other languages by 5.6%. No language could be spoken by 2.4% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.4%. The percentage of people born overseas was 16.5, compared with 28.8% nationally.

Religious affiliations were 24.3% Christian, 0.3% Hindu, 0.7% Māori religious beliefs, 0.1% Buddhist, 0.7% New Age, 0.1% Jewish, and 1.1% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 63.7%, and 9.3% of people did not answer the census question.

Of those at least 15 years old, 435 (25.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 948 (56.0%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 309 (18.3%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $40,000, compared with $41,500 nationally. 198 people (11.7%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was 831 (49.1%) full-time, 351 (20.7%) part-time, and 39 (2.3%) unemployed.

Education

Coastal Taranaki School is a coeducational composite (years 1-13) school with a roll of as of The school was formed in 2005 from the merger of Newall School, Okato Primary School, Okato College and Warea School. It was initially called Okato Area School but changed its name.

Notable people

Kendra Cocksedge – rugby union player
Dale Copeland – artist
Gavin Hill – rugby union and rugby league player
Tiny Hill – rugby union player
Terry O'Sullivan – rugby union player

References

(2004). "Reed New Zealand Atlas". Reed Books.
Roger Smith, GeographX. (2005). "The Geographic Atlas of New Zealand". Robbie Burton.
Lambert, Ron. (7 September 2016). "Taranaki Places - Cape Egmont - Ōkato".
(6 August 2019). "1000 Māori place names". New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
"Okato". New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
(16 July 2020). "Notice of approved official geographic names". New Zealand Gazette.
"Stats NZ Geographic Data Service".
"Geographic Boundary Viewer". Stats NZ.
{{NZ census 2018. 7017193–7017195
"Totals by topic for dwellings, (RC, TALB, UR, SA3, SA2, Ward, Health), 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses". Stats NZ – Tatauranga Aotearoa – Aotearoa Data Explorer.
"Totals by topic for individuals, (RC, TALB, UR, SA3, SA2, Ward, Health), 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses". Stats NZ – Tatauranga Aotearoa – Aotearoa Data Explorer.
"Stats NZ Geographic Data Service".
{{NZ census 2018. Kaitake (216700). kaitake. Kaitake
"Totals by topic for dwellings, (RC, TALB, UR, SA3, SA2, Ward, Health), 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses". Stats NZ – Tatauranga Aotearoa – Aotearoa Data Explorer.
"Totals by topic for individuals, (RC, TALB, UR, SA3, SA2, Ward, Health), 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses". Stats NZ – Tatauranga Aotearoa – Aotearoa Data Explorer.
{{TKI. 551. Coastal Taranaki School
"Mergers, Closures and New Schools, January 2005 - December 2005". Education Counts.
Porter, Matt. (18 August 2017). "Kendra Cocksedge: the Okato girl who became a giant of women's rugby". [[Stuff (website).
Utiger, Taryn. (2 January 2014). "Happiest at home with her treasures". [[Taranaki Daily News]].
Keith, Leighton. (29 December 2014). "Former Kiwi Gavin Hill home to share worldly wisdom". [[Taranaki Daily News]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::