"It is pleasing and not surprising to see good life satisfaction results in our region," she said.
"I do believe we have a growing sense of optimism in the district, and I'll be interested to see this reflected in the 2019 statistics."
Four out of five people (79 per cent) in the survey said their health was either good, very good or excellent.
Northlanders were more socially connected than the rest of the country. Most people had face-to-face contact with family (70 per cent) and friends (79 per cent) every week - both better than the national average. Even more had non-face-to-face contact, such as talking on the phone.
About 65 per cent of people - two out of three - rated their trust in other people at a seven out of 10 or higher. One in 10 people said they trusted people at a four or less out of 10.
However, money, safety and security, as well as acceptance of diversity, were lower - with many below the national average.
Thirteen per cent of people said they did not have enough money to meet their everyday needs - around one in eight people. A further 27 per cent said they only just had enough, 48 per cent said they did have enough, and 12 per cent said they had more than enough money.
Almost one in four people (23 per cent) did not feel safe in their home at night.
The percentage of people who felt very safe or safe walking alone after dark (43 per cent) and using public transport at night (33 per cent) was also less than half of people, and 18 per cent below the national averages.
The mayor said some of the poorer regional results were improving, and looked forward to the next results in two years' time.
Another relatively low result was Northlanders' feelings towards accepting a new neighbour who was different.
Acceptance of a neighbour of a different religion (80 per cent of people comfortable or very comfortable), sexual orientation (74 per cent), ethnicity (82 per cent) and language (74 per cent) all scored below the national averages by about 8 per cent, but still indicated the majority of Northlanders would be comfortable.
Nationally, on a 0-10 scale, the three highest rated answers were: a sense of belonging to family, the importance of natural scenery and environment, and the importance of freedom, rights and peace in defining New Zealand (all 9.1 out of 10).