The boys' high school was established in 1882 and the girls' high school split in 1914. In March 2007, the Department of Health announced that it would provide an extensive health assistance program to anyone affected.
It is also known as a seaside town with a mountain within a 30-minute drive, where New Plymouth residents and visitors can ski, snowboard, water ski and surf in the same day.
New Plymouth has been awarded the most livable city (for a population between 75,000 and 150,000) by the International Awards for Liveable Communities in 2021. . There are schools in Fitzroy, Frankleigh Park, Hurdon, Lynmouth, Mangorei, Marfell, Merrilands, Moturoa, Spotswood, Strandon, Vogeltown, Welbourn, Westown and Brooklands. The city itself is a service center for the main economic activities of the region, including intensive pastoral activities (mainly dairy farming) as well as oil and gas exploration and production. In the 1960s, the New Plymouth Power Station was originally designed to run on coal, but was built to run on natural gas or fuel oil. In some groups, levels were up to seven times higher. Among the city's major industrial companies was Ivon Watkins-Dow, an agrochemical company founded in 1944 by the Ivon brothers Harry and Dan Watkins and became a partner 20 years later by Dow Chemicals of Michigan.
