Leithfield is a small town in north Canterbury, New Zealand. It is on State Highway 1, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of Amberley and 42 kilometres (26 mi) north of Christchurch and 11.8 kilometres north of Waikuku. The Leithfield area consists of two semi-distinct areas, Leithfield Beach to the east of State Highway 1 and Leithfield Village adjacent to and immediately to the west of State Highway 1. Leithfield sits just south of the South Branch of the Kowai River.

Leithfield's regional importance is behind that of Amberley with its wine industry and the tourist centre of Hanmer Springs. This is due in large part to its proximity to the district centre at Amberley. Despite this proximity, the Leithfield community supports a school, library, summer swimming pool, and many small businesses.

Leithfield was founded in 1857 by John Leith.^[3] He purchased a windmill in 1862 and brought it from Christchurch to Leithfield in order to mill wheat. The mill building was 23 metres tall and each sail was 12 metres long making it the tallest building in Canterbury at the time. Unfortunately the Canterbury nor'westerly winds damaged the mill building making it inoperable.^[4] In 1880, Leithfield was a town of 700 people. It had three churches, a police station, a court, a school, three hotels and five shops.^[4]

Leithfield and Leithfield Beach are both defined by Statistics New Zealand as rural settlements and cover 1.29 km² (0.50 sq mi) and 0.29 km² (0.11 sq mi) respectively.^[1] They had an estimated combined population of 1,040 as of June 2023,^[2] with a population density of 658 people per km². Both are included in Balcairn statistical area.^[5]

The two settlements had a population of 981 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 27 people (2.8%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 216 people (28.2%) since the 2006 census. There were 396 households, comprising 462 males and 510 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.91 males per female, with 168 people (17.1%) aged under 15 years, 132 (13.5%) aged 15 to 29, 486 (49.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 195 (19.9%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 94.5% European/Pākehā, 11.0% Māori, 1.8% Pasifika, 0.9% Asian, and 1.5% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 58.4% had no religion, 30.6% were Christian, 0.3% were Hindu, 0.3% were Buddhist and 1.5% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 69 (8.5%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 189 (23.2%) people had no formal qualifications. 120 people (14.8%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 408 (50.2%) people were employed full-time, 117 (14.4%) were part-time, and 18 (2.2%) were unemployed.^[6]

Leithfield School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students,^[9] with a roll of 105 as of February 2024.^[10]