Research indicates that authoritarians tend to avoid intergroup contact. This study tested the hypothesis that living in a neighbourhood with a higher proportion of Asian peoples increases the likelihood of contact with them for the majority (New Zealand Europeans), and that this effect should increase intergroup contact for authoritarians. Multi-level Random Coefficient Modelling of data from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (N = 3903) indicated that New Zealand Europeans high in authoritarianism in neighbourhoods with a high proportion of Asian peoples have more contact with Asian friends, relative to authoritarians in less ethnically diverse areas. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.