State Highway 2 passes through the town; a bypass scheduled to have begun construction in 2008 is on hold.

[6] Katikati was a Maori community that derived from the waka Mātaatua and is affiliated with the tribal group in Tauranga, Ngāi Te Rangi.

[7] It was later settled in 1875 by Ulster Scots people from County Tyrone in Ireland through the Orange Institution.

[8] The land upon which the town was built was taken from local Māori after the New Zealand Wars and was given to the settlers by the Central Government.

[citation needed] The settlement was established by the Englishman George Vesey Stewart, who led two groups of mostly Irish settlers there aboard the ships Carisbrook Castle (1875) and Lady Jocelyn (1878).

The settlement managed to withstand early economic problems and developed into a healthy town, based around farming and agriculture.

Katikati was one of the southernmost areas where the gum could be found, as it is close to the historical southern limit for where kauri trees could thrive.

[17] Katikati College is a co-educational state intermediate and high school for Year 7 to 13 students,[18][19] with a roll of 765.