Abuja vs Lagos for couples
Abuja and Lagos are both in Nigeria, about 537 km apart. Every figure below comes from the data behind our city pages: an estimated monthly cost for a couple, tax tier, annual climate, safety, healthcare, internet speed, language and residency rules. Abuja leads on cost.
12 questions, about 4 minutes, no account needed. Taking the quiz is free, and so is seeing your #1 city. Full results for both of you are a one-time US$12 (€12 in Europe).
Side by side
Source: the datasets behind our city pages. Cost is our model estimate (a country-level cost index scaled for city size); tax tiers are assigned by hand from each country's top marginal income tax rate and overall tax reputation; temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages); rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals); safety and healthcare are our own country-level estimates; internet from the Ookla Speedtest Global Index; English from the EF English Proficiency Index; residency from our hand-reviewed residency dataset (not legal advice); short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset.
Factor by factor
Cost of living
Abuja is cheaper: we estimate about €2,039 a month for a couple living centrally, against €2,144 in Lagos. That is €105 a month, or 5%, less.
Taxes
Same country, same tax: Nigeria is in our low to medium tax tier.
Climate
Lagos is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 27°C against 26°C in Abuja. Abuja is drier, with about 1,296 mm of rain a year against 1,458 mm in Lagos (11% less).
Safety
Our safety score is country-level, so both cities get the same 38 out of 100.
Healthcare
Our healthcare score is country-level, so both cities get the same 40 out of 100.
Internet
Our broadband figure is country-level: about 20 Mbps median fixed download in both.
Language
Main languages in both: English. English proficiency is rated the same in both: limited English.
Residency and visas
Same country, same rules: long-term residency in Nigeria is rated possible, with conditions.
Which one fits a couple
On the factors we measure, Abuja leads on cost (€2,039 against €2,144 a month), and Lagos leads on none of them. What our data does not cover can still tip it toward Lagos: jobs, family nearby, or simply which one each of you prefers after a visit.
Size differs too: Abuja is a large city (1 to 5 million people) and Lagos a major one (over 5 million people). Abuja is inland; Lagos is coastal.
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Abuja, Lagos and 913 other cities for both of you at once.