Amsterdam vs Dublin for couples

Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, and Dublin, in Ireland, are about 755 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. Amsterdam leads on cost, safety, healthcare and internet speed.

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Side by side

Factor	Amsterdam	Dublin
Country	Netherlands	Ireland
Size	Mid-sized: 250,000 to 1 million people	Large: 1 to 5 million people
Setting	Coastal	Coastal
Est. cost for a couple	€3,865 a month	€4,127 a month
Tax tier	High tax	High tax
Average temperature	11°C	11°C
Rainfall	907 mm a year	761 mm a year
Safety	72 / 100	60 / 100
Healthcare	80 / 100	70 / 100
Internet (median fixed)	~180 Mbps	~130 Mbps
Main languages	Dutch, English	English, Irish
English	English everywhere	English everywhere
Long-term residency	Possible, with conditions	Possible, with conditions
Self-funded income route	None tracked	From $4,850 a month
Visa-free short visits	93 of 198 passports	82 of 198 passports

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

Amsterdam is cheaper: we estimate about €3,865 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,127 in Dublin. That is €262 a month, or 6%, less.

Taxes

A tie: the Netherlands and Ireland both sit in our high tax tier.

Climate

Both average 11°C over the year. Dublin is drier, with about 761 mm of rain a year against 907 mm in Amsterdam (16% less).

Safety

Amsterdam is the safer pick: the Netherlands scores 72 out of 100 on safety, 12 points above Ireland (60).

Healthcare

Amsterdam has the stronger healthcare: the Netherlands scores 80 out of 100 on healthcare, 10 points above Ireland (70).

Internet

Amsterdam has faster home internet: about 180 Mbps median fixed download against about 130 Mbps in Dublin.

Language

Main languages: Dutch, English in Amsterdam; English, Irish in Dublin. English proficiency is rated the same in both: English everywhere.

Residency and visas

Both are rated possible, with conditions for long-term residency for people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland. Ireland has a self-funded route from about $4,850 a month in income; we track no income-based route for the Netherlands. Citizens of the EU, EEA and Switzerland have freedom-of-movement or simplified residency rights in both. For short visits, 93 of 198 passports can enter the Netherlands visa-free and 82 can enter Ireland.

Which one fits a couple

On the factors we measure, Amsterdam leads on cost (€3,865 against €4,127 a month), safety (72 against 60 out of 100), healthcare (80 against 70 out of 100) and internet speed (180 Mbps against 130 Mbps), and Dublin leads on none of them. What our data does not cover can still tip it toward Dublin: jobs, family nearby, or simply which one each of you prefers after a visit.

Size differs too: Amsterdam is a mid-sized city (250,000 to 1 million people) and Dublin a large one (1 to 5 million people).

OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Amsterdam, Dublin and 913 other cities for both of you at once.

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