Amsterdam vs Rotterdam for couples
Amsterdam and Rotterdam are both in the Netherlands, about 57 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.
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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
Close on cost: we estimate about €3,865 a month for a couple living centrally in Amsterdam and €3,891 in Rotterdam.
Taxes
Same country, same tax: the Netherlands is in our high tax tier.
Climate
Both average 11°C over the year. Rainfall is similar: about 907 mm a year in Amsterdam and 915 mm in Rotterdam.
Safety
Our safety score is country-level, so both cities get the same 72 out of 100.
Healthcare
Our healthcare score is country-level, so both cities get the same 80 out of 100.
Internet
Our broadband figure is country-level: about 180 Mbps median fixed download in both.
Language
Main languages in both: Dutch, English. English proficiency is rated the same in both: English everywhere.
Residency and visas
Same country, same rules: long-term residency in the Netherlands is rated possible, with conditions.
Which one fits a couple
As two cities in the Netherlands, Amsterdam and Rotterdam share every country-level figure, and no factor we score puts either clearly ahead. What sets them apart: Rotterdam has more people in the city proper, though both are mid-sized (250,000 to 1 million people). They are 57 km apart.
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