Bergen vs Trondheim for couples
Bergen and Trondheim are both in Norway, about 429 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.
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
Close on cost: we estimate about €4,346 a month for a couple living centrally in Bergen and €4,285 in Trondheim.
Taxes
Same country, same tax: Norway is in our high tax tier.
Climate
Bergen is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 7°C against 6°C in Trondheim. Trondheim is drier, with about 961 mm of rain a year against 2,356 mm in Bergen (59% less).
Safety
Our safety score is country-level, so both cities get the same 75 out of 100.
Healthcare
Our healthcare score is country-level, so both cities get the same 75 out of 100.
Internet
Our broadband figure is country-level: about 130 Mbps median fixed download in both.
Language
Main languages in both: Norwegian, English. English proficiency is rated the same in both: good English.
Residency and visas
Same country, same rules: long-term residency in Norway is rated possible, with conditions, with a self-funded route from about $3,062 a month in income.
Which one fits a couple
As two cities in Norway, Bergen and Trondheim share every country-level figure, and no factor we score puts either clearly ahead. What sets them apart: Bergen is 1°C warmer on average (7°C against 6°C); Bergen is wetter, with 2,356 mm of rain a year against 961 mm; Bergen is a mid-sized city (250,000 to 1 million people) and Trondheim a smaller one (under 250,000 people). They are 429 km apart.
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Bergen, Trondheim and 913 other cities for both of you at once.