Berlin vs Munich for couples
Berlin and Munich are both in Germany, about 505 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 €3,844 a month for a couple living centrally in Berlin and €3,722 in Munich.
Taxes
Same country, same tax: Germany is in our high tax tier.
Climate
Berlin is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 11°C against 10°C in Munich. Berlin is drier, with about 584 mm of rain a year against 940 mm in Munich (38% less).
Safety
Our safety score is country-level, so both cities get the same 65 out of 100.
Healthcare
Our healthcare score is country-level, so both cities get the same 79 out of 100.
Internet
Our broadband figure is country-level: about 90 Mbps median fixed download in both.
Language
Main languages in both: German. English proficiency is rated the same in both: good English.
Residency and visas
Same country, same rules: long-term residency in Germany is rated comparatively open, with a self-funded route from about $1,270 a month in income.
Which one fits a couple
As two cities in Germany, Berlin and Munich share every country-level figure, and no factor we score puts either clearly ahead. What sets them apart: Berlin is 1°C warmer on average (11°C against 10°C); Munich is wetter, with 940 mm of rain a year against 584 mm; Berlin has more people in the city proper, though both are large (1 to 5 million people); Berlin is near the coast and Munich inland. They are 505 km apart.
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Berlin, Munich and 913 other cities for both of you at once.