Bern vs Strasbourg for couples
Bern, in Switzerland, and Strasbourg, in France, are about 183 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. Bern leads on tax, safety and getting by in English; Strasbourg on cost and healthcare.
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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
Strasbourg is cheaper: we estimate about €3,665 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,547 in Bern. That is €882 a month, or 19%, less.
Taxes
Bern has the lighter tax load: Switzerland is in our low to medium tax tier, France in our high tax tier.
Climate
Strasbourg is 2°C warmer on average over the year: 12°C against 10°C in Bern. Strasbourg is drier, with about 687 mm of rain a year against 1,038 mm in Bern (34% less).
Safety
Bern is the safer pick: Switzerland scores 78 out of 100 on safety, 26 points above France (52).
Healthcare
Strasbourg has the stronger healthcare: France scores 80 out of 100 on healthcare, 5 points above Switzerland (75).
Internet
Close: about 230 Mbps median fixed download in Bern and about 230 Mbps in Strasbourg.
Language
Main languages: German, French, Italian in Bern; French in Strasbourg. English goes further in Bern (good English) than in Strasbourg (some English).
Residency and visas
Both are rated possible, with conditions for long-term residency for people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland. The cheapest self-funded income route we track starts at about $2,178 a month in Switzerland and $1,720 in France. 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 Switzerland visa-free and 93 can enter France.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts tax (low to medium tax against high tax), safety (78 against 52 out of 100) and getting by in English (good English against some English) first, Bern comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€3,665 against €4,547 a month) and healthcare (80 against 75 out of 100), Strasbourg does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Strasbourg (12°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Bern (10°C), and whoever minds rain will prefer Strasbourg (687 mm a year against 1,038 mm).
Size differs too: Bern is a smaller city (under 250,000 people) and Strasbourg a mid-sized one (250,000 to 1 million people).
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Bern, Strasbourg and 913 other cities for both of you at once.