Birmingham vs Brussels for couples

Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, and Brussels, in Belgium, are about 467 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. Birmingham leads on getting by in English; Brussels on cost and healthcare.

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Side by side

Factor	Birmingham	Brussels
Country	United Kingdom	Belgium
Size	Large: 1 to 5 million people	Large: 1 to 5 million people
Setting	Near the coast	Near the coast
Est. cost for a couple	€3,980 a month	€3,748 a month
Tax tier	High tax	High tax
Average temperature	10°C	11°C
Rainfall	869 mm a year	808 mm a year
Safety	56 / 100	56 / 100
Healthcare	74 / 100	79 / 100
Internet (median fixed)	~110 Mbps	~100 Mbps
Main languages	English	Dutch, French
English	English everywhere	Good English
Long-term residency	Possible, with conditions	Possible, with conditions
Self-funded income route	None tracked	From $1,740 a month
Visa-free short visits	35 of 198 passports	93 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

Brussels is cheaper: we estimate about €3,748 a month for a couple living centrally, against €3,980 in Birmingham. That is €232 a month, or 6%, less.

Taxes

A tie: the United Kingdom and Belgium both sit in our high tax tier.

Climate

Brussels is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 11°C against 10°C in Birmingham. Rainfall is similar: about 869 mm a year in Birmingham and 808 mm in Brussels.

Safety

Tied: the United Kingdom and Belgium both score 56 out of 100 on safety.

Healthcare

Brussels has the stronger healthcare: Belgium scores 79 out of 100 on healthcare, 5 points above the United Kingdom (74).

Internet

Close: about 110 Mbps median fixed download in Birmingham and about 100 Mbps in Brussels.

Language

Main languages: English in Birmingham; Dutch, French in Brussels. English goes further in Birmingham (English everywhere) than in Brussels (good English).

Residency and visas

Both are rated possible, with conditions for long-term residency. Belgium has a self-funded route from about $1,740 a month in income; we track no income-based route for the United Kingdom. For short visits, 35 of 198 passports can enter the United Kingdom visa-free and 93 can enter Belgium.

Which one fits a couple

If one of you puts getting by in English (English everywhere against good English) first, Birmingham comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€3,748 against €3,980 a month) and healthcare (79 against 74 out of 100), Brussels does.

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

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