Birmingham vs London for couples

Birmingham and London are both in the United Kingdom, about 163 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 cost.

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Side by side

Factor	Birmingham	London
Country	United Kingdom	United Kingdom
Size	Large: 1 to 5 million people	Major: over 5 million people
Setting	Near the coast	Coastal
Est. cost for a couple	€3,980 a month	€4,315 a month
Tax tier	High tax	High tax
Average temperature	10°C	11°C
Rainfall	869 mm a year	669 mm a year
Safety	56 / 100	56 / 100
Healthcare	74 / 100	74 / 100
Internet (median fixed)	~110 Mbps	~110 Mbps
Main languages	English	English
English	English everywhere	English everywhere
Long-term residency	Possible, with conditions	Possible, with conditions
Self-funded income route	None tracked	None tracked
Visa-free short visits	35 of 198 passports	35 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

Birmingham is cheaper: we estimate about €3,980 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,315 in London. That is €335 a month, or 8%, less.

Taxes

Same country, same tax: the United Kingdom is in our high tax tier.

Climate

London is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 11°C against 10°C in Birmingham. London is drier, with about 669 mm of rain a year against 869 mm in Birmingham (23% less).

Safety

Our safety score is country-level, so both cities get the same 56 out of 100.

Healthcare

Our healthcare score is country-level, so both cities get the same 74 out of 100.

Internet

Our broadband figure is country-level: about 110 Mbps median fixed download in both.

Language

Main languages in both: English. English proficiency is rated the same in both: English everywhere.

Residency and visas

Same country, same rules: long-term residency in the United Kingdom is rated possible, with conditions.

Which one fits a couple

On the factors we measure, Birmingham leads on cost (€3,980 against €4,315 a month), and London leads on none of them. What our data does not cover can still tip it toward London: jobs, family nearby, or simply which one each of you prefers after a visit.

Size differs too: Birmingham is a large city (1 to 5 million people) and London a major one (over 5 million people). Birmingham is near the coast; London is coastal.

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

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