Budapest vs Venice for couples
Budapest, in Hungary, and Venice, in Italy, are about 562 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. Budapest leads on cost, tax, safety, internet speed and getting by in English; Venice on 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
Budapest is cheaper: we estimate about €2,810 a month for a couple living centrally, against €3,041 in Venice. That is €231 a month, or 8%, less.
Taxes
Budapest has the lighter tax load: Hungary is in our low to medium tax tier, Italy in our high tax tier.
Climate
Venice is 2°C warmer on average over the year: 14°C against 12°C in Budapest. Budapest is drier, with about 548 mm of rain a year against 767 mm in Venice (29% less).
Safety
Budapest is the safer pick: Hungary scores 72 out of 100 on safety, 15 points above Italy (57).
Healthcare
Venice has the stronger healthcare: Italy scores 76 out of 100 on healthcare, 21 points above Hungary (55).
Internet
Budapest has faster home internet: about 200 Mbps median fixed download against about 70 Mbps in Venice.
Language
Main languages: Hungarian in Budapest; Italian in Venice. English goes further in Budapest (some English) than in Venice (limited English).
Residency and visas
Both are rated comparatively open for long-term residency for people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland. The cheapest self-funded income route we track starts at about $3,491 a month in Hungary and $2,718 in Italy. 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 Hungary visa-free and 93 can enter Italy.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts cost (€2,810 against €3,041 a month), tax (low to medium tax against high tax), safety (72 against 57 out of 100), internet speed (200 Mbps against 70 Mbps) and getting by in English (some English against limited English) first, Budapest comes out ahead. If the other cares more about healthcare (76 against 55 out of 100), Venice does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Venice (14°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Budapest (12°C), and whoever minds rain will prefer Budapest (548 mm a year against 767 mm).
Size differs too: Budapest is a large city (1 to 5 million people) and Venice a smaller one (under 250,000 people). Budapest is inland; Venice is coastal.
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Budapest, Venice and 913 other cities for both of you at once.