Dublin vs Stockholm for couples
Dublin, in Ireland, and Stockholm, in Sweden, are about 1,629 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. Dublin leads on getting by in English; Stockholm on cost and internet speed.
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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
Stockholm is cheaper: we estimate about €3,809 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,127 in Dublin. That is €318 a month, or 8%, less.
Taxes
A tie: Ireland and Sweden both sit in our high tax tier.
Climate
Dublin is 3°C warmer on average over the year: 11°C against 8°C in Stockholm. Stockholm is drier, with about 577 mm of rain a year against 761 mm in Dublin (24% less).
Safety
Tied: Ireland and Sweden both score 60 out of 100 on safety.
Healthcare
Tied: Ireland and Sweden both score 70 out of 100 on healthcare.
Internet
Stockholm has faster home internet: about 180 Mbps median fixed download against about 130 Mbps in Dublin.
Language
Main languages: English, Irish in Dublin; Swedish, English in Stockholm. English goes further in Dublin (English everywhere) than in Stockholm (good English).
Residency and visas
Both are rated possible, with conditions for long-term residency for people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland. Ireland has a self-funded route from about $4,850 a month in income; we track no income-based route for Sweden. Citizens of the EU, EEA and Switzerland have freedom-of-movement or simplified residency rights in both. For short visits, 82 of 198 passports can enter Ireland visa-free and 93 can enter Sweden.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts getting by in English (English everywhere against good English) first, Dublin comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€3,809 against €4,127 a month) and internet speed (180 Mbps against 130 Mbps), Stockholm does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Dublin (11°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Stockholm (8°C).
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Dublin, Stockholm and 913 other cities for both of you at once.