Dublin vs The Hague for couples

Dublin, in Ireland, and The Hague, in the Netherlands, are about 724 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. The Hague leads on cost, safety, healthcare and internet speed.

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Side by side

Factor	Dublin	The Hague
Country	Ireland	Netherlands
Size	Large: 1 to 5 million people	Mid-sized: 250,000 to 1 million people
Setting	Coastal	Coastal
Est. cost for a couple	€4,127 a month	€3,793 a month
Tax tier	High tax	High tax
Average temperature	11°C	11°C
Rainfall	761 mm a year	891 mm a year
Safety	60 / 100	72 / 100
Healthcare	70 / 100	80 / 100
Internet (median fixed)	~130 Mbps	~180 Mbps
Main languages	English, Irish	Dutch, English
English	English everywhere	English everywhere
Long-term residency	Possible, with conditions	Possible, with conditions
Self-funded income route	From $4,850 a month	None tracked
Visa-free short visits	82 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

The Hague is cheaper: we estimate about €3,793 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,127 in Dublin. That is €334 a month, or 8%, less.

Taxes

A tie: Ireland and the Netherlands both sit in our high tax tier.

Climate

Both average 11°C over the year. Dublin is drier, with about 761 mm of rain a year against 891 mm in The Hague (15% less).

Safety

The Hague is the safer pick: the Netherlands scores 72 out of 100 on safety, 12 points above Ireland (60).

Healthcare

The Hague has the stronger healthcare: the Netherlands scores 80 out of 100 on healthcare, 10 points above Ireland (70).

Internet

The Hague has faster home internet: about 180 Mbps median fixed download against about 130 Mbps in Dublin.

Language

Main languages: English, Irish in Dublin; Dutch, English in The Hague. English proficiency is rated the same in both: English everywhere.

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 the Netherlands. 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 the Netherlands.

Which one fits a couple

On the factors we measure, The Hague leads on cost (€3,793 against €4,127 a month), safety (72 against 60 out of 100), healthcare (80 against 70 out of 100) and internet speed (180 Mbps against 130 Mbps), and Dublin leads on none of them. What our data does not cover can still tip it toward Dublin: jobs, family nearby, or simply which one each of you prefers after a visit.

Size differs too: Dublin is a large city (1 to 5 million people) and The Hague a mid-sized one (250,000 to 1 million people).

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

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