Edinburgh vs Stockholm for couples

Edinburgh, in the United Kingdom, and Stockholm, in Sweden, are about 1,314 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. Edinburgh leads on healthcare and getting by in English; Stockholm on safety and internet speed.

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Side by side

Factor	Edinburgh	Stockholm
Country	United Kingdom	Sweden
Size	Mid-sized: 250,000 to 1 million people	Large: 1 to 5 million people
Setting	Coastal	Coastal
Est. cost for a couple	€3,847 a month	€3,809 a month
Tax tier	High tax	High tax
Average temperature	10°C	8°C
Rainfall	700 mm a year	577 mm a year
Safety	56 / 100	60 / 100
Healthcare	74 / 100	70 / 100
Internet (median fixed)	~110 Mbps	~180 Mbps
Main languages	English	Swedish, English
English	English everywhere	Good English
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	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

Close on cost: we estimate about €3,847 a month for a couple living centrally in Edinburgh and €3,809 in Stockholm.

Taxes

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

Climate

Edinburgh is 2°C warmer on average over the year: 10°C against 8°C in Stockholm. Stockholm is drier, with about 577 mm of rain a year against 700 mm in Edinburgh (18% less).

Safety

Stockholm is the safer pick: Sweden scores 60 out of 100 on safety, 4 points above the United Kingdom (56).

Healthcare

Edinburgh has the stronger healthcare: the United Kingdom scores 74 out of 100 on healthcare, 4 points above Sweden (70).

Internet

Stockholm has faster home internet: about 180 Mbps median fixed download against about 110 Mbps in Edinburgh.

Language

Main languages: English in Edinburgh; Swedish, English in Stockholm. English goes further in Edinburgh (English everywhere) than in Stockholm (good English).

Residency and visas

Both are rated possible, with conditions for long-term residency. For short visits, 35 of 198 passports can enter the United Kingdom visa-free and 93 can enter Sweden.

Which one fits a couple

If one of you puts healthcare (74 against 70 out of 100) and getting by in English (English everywhere against good English) first, Edinburgh comes out ahead. If the other cares more about safety (60 against 56 out of 100) and internet speed (180 Mbps against 110 Mbps), Stockholm does.

Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Edinburgh (10°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Stockholm (8°C).

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

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

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