Guangzhou vs Singapore for couples
Guangzhou, in China, and Singapore are about 2,631 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. Guangzhou leads on cost; Singapore on safety, healthcare, getting by in English and residency rules.
12 questions, about 4 minutes, no account needed. Taking the quiz is free, and so is seeing your #1 city. Full results for both of you are a one-time US$12 (€12 in Europe).
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
Guangzhou is cheaper: we estimate about €2,960 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,469 in Singapore. That is €1,509 a month, or 34%, less.
Taxes
A tie: China and Singapore both sit in our low to medium tax tier.
Climate
Singapore is 4°C warmer on average over the year: 27°C against 23°C in Guangzhou. Guangzhou is drier, with about 1,578 mm of rain a year against 2,639 mm in Singapore (40% less).
Safety
Singapore is the safer pick: Singapore scores 90 out of 100 on safety, 15 points above China (75).
Healthcare
Singapore has the stronger healthcare: Singapore scores 78 out of 100 on healthcare, 14 points above China (64).
Internet
Close: about 240 Mbps median fixed download in Guangzhou and about 280 Mbps in Singapore.
Language
Main languages: Mandarin in Guangzhou; English, Mandarin, Malay in Singapore. English goes further in Singapore (good English) than in Guangzhou (limited English).
Residency and visas
Long-term residency is easier to obtain in Singapore (possible, with conditions) than in China (hard to obtain). For short visits, 67 of 198 passports can enter China visa-free and 164 can enter Singapore.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts cost (€2,960 against €4,469 a month) first, Guangzhou comes out ahead. If the other cares more about safety (90 against 75 out of 100), healthcare (78 against 64 out of 100), getting by in English (good English against limited English) and residency rules (possible, with conditions against hard to obtain), Singapore does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Singapore (27°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Guangzhou (23°C), and whoever minds rain will prefer Guangzhou (1,578 mm a year against 2,639 mm).
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Guangzhou, Singapore and 913 other cities for both of you at once.