Hamburg vs Köln for couples
Hamburg and Köln are both in Germany, about 357 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.
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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
Close on cost: we estimate about €3,762 a month for a couple living centrally in Hamburg and €3,665 in Köln.
Taxes
Same country, same tax: Germany is in our high tax tier.
Climate
Köln is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 12°C against 11°C in Hamburg. Rainfall is similar: about 776 mm a year in Hamburg and 784 mm in Köln.
Safety
Our safety score is country-level, so both cities get the same 65 out of 100.
Healthcare
Our healthcare score is country-level, so both cities get the same 79 out of 100.
Internet
Our broadband figure is country-level: about 90 Mbps median fixed download in both.
Language
Main languages in both: German. English proficiency is rated the same in both: good English.
Residency and visas
Same country, same rules: long-term residency in Germany is rated comparatively open, with a self-funded route from about $1,270 a month in income.
Which one fits a couple
As two cities in Germany, Hamburg and Köln share every country-level figure, and no factor we score puts either clearly ahead. What sets them apart: Köln is 1°C warmer on average (12°C against 11°C); Hamburg has more people in the city proper, though both are large (1 to 5 million people); Hamburg is coastal and Köln inland. They are 357 km apart.
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