Hong Kong vs Shenzhen for couples
Hong Kong and Shenzhen, in China, are about 32 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. Hong Kong leads on safety, healthcare, getting by in English and residency rules; Shenzhen on cost.
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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
Shenzhen is cheaper: we estimate about €2,960 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,423 in Hong Kong. That is €1,463 a month, or 33%, less.
Taxes
A tie: Hong Kong and China both sit in our low to medium tax tier.
Climate
Both average 23°C over the year. Rainfall is similar: about 1,944 mm a year in Hong Kong and 1,770 mm in Shenzhen.
Safety
Hong Kong is the safer pick: Hong Kong scores 78 out of 100 on safety, 3 points above China (75).
Healthcare
Hong Kong has the stronger healthcare: Hong Kong scores 78 out of 100 on healthcare, 14 points above China (64).
Internet
Close: about 250 Mbps median fixed download in Hong Kong and about 240 Mbps in Shenzhen.
Language
Main languages: Cantonese, English in Hong Kong; Mandarin in Shenzhen. English goes further in Hong Kong (some English) than in Shenzhen (limited English).
Residency and visas
Long-term residency is easier to obtain in Hong Kong (comparatively open) than in China (hard to obtain). For short visits, 147 of 198 passports can enter Hong Kong visa-free and 67 can enter China.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts safety (78 against 75 out of 100), healthcare (78 against 64 out of 100), getting by in English (some English against limited English) and residency rules (comparatively open against hard to obtain) first, Hong Kong comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€2,960 against €4,423 a month), Shenzhen does.
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Hong Kong, Shenzhen and 913 other cities for both of you at once.