Jerusalem vs Rome for couples
Jerusalem, in Israel, and Rome, in Italy, are about 2,303 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. Jerusalem leads on safety, internet speed and getting by in English; Rome on cost, healthcare 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
Rome is cheaper: we estimate about €3,567 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,008 in Jerusalem. That is €441 a month, or 11%, less.
Taxes
A tie: Israel and Italy both sit in our high tax tier.
Climate
Jerusalem is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 18°C against 17°C in Rome. Jerusalem is drier, with about 416 mm of rain a year against 703 mm in Rome (41% less).
Safety
Jerusalem is the safer pick: Israel scores 60 out of 100 on safety, 3 points above Italy (57).
Healthcare
Rome has the stronger healthcare: Italy scores 76 out of 100 on healthcare, 4 points above Israel (72).
Internet
Jerusalem has faster home internet: about 130 Mbps median fixed download against about 70 Mbps in Rome.
Language
Main languages: Hebrew, Arabic in Jerusalem; Italian in Rome. English goes further in Jerusalem (some English) than in Rome (limited English).
Residency and visas
Long-term residency is easier to obtain in Italy (comparatively open) than in Israel (hard to obtain). Italy has a self-funded route from about $2,718 a month in income; we track no income-based route for Israel. For short visits, 101 of 198 passports can enter Israel visa-free and 93 can enter Italy.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts safety (60 against 57 out of 100), internet speed (130 Mbps against 70 Mbps) and getting by in English (some English against limited English) first, Jerusalem comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€3,567 against €4,008 a month), healthcare (76 against 72 out of 100) and residency rules (comparatively open against hard to obtain), Rome does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: whoever minds rain will prefer Jerusalem (416 mm a year against 703 mm).
Both are large cities, but Jerusalem is near the coast and Rome is coastal.
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Jerusalem, Rome and 913 other cities for both of you at once.