Kyoto vs Sapporo for couples
Kyoto and Sapporo are both in Japan, about 1,016 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 €3,375 a month for a couple living centrally in Kyoto and €3,414 in Sapporo.
Taxes
Same country, same tax: Japan is in our high tax tier.
Climate
Kyoto is 6°C warmer on average over the year: 15°C against 9°C in Sapporo. Sapporo is drier, with about 1,234 mm of rain a year against 1,562 mm in Kyoto (21% less).
Safety
Our safety score is country-level, so both cities get the same 80 out of 100.
Healthcare
Our healthcare score is country-level, so both cities get the same 80 out of 100.
Internet
Our broadband figure is country-level: about 160 Mbps median fixed download in both.
Language
Main languages in both: Japanese. English proficiency is rated the same in both: limited English.
Residency and visas
Same country, same rules: long-term residency in Japan is rated possible, with conditions.
Which one fits a couple
As two cities in Japan, Kyoto and Sapporo share every country-level figure, and no factor we score puts either clearly ahead. What sets them apart: Kyoto is 6°C warmer on average (15°C against 9°C); Kyoto is wetter, with 1,562 mm of rain a year against 1,234 mm; Sapporo has more people in the city proper, though both are large (1 to 5 million people); Kyoto is near the coast and Sapporo coastal. They are 1,016 km apart.
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