Kyoto vs Tokyo for couples
Kyoto and Tokyo are both in Japan, about 365 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. Kyoto leads 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
Kyoto is cheaper: we estimate about €3,375 a month for a couple living centrally, against €3,651 in Tokyo. That is €276 a month, or 8%, less.
Taxes
Same country, same tax: Japan is in our high tax tier.
Climate
Tokyo is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 16°C against 15°C in Kyoto. Rainfall is similar: about 1,562 mm a year in Kyoto and 1,494 mm in Tokyo.
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
On the factors we measure, Kyoto leads on cost (€3,375 against €3,651 a month), and Tokyo leads on none of them. What our data does not cover can still tip it toward Tokyo: jobs, family nearby, or simply which one each of you prefers after a visit.
Size differs too: Kyoto is a large city (1 to 5 million people) and Tokyo a major one (over 5 million people). Kyoto is near the coast; Tokyo is coastal.
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Kyoto, Tokyo and 913 other cities for both of you at once.