Ljubljana vs Vienna for couples
Ljubljana, in Slovenia, and Vienna, in Austria, are about 278 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. Ljubljana leads on cost, safety and internet speed; Vienna on healthcare.
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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
Ljubljana is cheaper: we estimate about €2,840 a month for a couple living centrally, against €3,826 in Vienna. That is €986 a month, or 26%, less.
Taxes
A tie: Slovenia and Austria both sit in our high tax tier.
Climate
Vienna is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 12°C against 11°C in Ljubljana. Vienna is drier, with about 600 mm of rain a year against 1,403 mm in Ljubljana (57% less).
Safety
Ljubljana is the safer pick: Slovenia scores 80 out of 100 on safety, 5 points above Austria (75).
Healthcare
Vienna has the stronger healthcare: Austria scores 79 out of 100 on healthcare, 9 points above Slovenia (70).
Internet
Ljubljana has faster home internet: about 110 Mbps median fixed download against about 80 Mbps in Vienna.
Language
Main languages: Slovenian, English in Ljubljana; German in Vienna. English proficiency is rated the same in both: good English.
Residency and visas
Both are rated possible, with conditions for long-term residency for people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland. The cheapest self-funded income route we track starts at about $3,725 a month in Slovenia and $3,045 in Austria. Citizens of the EU, EEA and Switzerland have freedom-of-movement or simplified residency rights in both. For short visits, 93 of 198 passports can enter Slovenia visa-free and 93 can enter Austria.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts cost (€2,840 against €3,826 a month), safety (80 against 75 out of 100) and internet speed (110 Mbps against 80 Mbps) first, Ljubljana comes out ahead. If the other cares more about healthcare (79 against 70 out of 100), Vienna does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: whoever minds rain will prefer Vienna (600 mm a year against 1,403 mm).
Size differs too: Ljubljana is a mid-sized city (250,000 to 1 million people) and Vienna a large one (1 to 5 million people). Ljubljana is near the coast; Vienna is inland.
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