London vs The Hague for couples

London, in the United Kingdom, and The Hague, in the Netherlands, are about 311 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. The Hague leads on cost, safety, healthcare and internet speed.

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Side by side

Factor	London	The Hague
Country	United Kingdom	Netherlands
Size	Major: over 5 million people	Mid-sized: 250,000 to 1 million people
Setting	Coastal	Coastal
Est. cost for a couple	€4,315 a month	€3,793 a month
Tax tier	High tax	High tax
Average temperature	11°C	11°C
Rainfall	669 mm a year	891 mm a year
Safety	56 / 100	72 / 100
Healthcare	74 / 100	80 / 100
Internet (median fixed)	~110 Mbps	~180 Mbps
Main languages	English	Dutch, English
English	English everywhere	English everywhere
Long-term residency	Possible, with conditions	Possible, with conditions
Self-funded income route	None tracked	None tracked
Visa-free short visits	35 of 198 passports	93 of 198 passports

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

The Hague is cheaper: we estimate about €3,793 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,315 in London. That is €522 a month, or 12%, less.

Taxes

A tie: the United Kingdom and the Netherlands both sit in our high tax tier.

Climate

Both average 11°C over the year. London is drier, with about 669 mm of rain a year against 891 mm in The Hague (25% less).

Safety

The Hague is the safer pick: the Netherlands scores 72 out of 100 on safety, 16 points above the United Kingdom (56).

Healthcare

The Hague has the stronger healthcare: the Netherlands scores 80 out of 100 on healthcare, 6 points above the United Kingdom (74).

Internet

The Hague has faster home internet: about 180 Mbps median fixed download against about 110 Mbps in London.

Language

Main languages: English in London; Dutch, English in The Hague. English proficiency is rated the same in both: English everywhere.

Residency and visas

Both are rated possible, with conditions for long-term residency. For short visits, 35 of 198 passports can enter the United Kingdom visa-free and 93 can enter the Netherlands.

Which one fits a couple

On the factors we measure, The Hague leads on cost (€3,793 against €4,315 a month), safety (72 against 56 out of 100), healthcare (80 against 74 out of 100) and internet speed (180 Mbps against 110 Mbps), and London leads on none of them. What our data does not cover can still tip it toward London: jobs, family nearby, or simply which one each of you prefers after a visit.

Climate can pull the two of you apart too: whoever minds rain will prefer London (669 mm a year against 891 mm).

Size differs too: London is a major city (over 5 million people) and The Hague a mid-sized one (250,000 to 1 million people).

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