Luxembourg vs Lyon for couples
Luxembourg and Lyon, in France, are about 440 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. Luxembourg leads on safety and getting by in English; Lyon on cost and internet speed.
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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
Lyon is cheaper: we estimate about €3,767 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,187 in Luxembourg. That is €420 a month, or 10%, less.
Taxes
A tie: Luxembourg and France both sit in our high tax tier.
Climate
Lyon is 2°C warmer on average over the year: 13°C against 11°C in Luxembourg. Rainfall is similar: about 832 mm a year in Luxembourg and 788 mm in Lyon.
Safety
Luxembourg is the safer pick: Luxembourg scores 80 out of 100 on safety, 28 points above France (52).
Healthcare
Close: Luxembourg scores 82 out of 100 on healthcare and France 80.
Internet
Lyon has faster home internet: about 230 Mbps median fixed download against about 150 Mbps in Luxembourg.
Language
Main languages: Luxembourgish, French, German in Luxembourg; French in Lyon. English goes further in Luxembourg (good English) than in Lyon (some 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 $3,221 a month in Luxembourg and $1,720 in France. 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 Luxembourg visa-free and 93 can enter France.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts safety (80 against 52 out of 100) and getting by in English (good English against some English) first, Luxembourg comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€3,767 against €4,187 a month) and internet speed (230 Mbps against 150 Mbps), Lyon does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Lyon (13°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Luxembourg (11°C).
Size differs too: Luxembourg is a smaller city (under 250,000 people) and Lyon a mid-sized one (250,000 to 1 million people).
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