Luxembourg vs Salzburg for couples
Luxembourg and Salzburg, in Austria, are about 545 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, healthcare and internet speed; Salzburg 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
Salzburg is cheaper: we estimate about €3,462 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,187 in Luxembourg. That is €725 a month, or 17%, less.
Taxes
A tie: Luxembourg and Austria both sit in our high tax tier.
Climate
Luxembourg is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 11°C against 10°C in Salzburg. Luxembourg is drier, with about 832 mm of rain a year against 1,215 mm in Salzburg (32% less).
Safety
Luxembourg is the safer pick: Luxembourg scores 80 out of 100 on safety, 5 points above Austria (75).
Healthcare
Luxembourg has the stronger healthcare: Luxembourg scores 82 out of 100 on healthcare, 3 points above Austria (79).
Internet
Luxembourg has faster home internet: about 150 Mbps median fixed download against about 80 Mbps in Salzburg.
Language
Main languages: Luxembourgish, French, German in Luxembourg; German in Salzburg. 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 $3,221 a month in Luxembourg 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 Luxembourg visa-free and 93 can enter Austria.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts safety (80 against 75 out of 100), healthcare (82 against 79 out of 100) and internet speed (150 Mbps against 80 Mbps) first, Luxembourg comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€3,462 against €4,187 a month), Salzburg does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: whoever minds rain will prefer Luxembourg (832 mm a year against 1,215 mm).
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