Lyon vs Monaco for couples
Lyon, in France, and Monaco are about 302 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. Lyon leads on cost; Monaco on tax, safety, healthcare, getting by in English and residency rules.
12 questions, about 4 minutes, no account needed. Taking the quiz is free, and so is seeing your #1 city. Full results for both of you are a one-time US$12 (€12 in Europe).
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 €4,088 in Monaco. That is €321 a month, or 8%, less.
Taxes
Monaco has the lighter tax load: Monaco is in our zero or very low tax tier, France in our high tax tier.
Climate
Monaco is 4°C warmer on average over the year: 17°C against 13°C in Lyon. Rainfall is similar: about 788 mm a year in Lyon and 814 mm in Monaco.
Safety
Monaco is the safer pick: Monaco scores 90 out of 100 on safety, 38 points above France (52).
Healthcare
Monaco has the stronger healthcare: Monaco scores 85 out of 100 on healthcare, 5 points above France (80).
Internet
Close: about 230 Mbps median fixed download in Lyon and about 200 Mbps in Monaco.
Language
Main languages in both: French. English goes further in Monaco (good English) than in Lyon (some English).
Residency and visas
Long-term residency is easier to obtain in Monaco (comparatively open) than in France (possible, with conditions). France has a self-funded route from about $1,720 a month in income; we track no income-based route for Monaco. For short visits, 93 of 198 passports can enter France visa-free and 93 can enter Monaco.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts cost (€3,767 against €4,088 a month) first, Lyon comes out ahead. If the other cares more about tax (zero or very low tax against high tax), safety (90 against 52 out of 100), healthcare (85 against 80 out of 100), getting by in English (good English against some English) and residency rules (comparatively open against possible, with conditions), Monaco does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Monaco (17°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Lyon (13°C).
Size differs too: Lyon is a mid-sized city (250,000 to 1 million people) and Monaco a smaller one (under 250,000 people). Lyon is inland; Monaco is coastal.
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Lyon, Monaco and 913 other cities for both of you at once.