Madrid vs Strasbourg for couples
Madrid, in Spain, and Strasbourg, in France, are about 1,282 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. Madrid leads on cost, safety and residency rules.
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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
Madrid is cheaper: we estimate about €3,256 a month for a couple living centrally, against €3,665 in Strasbourg. That is €409 a month, or 11%, less.
Taxes
A tie: Spain and France both sit in our high tax tier.
Climate
Madrid is 4°C warmer on average over the year: 16°C against 12°C in Strasbourg. Madrid is drier, with about 378 mm of rain a year against 687 mm in Strasbourg (45% less).
Safety
Madrid is the safer pick: Spain scores 65 out of 100 on safety, 13 points above France (52).
Healthcare
Close: Spain scores 79 out of 100 on healthcare and France 80.
Internet
Close: about 200 Mbps median fixed download in Madrid and about 230 Mbps in Strasbourg.
Language
Main languages: Spanish in Madrid; French in Strasbourg. English proficiency is rated the same in both: some English.
Residency and visas
Long-term residency for people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland is easier to obtain in Spain (comparatively open) than in France (possible, with conditions). The cheapest self-funded income route we track starts at about $2,793 a month in Spain 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 Spain visa-free and 93 can enter France.
Which one fits a couple
On the factors we measure, Madrid leads on cost (€3,256 against €3,665 a month), safety (65 against 52 out of 100) and residency rules (comparatively open against possible, with conditions), and Strasbourg leads on none of them. What our data does not cover can still tip it toward Strasbourg: jobs, family nearby, or simply which one each of you prefers after a visit.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Madrid (16°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Strasbourg (12°C), and whoever minds rain will prefer Madrid (378 mm a year against 687 mm).
Size differs too: Madrid is a large city (1 to 5 million people) and Strasbourg a mid-sized one (250,000 to 1 million people).
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Madrid, Strasbourg and 913 other cities for both of you at once.
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