Marseille vs San Marino for couples
Marseille, in France, and San Marino are about 573 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. Marseille leads on internet speed, getting by in English and residency rules; San Marino on cost, tax and safety.
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
San Marino is cheaper: we estimate about €3,040 a month for a couple living centrally, against €3,851 in Marseille. That is €811 a month, or 21%, less.
Taxes
San Marino has the lighter tax load: San Marino is in our low to medium tax tier, France in our high tax tier.
Climate
Marseille is 4°C warmer on average over the year: 16°C against 12°C in San Marino. Marseille is drier, with about 537 mm of rain a year against 860 mm in San Marino (38% less).
Safety
San Marino is the safer pick: San Marino scores 85 out of 100 on safety, 33 points above France (52).
Healthcare
Tied: France and San Marino both score 80 out of 100 on healthcare.
Internet
Marseille has faster home internet: about 230 Mbps median fixed download against about 90 Mbps in San Marino.
Language
Main languages: French in Marseille; Italian in San Marino. English goes further in Marseille (some English) than in San Marino (limited English).
Residency and visas
Long-term residency is easier to obtain in France (possible, with conditions) than in San Marino (hard to obtain). The cheapest self-funded income route we track starts at about $1,720 a month in France and $12k in San Marino. For short visits, 93 of 198 passports can enter France visa-free and 93 can enter San Marino.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts internet speed (230 Mbps against 90 Mbps), getting by in English (some English against limited English) and residency rules (possible, with conditions against hard to obtain) first, Marseille comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€3,040 against €3,851 a month), tax (low to medium tax against high tax) and safety (85 against 52 out of 100), San Marino does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Marseille (16°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward San Marino (12°C), and whoever minds rain will prefer Marseille (537 mm a year against 860 mm).
Size differs too: Marseille is a mid-sized city (250,000 to 1 million people) and San Marino a smaller one (under 250,000 people).
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Marseille, San Marino and 913 other cities for both of you at once.