New York City vs Ottawa for couples
New York City, in the United States, and Ottawa, in Canada, are about 540 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. New York City leads on tax and internet speed; Ottawa 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
Ottawa is cheaper: we estimate about €3,832 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,640 in New York City. That is €808 a month, or 17%, less.
Taxes
New York City has the lighter tax load: the United States is in our low to medium tax tier, Canada in our high tax tier.
Climate
New York City is 6°C warmer on average over the year: 13°C against 7°C in Ottawa. Ottawa is drier, with about 949 mm of rain a year against 1,203 mm in New York City (21% less).
Safety
Ottawa is the safer pick: Canada scores 60 out of 100 on safety, 8 points above the United States (52).
Healthcare
Close: the United States scores 70 out of 100 on healthcare and Canada 72.
Internet
New York City has faster home internet: about 220 Mbps median fixed download against about 170 Mbps in Ottawa.
Language
Main languages: English in New York City; English, French in Ottawa. English proficiency is rated the same in both: English everywhere.
Residency and visas
Long-term residency is easier to obtain in Canada (comparatively open) than in the United States (possible, with conditions). For short visits, 4 of 198 passports can enter the United States visa-free and 1 can enter Canada.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts tax (low to medium tax against high tax) and internet speed (220 Mbps against 170 Mbps) first, New York City comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€3,832 against €4,640 a month), safety (60 against 52 out of 100) and residency rules (comparatively open against possible, with conditions), Ottawa does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward New York City (13°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Ottawa (7°C).
Size differs too: New York City is a major city (over 5 million people) and Ottawa a large one (1 to 5 million people). New York City is coastal; Ottawa is inland.
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