Ottawa vs Washington for couples
Ottawa, in Canada, and Washington, in the United States, are about 733 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. Ottawa leads on cost, safety and residency rules; Washington on tax and internet speed.
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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 €4,101 in Washington. That is €269 a month, or 7%, less.
Taxes
Washington has the lighter tax load: the United States is in our low to medium tax tier, Canada in our high tax tier.
Climate
Washington is 7°C warmer on average over the year: 14°C against 7°C in Ottawa. Ottawa is drier, with about 949 mm of rain a year against 1,093 mm in Washington (13% less).
Safety
Ottawa is the safer pick: Canada scores 60 out of 100 on safety, 8 points above the United States (52).
Healthcare
Close: Canada scores 72 out of 100 on healthcare and the United States 70.
Internet
Washington has faster home internet: about 220 Mbps median fixed download against about 170 Mbps in Ottawa.
Language
Main languages: English, French in Ottawa; English in Washington. 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, 1 of 198 passports can enter Canada visa-free and 4 can enter the United States.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts cost (€3,832 against €4,101 a month), safety (60 against 52 out of 100) and residency rules (comparatively open against possible, with conditions) first, Ottawa comes out ahead. If the other cares more about tax (low to medium tax against high tax) and internet speed (220 Mbps against 170 Mbps), Washington does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Washington (14°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Ottawa (7°C).
Size differs too: Ottawa is a large city (1 to 5 million people) and Washington a mid-sized one (250,000 to 1 million people). Ottawa is inland; Washington is coastal.
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