Prague vs Warsaw for couples
Prague, in Czechia, and Warsaw, in Poland, are about 517 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. Prague leads on healthcare; Warsaw on cost and internet speed.
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
Warsaw is cheaper: we estimate about €2,746 a month for a couple living centrally, against €2,921 in Prague. That is €175 a month, or 6%, less.
Taxes
A tie: Czechia and Poland both sit in our low to medium tax tier.
Climate
Prague is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 11°C against 10°C in Warsaw. Rainfall is similar: about 500 mm a year in Prague and 508 mm in Warsaw.
Safety
Close: Czechia scores 74 out of 100 on safety and Poland 72.
Healthcare
Prague has the stronger healthcare: Czechia scores 70 out of 100 on healthcare, 8 points above Poland (62).
Internet
Warsaw has faster home internet: about 140 Mbps median fixed download against about 90 Mbps in Prague.
Language
Main languages: Czech in Prague; Polish in Warsaw. English proficiency is rated the same in both: some English.
Residency and visas
Both are rated possible, with conditions for long-term residency for people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland. The cheapest self-funded income route we track starts at about $940 a month in Czechia and $2,409 in Poland. 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 Czechia visa-free and 93 can enter Poland.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts healthcare (70 against 62 out of 100) first, Prague comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€2,746 against €2,921 a month) and internet speed (140 Mbps against 90 Mbps), Warsaw does.
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Prague, Warsaw and 913 other cities for both of you at once.