Seoul vs Shanghai for couples
Seoul, in South Korea, and Shanghai, in China, are about 868 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. Seoul leads on healthcare, getting by in English and residency rules; Shanghai on cost, tax, safety 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
Shanghai is cheaper: we estimate about €2,960 a month for a couple living centrally, against €3,749 in Seoul. That is €789 a month, or 21%, less.
Taxes
Shanghai has the lighter tax load: China is in our low to medium tax tier, South Korea in our high tax tier.
Climate
Shanghai is 5°C warmer on average over the year: 17°C against 12°C in Seoul. Shanghai is drier, with about 1,034 mm of rain a year against 1,250 mm in Seoul (17% less).
Safety
Shanghai is the safer pick: China scores 75 out of 100 on safety, 3 points above South Korea (72).
Healthcare
Seoul has the stronger healthcare: South Korea scores 82 out of 100 on healthcare, 18 points above China (64).
Internet
Shanghai has faster home internet: about 240 Mbps median fixed download against about 170 Mbps in Seoul.
Language
Main languages: Korean in Seoul; Mandarin in Shanghai. English goes further in Seoul (some English) than in Shanghai (limited English).
Residency and visas
Long-term residency is easier to obtain in South Korea (possible, with conditions) than in China (hard to obtain). For short visits, 62 of 198 passports can enter South Korea visa-free and 67 can enter China.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts healthcare (82 against 64 out of 100), getting by in English (some English against limited English) and residency rules (possible, with conditions against hard to obtain) first, Seoul comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€2,960 against €3,749 a month), tax (low to medium tax against high tax), safety (75 against 72 out of 100) and internet speed (240 Mbps against 170 Mbps), Shanghai does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Shanghai (17°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Seoul (12°C).
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Seoul, Shanghai and 913 other cities for both of you at once.