Seoul vs Tokyo for couples
Seoul, in South Korea, and Tokyo, in Japan, are about 1,153 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 getting by in English; Tokyo on 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
Close on cost: we estimate about €3,749 a month for a couple living centrally in Seoul and €3,651 in Tokyo.
Taxes
A tie: South Korea and Japan both sit in our high tax tier.
Climate
Tokyo is 4°C warmer on average over the year: 16°C against 12°C in Seoul. Seoul is drier, with about 1,250 mm of rain a year against 1,494 mm in Tokyo (16% less).
Safety
Tokyo is the safer pick: Japan scores 80 out of 100 on safety, 8 points above South Korea (72).
Healthcare
Close: South Korea scores 82 out of 100 on healthcare and Japan 80.
Internet
Close: about 170 Mbps median fixed download in Seoul and about 160 Mbps in Tokyo.
Language
Main languages: Korean in Seoul; Japanese in Tokyo. English goes further in Seoul (some English) than in Tokyo (limited English).
Residency and visas
Both are rated possible, with conditions for long-term residency. For short visits, 62 of 198 passports can enter South Korea visa-free and 71 can enter Japan.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts getting by in English (some English against limited English) first, Seoul comes out ahead. If the other cares more about safety (80 against 72 out of 100), Tokyo does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Tokyo (16°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, Tokyo and 913 other cities for both of you at once.