Venice vs Vienna for couples
Venice, in Italy, and Vienna, in Austria, are about 435 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. Venice leads on cost and residency rules; Vienna on safety, healthcare and getting by in English.
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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
Venice is cheaper: we estimate about €3,041 a month for a couple living centrally, against €3,826 in Vienna. That is €785 a month, or 21%, less.
Taxes
A tie: Italy and Austria both sit in our high tax tier.
Climate
Venice is 2°C warmer on average over the year: 14°C against 12°C in Vienna. Vienna is drier, with about 600 mm of rain a year against 767 mm in Venice (22% less).
Safety
Vienna is the safer pick: Austria scores 75 out of 100 on safety, 18 points above Italy (57).
Healthcare
Vienna has the stronger healthcare: Austria scores 79 out of 100 on healthcare, 3 points above Italy (76).
Internet
Close: about 70 Mbps median fixed download in Venice and about 80 Mbps in Vienna.
Language
Main languages: Italian in Venice; German in Vienna. English goes further in Vienna (good English) than in Venice (limited English).
Residency and visas
Long-term residency for people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland is easier to obtain in Italy (comparatively open) than in Austria (possible, with conditions). The cheapest self-funded income route we track starts at about $2,718 a month in Italy and $3,045 in Austria. 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 Italy visa-free and 93 can enter Austria.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts cost (€3,041 against €3,826 a month) and residency rules (comparatively open against possible, with conditions) first, Venice comes out ahead. If the other cares more about safety (75 against 57 out of 100), healthcare (79 against 76 out of 100) and getting by in English (good English against limited English), Vienna does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Venice (14°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Vienna (12°C).
Size differs too: Venice is a smaller city (under 250,000 people) and Vienna a large one (1 to 5 million people). Venice is coastal; Vienna is inland.
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Venice, Vienna and 913 other cities for both of you at once.