CITY / CITYVerified city comparison
İzmirvsThessaloniki.
İzmir is stronger on 4 of 8 headline facts; Thessaloniki on 3. Cost of living (single, excl. rent): İzmir $450/mo, Thessaloniki $766/mo. Freelancer tax burden: İzmir 4.4%, Thessaloniki 30.9%. Climate comfort: İzmir 5/12 mo, Thessaloniki 5/12 mo.
VerifiedUpdated
14 compared criteria · 28 sources · country-level facts are clearly inherited
tr / gr · SettleMetric
01
The key differences
The key numbers head-to-head — the stronger side is marked. The overall score stays decoration; what matters is which facts fit you.
Headline result
İzmir leads on 4 of 8
İzmir
4
Thessaloniki
3
01Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
İzmirstronger
$450/mo
TÜİK — Household Consumption Expenditure 2024 (per-capita COICOP), CPI-uplifted
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- TÜİK 2024 average household consumption 45,344 TRY/mo ÷ 3.1 persons = 14,627 TRY/capita (2024). Housing (26.0%) split ~70% rent (excluded) / ~30% utilities (kept), matching the peer basis. Excl-rent per-capita uplifted to mid-2026 by TÜİK CPI ×1.7534 and converted at 46.65 TRY/USD (TCMB 2026-07-02) → ≈$450.
- Notes
- WARNING — lira volatility: with ~32% annual inflation and a constantly repricing FX rate, this USD figure carries a ±15–20% band and shifts month to month; the TRY has appreciated in real terms since 2024, so Türkiye's USD cost of living has been RISING even as it stays below EU peers. All-household per-capita basis; Istanbul/İzmir run above the national figure.
Thessaloniki
$766/mo
ELSTAT — Household Budget Survey 2023
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- ELSTAT HBS 2023: average annual expenditure per person = €8,358.24 = €696.52/month (monetary purchases, excludes imputed owner rent). Subtracted the actual-rent component (~€24.6/person) → €671.9/person excl. rent × 1.1399 = $766. Same low-reading per-capita HBS basis as peers.
- Notes
- Greek monetary household consumption is genuinely depressed (ELSTAT reports it ~20.5% below 2008), so the per-capita figure lands near Czechia despite Greece feeling pricier in tourist zones. Rent shown separately.
02Freelancer tax burden
İzmirstronger
4.4%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 (~3,193,644 TL) for an IT freelancer serving FOREIGN clients (scheme tr-freelancer-export): the 100% service-export income deduction (raised from 80% for 2026) zeroes the income tax; only the fixed minimum Bağ-Kur social premium (11,808.23 TL/month = 141,699/yr) is due. Burden = 141,699 / 3,193,644 = 4.4%. Serving Turkish clients instead (no export deduction) runs ~31–33% (progressive + Bağ-Kur).
Thessaloniki
30.9%
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Law 5246/2025 income-tax scale + e-EFKA Class 1)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Standard freelancer scheme at €60,000, single (scheme gr-freelancer-standard): EFKA Class 1 = 3,006/yr (deductible); income tax on 56,994 via the 2026 scale (9/20/26/34/39%) = 15,528. Levies 18,534 → 30.9%. NOTE: a relocating new tax resident gets the 50% income-tax exemption (Article 5C, scheme gr-freelancer-newresident-50) for 7 years, cutting this to ≈13.5% — but the 30.9% standard figure is the unconditional, steady-state burden shown as the headline.
03Homicide rate
İzmir
3.23/100k
World Bank / UNODC — intentional homicides per 100,000 (Türkiye, 2023)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- UNODC series via the World Bank: 3.23 per 100,000 in 2023 (up from 2.62 in 2022; the series has gaps and swings). 2024/2025 not yet published. Türkiye is not covered by Eurostat, so cross-country comparison relies on the UNODC series. Moderate-to-higher than the European peers in the set.
Thessalonikistronger
0.78/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB, geo=EL)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (0.78). Very low by global standards (world average ~5.8) and down over the series (1.29 in 2008 to 0.68–0.88 recently). One of the safer countries in the set.
04Climate comfort
İzmir
5/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (İzmir Bölge WMO 17220)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Sep 4, 2026
- Method
- Months with mean daily max 15–28°C AND precipitation < 150 mm: Mar (17.2°C), Apr (21.3), May (26.5), Oct (24.6), Nov (18.8) = 5. June to September (31.3–33.8°C) exceed the 28°C heat ceiling; January (12.7), February (14.0) and December (14.0) fall below the 15°C floor. No month fails on rain — the wettest, January at 127.5 mm, stays under the 150 mm cap, so İzmir loses months only to temperature.
- Notes
- September misses by 1.5°C (29.5°C) and is in practice one of the better months, warm and almost dry; a reader weighting heat differently would count six. The scoring rule is applied unchanged here so the number stays comparable with the other cities, but the near-miss is worth knowing.
Thessaloniki
5/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (Climates to Travel 1991–2020, Thessaloniki airport)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Months with mean daily max 15–28°C AND precipitation < 150mm: Apr (19.4), May (25.0), Sep (27.3), Oct (21.6), Nov (15.8) = 5. Excluded: Jan/Feb/Dec and Mar (14.9°C, just below 15) for cold; Jun–Aug (30.0–32.3°C) for heat. All months satisfy the precip test (max 50 mm). Thessaloniki's colder winters knock out March, while its milder September qualifies.
05Internet speed
İzmir
12 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Türkiye (Asia grouping)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for TR in 2023 = 12.09 Mbps (402,083 download tests; Türkiye is filed under M-Lab's Asia (AS) continent grouping, not EU). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below marketed figures — Turkish fibre commonly markets 100–1000 Mbps — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- The single-stream M-Lab median is low (and the lowest in the set) but reflects a consistent cross-country method, not real fibre-line speeds; Turkish fixed broadband is much faster in practice.
Thessalonikistronger
37 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Greece
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for GR in 2023 = 37.3 Mbps (268,076 download tests; daily medians ranged 21.3–47.3). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads below Ookla-style tests — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- Greece's fixed broadband is improving as fibre rolls out; the single-stream M-Lab median is used only for cross-country comparability on one consistent method.
06English proficiency
İzmir
Low
EF EPI 2025 — Türkiye (rank 71/123, score 488, Low band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Türkiye rank 71/123, score 488 (Low band, cutoff 450–499), a 9-point decline from the prior edition. English is workable in Istanbul/tourism and parts of the tech sector but thin in public offices and smaller cities; Turkish is the sole official language. The lowest English band in the set.
Thessalonikistronger
High
EF EPI 2025 — Greece (score 592, rank 20/123, High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Greece scores 592, rank 20/123 — top of the 'High' band, just below the 'Very High' threshold (~600); global average 488. English is widely functional in tourism, services and among younger Greeks, though the score slipped 10 points from the prior edition.
07Private healthcare cost
İzmirstronger
$860/yr
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Comprehensive standalone private health insurance (outpatient + inpatient private-hospital cover) for a healthy 35-year-old runs ~25,000–100,000 TRY/yr depending on the contracted hospital network; a mid-tier plan sits near ~40,000 TRY/yr ≈ $860 at 46.65 TRY/USD. Band ≈ $540–$2,140.
- Notes
- Two-tier context: residents with a work/residence basis are covered by mandatory public insurance (SGK); on top, Turks commonly buy complementary insurance (~5,000–20,000 TRY/yr) working with SGK at private hospitals, or full standalone private cover (this figure). The cheap mandatory foreigner residence-permit policy (~$32–130/yr) is minimal cover, not comparable. Private cover is cheap in USD because of the weak lira; TRY premiums rise 50–80%/yr, so this is a volatile curated midpoint.
Thessaloniki
$1,368/yr
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Midpoint of local comprehensive (inpatient + outpatient) annual premiums for a healthy 35-year-old, €600–1,800 from major Greek insurers (mid-range €100–180/month) → ~€1,200/yr × 1.1399 = $1,368.
- Notes
- Public cover exists via EOPYY (funded through EFKA contributions), but waiting lists and gaps drive a large private market. Local plans run cheaper than international/expat plans ($2,000–4,000+/yr). Greek insurers raised premiums ~14% in 2025 — a rising curated midpoint, not a firm quote.
08Air quality (PM2.5)
İzmirstronger
15.9 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 4, 2026
- Method
- Row "Izmir/TUR", year 2024, version V8.0 (2026): pm25_concentration 15.88 µg/m³ at 72% temporal coverage from two stations, one urban background and one urban traffic, reported through the European Environment Agency. Latest year in the series that carries a PM2.5 value together with a coverage figure, which is the same basis as tr-ankara. The row's station centroid, 38.4282°N 27.1416°E, is about 1.5 km from this city's recorded coordinates; WHO records no population footprint for this row, so no boundary check against the province figure is possible. Full series in the same database: 2020 29.03 (16% coverage), 2021 19.76 (99%), 2022 28.39 (97%), 2023 24.22 (88%), 2024 15.88 (72%), 2025 28.55 (no coverage reported, one traffic station only).
- Notes
- READ THIS AS A LOWER BOUND, NOT A SETTLED LEVEL. The 72% temporal coverage is below the EU's 90% data-quality objective, and 15.88 is a 35% drop from the same two stations' 24.22 in 2023 and barely half the partial 2025 reading of 28.55 — a swing far larger than air quality plausibly moves in a year, and the signature of missing days rather than cleaner air. Turkish PM2.5 peaks in the winter heating season, so a year short by roughly a hundred days may well be short of the dirtiest ones. On the published number İzmir is about 3.2× the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³, sits between Istanbul (15.3, a different source) and Antalya (17.89), and is worse than Ankara (14.02); do not conclude from these four numbers alone that İzmir's air is better than Ankara's. The 2025 row is deliberately not used — it is a partial year with no coverage figure resting on a single traffic station, the same reason tr-ankara skips its own 2025 row.
Thessaloniki
16.1 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row Thessaloniki/GRC, year 2024, of the WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026), read from the published spreadsheet on 2026-08-28: pm25_concentration = 16.11 µg/m³ at 96% temporal coverage over 6 stations (four urban traffic, one urban background and one urban industrial), reference "European Environmental Agency", WHO footprint population 315,196. Reference year 2024 — the latest year this database carries a full-year PM2.5 figure for this city, and the year already used by the other European cities in this dataset. The database also holds a later row for this city — 2025 reads 15.82 µg/m³ but at 81% coverage, below the EU's 90% data-quality objective — so it is reported in notes rather than used. Identity checked against the row's own station centroid, which lies 0.9 km from this city's recorded coordinates — the file contains near-miss names such as "Playa Del Ingles/ESP" and "Porto Empedocle/ITA", so the check is not a formality.
- Notes
- Four of the six stations are urban traffic, which biases the mean upward relative to where people live — the comparable cities in this dataset are mostly background-weighted, so Thessaloniki is flattered by nothing here. The direction of travel is clear and steady: 20.43 µg/m³ in 2021 down to 16.11 in 2024. Preceding years in the same series: 2020 19.05 (96%), 2021 20.43 (88%), 2022 18.71 (94%), 2023 17.77 (93%).
02
Which city fits your plan?
Each lens weighs only the facts that matter to that plan, and names the side it favours.
Remote IT / freelancer
Contract or freelance in tech, billing clients abroad.
A close call for this plan
01Freelancer tax burden
İzmirstronger
4.4%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 (~3,193,644 TL) for an IT freelancer serving FOREIGN clients (scheme tr-freelancer-export): the 100% service-export income deduction (raised from 80% for 2026) zeroes the income tax; only the fixed minimum Bağ-Kur social premium (11,808.23 TL/month = 141,699/yr) is due. Burden = 141,699 / 3,193,644 = 4.4%. Serving Turkish clients instead (no export deduction) runs ~31–33% (progressive + Bağ-Kur).
Thessaloniki
30.9%
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Law 5246/2025 income-tax scale + e-EFKA Class 1)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Standard freelancer scheme at €60,000, single (scheme gr-freelancer-standard): EFKA Class 1 = 3,006/yr (deductible); income tax on 56,994 via the 2026 scale (9/20/26/34/39%) = 15,528. Levies 18,534 → 30.9%. NOTE: a relocating new tax resident gets the 50% income-tax exemption (Article 5C, scheme gr-freelancer-newresident-50) for 7 years, cutting this to ≈13.5% — but the 30.9% standard figure is the unconditional, steady-state burden shown as the headline.
02Internet speed
İzmir
12 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Türkiye (Asia grouping)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for TR in 2023 = 12.09 Mbps (402,083 download tests; Türkiye is filed under M-Lab's Asia (AS) continent grouping, not EU). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below marketed figures — Turkish fibre commonly markets 100–1000 Mbps — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- The single-stream M-Lab median is low (and the lowest in the set) but reflects a consistent cross-country method, not real fibre-line speeds; Turkish fixed broadband is much faster in practice.
Thessalonikistronger
37 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Greece
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for GR in 2023 = 37.3 Mbps (268,076 download tests; daily medians ranged 21.3–47.3). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads below Ookla-style tests — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- Greece's fixed broadband is improving as fibre rolls out; the single-stream M-Lab median is used only for cross-country comparability on one consistent method.
03English proficiency
İzmir
Low
EF EPI 2025 — Türkiye (rank 71/123, score 488, Low band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Türkiye rank 71/123, score 488 (Low band, cutoff 450–499), a 9-point decline from the prior edition. English is workable in Istanbul/tourism and parts of the tech sector but thin in public offices and smaller cities; Turkish is the sole official language. The lowest English band in the set.
Thessalonikistronger
High
EF EPI 2025 — Greece (score 592, rank 20/123, High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Greece scores 592, rank 20/123 — top of the 'High' band, just below the 'Very High' threshold (~600); global average 488. English is widely functional in tourism, services and among younger Greeks, though the score slipped 10 points from the prior edition.
04Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
İzmirstronger
$450/mo
TÜİK — Household Consumption Expenditure 2024 (per-capita COICOP), CPI-uplifted
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- TÜİK 2024 average household consumption 45,344 TRY/mo ÷ 3.1 persons = 14,627 TRY/capita (2024). Housing (26.0%) split ~70% rent (excluded) / ~30% utilities (kept), matching the peer basis. Excl-rent per-capita uplifted to mid-2026 by TÜİK CPI ×1.7534 and converted at 46.65 TRY/USD (TCMB 2026-07-02) → ≈$450.
- Notes
- WARNING — lira volatility: with ~32% annual inflation and a constantly repricing FX rate, this USD figure carries a ±15–20% band and shifts month to month; the TRY has appreciated in real terms since 2024, so Türkiye's USD cost of living has been RISING even as it stays below EU peers. All-household per-capita basis; Istanbul/İzmir run above the national figure.
Thessaloniki
$766/mo
ELSTAT — Household Budget Survey 2023
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- ELSTAT HBS 2023: average annual expenditure per person = €8,358.24 = €696.52/month (monetary purchases, excludes imputed owner rent). Subtracted the actual-rent component (~€24.6/person) → €671.9/person excl. rent × 1.1399 = $766. Same low-reading per-capita HBS basis as peers.
- Notes
- Greek monetary household consumption is genuinely depressed (ELSTAT reports it ~20.5% below 2008), so the per-capita figure lands near Czechia despite Greece feeling pricier in tourist zones. Rent shown separately.
05Domestic delivery quality
İzmir
Good
Turkish carrier ecosystem — PTT + Yurtiçi/Aras/MNG/Sürat/Sendeo/HepsiJET/Trendyol Express
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Dense, competitive domestic courier market on the back of a huge e-commerce sector (Trendyol, Hepsiburada): PTT Kargo plus Yurtiçi, Aras, MNG, Sürat, Sendeo, HepsiJET and Trendyol Express give nationwide next-day/2-day coverage; same/next-day is normal in the big metros. Cash-on-delivery ('kapıda ödeme') is ubiquitous. Parcel-locker density is growing but below the locker-saturated benchmark, so rated 'good' rather than 'excellent'.
Thessaloniki
Good
Greek carrier networks (ELTA, ACS, BoxNow) — composite
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Dense mainland-city coverage: national couriers (ELTA post, ACS, Geniki Taxydromiki, Speedex) plus one of SE Europe's largest parcel-locker networks (BoxNow) and Skroutz Last Mile; cash-on-delivery ('αντικαταβολή') is mainstream. Athens/Thessaloniki are excellent, but ELTA's financial troubles and ferry-dependent island last-mile keep the national rating at 'good' rather than 'excellent'.
Family
Relocating with a partner and school-age children.
İzmir fits better — 3 of 5
01International schools
İzmirstronger
4
IB (ibo.org) Find an IB World School registry — per-school verification for İzmir
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Sep 4, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 4, 2026
- Method
- Verified floor of 4 IB World Schools in İzmir province, each confirmed on its own current ibo.org profile on 2026-09-04: (1) American Collegiate Institute / Özel İzmir Amerikan Koleji, code 002560, IB school since 2005-11-02, Konak; (2) MEF International School İzmir, code 002731, since 2022-05-26, Gaziemir; (3) Deutsche Schule Izmir, code 049477, since 2016-03-23, Urla; (4) Işıkkent Anadolu Lisesi, code 049989, IB school since 2014-04-08 with the Diploma Programme authorised 2018-05-07, Bornova. Same accreditor and same conservative basis as tr-istanbul (12), tr-ankara (8) and tr-antalya (2).
- Notes
- Conservative IB-only FLOOR, and a floor arrived at by verifying named schools rather than by querying the registry: ibo.org still answers its school-finder search with a bot challenge, so an exhaustive İzmir list cannot be pulled and schools we did not think to name would not appear here. Individual /en/school/{code} profiles are readable again on the apex host, which is how all four were confirmed. Schools holding Cambridge, CIS or COBIS accreditation without IB are excluded, so the true provision is higher. One boundary caveat: Deutsche Schule Izmir is in Urla, about 35 km west of the city centre — inside İzmir province and its metropolitan municipality, but not a school a family living in Konak would commute to. On three, İzmir would still be far behind Istanbul and Ankara.
Thessaloniki
2
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Accreditor-verified: (1) Pinewood — The International School of Thessaloniki (IB World School, PYP/MYP/DP; also Middle States Association-accredited, US State Dept-recognized); (2) Anatolia College (IB DP-authorized since 1997). Pinewood and Anatolia jointly deliver one IBDP but are two distinct IB-authorized institutions = 2.
- Notes
- Verified FLOOR (±1). Greece has 22 IB World Schools nationally, ~14 in Athens. Additional IB or other-accreditor schools may exist in the wider Thessaloniki area; 2 is a conservative floor.
02Homicide rate
İzmir
3.23/100k
World Bank / UNODC — intentional homicides per 100,000 (Türkiye, 2023)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- UNODC series via the World Bank: 3.23 per 100,000 in 2023 (up from 2.62 in 2022; the series has gaps and swings). 2024/2025 not yet published. Türkiye is not covered by Eurostat, so cross-country comparison relies on the UNODC series. Moderate-to-higher than the European peers in the set.
Thessalonikistronger
0.78/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB, geo=EL)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (0.78). Very low by global standards (world average ~5.8) and down over the series (1.29 in 2008 to 0.68–0.88 recently). One of the safer countries in the set.
03Private healthcare cost
İzmirstronger
$860/yr
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Comprehensive standalone private health insurance (outpatient + inpatient private-hospital cover) for a healthy 35-year-old runs ~25,000–100,000 TRY/yr depending on the contracted hospital network; a mid-tier plan sits near ~40,000 TRY/yr ≈ $860 at 46.65 TRY/USD. Band ≈ $540–$2,140.
- Notes
- Two-tier context: residents with a work/residence basis are covered by mandatory public insurance (SGK); on top, Turks commonly buy complementary insurance (~5,000–20,000 TRY/yr) working with SGK at private hospitals, or full standalone private cover (this figure). The cheap mandatory foreigner residence-permit policy (~$32–130/yr) is minimal cover, not comparable. Private cover is cheap in USD because of the weak lira; TRY premiums rise 50–80%/yr, so this is a volatile curated midpoint.
Thessaloniki
$1,368/yr
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Midpoint of local comprehensive (inpatient + outpatient) annual premiums for a healthy 35-year-old, €600–1,800 from major Greek insurers (mid-range €100–180/month) → ~€1,200/yr × 1.1399 = $1,368.
- Notes
- Public cover exists via EOPYY (funded through EFKA contributions), but waiting lists and gaps drive a large private market. Local plans run cheaper than international/expat plans ($2,000–4,000+/yr). Greek insurers raised premiums ~14% in 2025 — a rising curated midpoint, not a firm quote.
04Air quality (PM2.5)
İzmirstronger
15.9 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 4, 2026
- Method
- Row "Izmir/TUR", year 2024, version V8.0 (2026): pm25_concentration 15.88 µg/m³ at 72% temporal coverage from two stations, one urban background and one urban traffic, reported through the European Environment Agency. Latest year in the series that carries a PM2.5 value together with a coverage figure, which is the same basis as tr-ankara. The row's station centroid, 38.4282°N 27.1416°E, is about 1.5 km from this city's recorded coordinates; WHO records no population footprint for this row, so no boundary check against the province figure is possible. Full series in the same database: 2020 29.03 (16% coverage), 2021 19.76 (99%), 2022 28.39 (97%), 2023 24.22 (88%), 2024 15.88 (72%), 2025 28.55 (no coverage reported, one traffic station only).
- Notes
- READ THIS AS A LOWER BOUND, NOT A SETTLED LEVEL. The 72% temporal coverage is below the EU's 90% data-quality objective, and 15.88 is a 35% drop from the same two stations' 24.22 in 2023 and barely half the partial 2025 reading of 28.55 — a swing far larger than air quality plausibly moves in a year, and the signature of missing days rather than cleaner air. Turkish PM2.5 peaks in the winter heating season, so a year short by roughly a hundred days may well be short of the dirtiest ones. On the published number İzmir is about 3.2× the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³, sits between Istanbul (15.3, a different source) and Antalya (17.89), and is worse than Ankara (14.02); do not conclude from these four numbers alone that İzmir's air is better than Ankara's. The 2025 row is deliberately not used — it is a partial year with no coverage figure resting on a single traffic station, the same reason tr-ankara skips its own 2025 row.
Thessaloniki
16.1 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row Thessaloniki/GRC, year 2024, of the WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026), read from the published spreadsheet on 2026-08-28: pm25_concentration = 16.11 µg/m³ at 96% temporal coverage over 6 stations (four urban traffic, one urban background and one urban industrial), reference "European Environmental Agency", WHO footprint population 315,196. Reference year 2024 — the latest year this database carries a full-year PM2.5 figure for this city, and the year already used by the other European cities in this dataset. The database also holds a later row for this city — 2025 reads 15.82 µg/m³ but at 81% coverage, below the EU's 90% data-quality objective — so it is reported in notes rather than used. Identity checked against the row's own station centroid, which lies 0.9 km from this city's recorded coordinates — the file contains near-miss names such as "Playa Del Ingles/ESP" and "Porto Empedocle/ITA", so the check is not a formality.
- Notes
- Four of the six stations are urban traffic, which biases the mean upward relative to where people live — the comparable cities in this dataset are mostly background-weighted, so Thessaloniki is flattered by nothing here. The direction of travel is clear and steady: 20.43 µg/m³ in 2021 down to 16.11 in 2024. Preceding years in the same series: 2020 19.05 (96%), 2021 20.43 (88%), 2022 18.71 (94%), 2023 17.77 (93%).
05English proficiency
İzmir
Low
EF EPI 2025 — Türkiye (rank 71/123, score 488, Low band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Türkiye rank 71/123, score 488 (Low band, cutoff 450–499), a 9-point decline from the prior edition. English is workable in Istanbul/tourism and parts of the tech sector but thin in public offices and smaller cities; Turkish is the sole official language. The lowest English band in the set.
Thessalonikistronger
High
EF EPI 2025 — Greece (score 592, rank 20/123, High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Greece scores 592, rank 20/123 — top of the 'High' band, just below the 'Very High' threshold (~600); global average 488. English is widely functional in tourism, services and among younger Greeks, though the score slipped 10 points from the prior edition.
Money & crypto
Optimising tax, banking and crypto rules.
İzmir fits better — 1 of 3
01Crypto regulation
İzmir
Legal regulated
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 2, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Trading, holding and exchanging crypto are legal and very popular, but PAYING with crypto is BANNED (CBRT regulation in force 30 April 2021). Law No. 7518 (in force from 2 July 2024) put crypto-asset service providers under the Capital Markets Board (SPK): mandatory licensing, custody duties and minimum capital; offshore platforms targeting residents and crypto ATMs had to wind down. Classified 'legal-regulated' — trading legal and now formally supervised, payments prohibited.
Thessaloniki
Legal regulated
Official source
- Data as of
- Apr 10, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- EU MiCA applies and was transposed by Law 5193/2025 (10 April 2025), with CASP licensing and EU passporting, supervised by HCMC and the Bank of Greece. Individual crypto capital gains are taxed at a flat 15% (from 1 Jan 2025), with a €500 annual tax-free threshold and 5-year loss carry-forward. Fully legal and now clearly regulated/taxed rather than a grey area.
02Financial control level
İzmir
Moderate
Revenue Administration (GİB) — cash-payment documentation (tevsik) limit; CBRT crypto-payment ban
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Composite: the lira is freely convertible and residents may hold foreign-currency deposits/accounts and move money abroad — no hard individual capital controls. But the state exerts more control than EU peers: payments above 30,000 TRY (~$640) must be routed through banks/cards (tevsik rule); crypto payments are banned; the authorities intervene actively in the FX market and use reserve/macroprudential measures; and import de-minimis is low with high duties. Freely convertible but with a low cash-through-bank threshold and several controls → 'moderate' (stricter end).
- Notes
- High inflation erodes money in practice but is not a legal control. Day-to-day banking, FX purchase and transfers are unrestricted for an individual; the frictions are the low cash-routing threshold, the crypto-payment ban and occasional FX intervention.
Thessaloniki
Moderate
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Composite: EUR (eurozone), full EU free movement of capital; the 2015 crisis-era capital controls were fully lifted on 1 September 2019, so funds move abroad without restriction. Offsetting this: Greece has the STRICTEST cash-payment cap in the EU (€500 for consumer transactions; breaches fined at double the amount) plus routine AML/CASP reporting. The open capital account alone reads 'low', but the €500 everyday-cash restriction pulls the composite up to 'moderate'.
- Notes
- A 2025–26 proposal to cut the cap to €200 was withdrawn; the €500 limit remains.
03Freelancer tax burden
İzmirstronger
4.4%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 (~3,193,644 TL) for an IT freelancer serving FOREIGN clients (scheme tr-freelancer-export): the 100% service-export income deduction (raised from 80% for 2026) zeroes the income tax; only the fixed minimum Bağ-Kur social premium (11,808.23 TL/month = 141,699/yr) is due. Burden = 141,699 / 3,193,644 = 4.4%. Serving Turkish clients instead (no export deduction) runs ~31–33% (progressive + Bağ-Kur).
Thessaloniki
30.9%
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Law 5246/2025 income-tax scale + e-EFKA Class 1)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Standard freelancer scheme at €60,000, single (scheme gr-freelancer-standard): EFKA Class 1 = 3,006/yr (deductible); income tax on 56,994 via the 2026 scale (9/20/26/34/39%) = 15,528. Levies 18,534 → 30.9%. NOTE: a relocating new tax resident gets the 50% income-tax exemption (Article 5C, scheme gr-freelancer-newresident-50) for 7 years, cutting this to ≈13.5% — but the 30.9% standard figure is the unconditional, steady-state burden shown as the headline.
Calm lifestyle
Prioritising safety, air, and an easy daily life.
İzmir fits better — 2 of 4
01Homicide rate
İzmir
3.23/100k
World Bank / UNODC — intentional homicides per 100,000 (Türkiye, 2023)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- UNODC series via the World Bank: 3.23 per 100,000 in 2023 (up from 2.62 in 2022; the series has gaps and swings). 2024/2025 not yet published. Türkiye is not covered by Eurostat, so cross-country comparison relies on the UNODC series. Moderate-to-higher than the European peers in the set.
Thessalonikistronger
0.78/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB, geo=EL)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (0.78). Very low by global standards (world average ~5.8) and down over the series (1.29 in 2008 to 0.68–0.88 recently). One of the safer countries in the set.
02Air quality (PM2.5)
İzmirstronger
15.9 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 4, 2026
- Method
- Row "Izmir/TUR", year 2024, version V8.0 (2026): pm25_concentration 15.88 µg/m³ at 72% temporal coverage from two stations, one urban background and one urban traffic, reported through the European Environment Agency. Latest year in the series that carries a PM2.5 value together with a coverage figure, which is the same basis as tr-ankara. The row's station centroid, 38.4282°N 27.1416°E, is about 1.5 km from this city's recorded coordinates; WHO records no population footprint for this row, so no boundary check against the province figure is possible. Full series in the same database: 2020 29.03 (16% coverage), 2021 19.76 (99%), 2022 28.39 (97%), 2023 24.22 (88%), 2024 15.88 (72%), 2025 28.55 (no coverage reported, one traffic station only).
- Notes
- READ THIS AS A LOWER BOUND, NOT A SETTLED LEVEL. The 72% temporal coverage is below the EU's 90% data-quality objective, and 15.88 is a 35% drop from the same two stations' 24.22 in 2023 and barely half the partial 2025 reading of 28.55 — a swing far larger than air quality plausibly moves in a year, and the signature of missing days rather than cleaner air. Turkish PM2.5 peaks in the winter heating season, so a year short by roughly a hundred days may well be short of the dirtiest ones. On the published number İzmir is about 3.2× the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³, sits between Istanbul (15.3, a different source) and Antalya (17.89), and is worse than Ankara (14.02); do not conclude from these four numbers alone that İzmir's air is better than Ankara's. The 2025 row is deliberately not used — it is a partial year with no coverage figure resting on a single traffic station, the same reason tr-ankara skips its own 2025 row.
Thessaloniki
16.1 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row Thessaloniki/GRC, year 2024, of the WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026), read from the published spreadsheet on 2026-08-28: pm25_concentration = 16.11 µg/m³ at 96% temporal coverage over 6 stations (four urban traffic, one urban background and one urban industrial), reference "European Environmental Agency", WHO footprint population 315,196. Reference year 2024 — the latest year this database carries a full-year PM2.5 figure for this city, and the year already used by the other European cities in this dataset. The database also holds a later row for this city — 2025 reads 15.82 µg/m³ but at 81% coverage, below the EU's 90% data-quality objective — so it is reported in notes rather than used. Identity checked against the row's own station centroid, which lies 0.9 km from this city's recorded coordinates — the file contains near-miss names such as "Playa Del Ingles/ESP" and "Porto Empedocle/ITA", so the check is not a formality.
- Notes
- Four of the six stations are urban traffic, which biases the mean upward relative to where people live — the comparable cities in this dataset are mostly background-weighted, so Thessaloniki is flattered by nothing here. The direction of travel is clear and steady: 20.43 µg/m³ in 2021 down to 16.11 in 2024. Preceding years in the same series: 2020 19.05 (96%), 2021 20.43 (88%), 2022 18.71 (94%), 2023 17.77 (93%).
03Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
İzmirstronger
$450/mo
TÜİK — Household Consumption Expenditure 2024 (per-capita COICOP), CPI-uplifted
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- TÜİK 2024 average household consumption 45,344 TRY/mo ÷ 3.1 persons = 14,627 TRY/capita (2024). Housing (26.0%) split ~70% rent (excluded) / ~30% utilities (kept), matching the peer basis. Excl-rent per-capita uplifted to mid-2026 by TÜİK CPI ×1.7534 and converted at 46.65 TRY/USD (TCMB 2026-07-02) → ≈$450.
- Notes
- WARNING — lira volatility: with ~32% annual inflation and a constantly repricing FX rate, this USD figure carries a ±15–20% band and shifts month to month; the TRY has appreciated in real terms since 2024, so Türkiye's USD cost of living has been RISING even as it stays below EU peers. All-household per-capita basis; Istanbul/İzmir run above the national figure.
Thessaloniki
$766/mo
ELSTAT — Household Budget Survey 2023
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- ELSTAT HBS 2023: average annual expenditure per person = €8,358.24 = €696.52/month (monetary purchases, excludes imputed owner rent). Subtracted the actual-rent component (~€24.6/person) → €671.9/person excl. rent × 1.1399 = $766. Same low-reading per-capita HBS basis as peers.
- Notes
- Greek monetary household consumption is genuinely depressed (ELSTAT reports it ~20.5% below 2008), so the per-capita figure lands near Czechia despite Greece feeling pricier in tourist zones. Rent shown separately.
04Climate comfort
İzmir
5/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (İzmir Bölge WMO 17220)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Sep 4, 2026
- Method
- Months with mean daily max 15–28°C AND precipitation < 150 mm: Mar (17.2°C), Apr (21.3), May (26.5), Oct (24.6), Nov (18.8) = 5. June to September (31.3–33.8°C) exceed the 28°C heat ceiling; January (12.7), February (14.0) and December (14.0) fall below the 15°C floor. No month fails on rain — the wettest, January at 127.5 mm, stays under the 150 mm cap, so İzmir loses months only to temperature.
- Notes
- September misses by 1.5°C (29.5°C) and is in practice one of the better months, warm and almost dry; a reader weighting heat differently would count six. The scoring rule is applied unchanged here so the number stays comparable with the other cities, but the near-miss is worth knowing.
Thessaloniki
5/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (Climates to Travel 1991–2020, Thessaloniki airport)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Months with mean daily max 15–28°C AND precipitation < 150mm: Apr (19.4), May (25.0), Sep (27.3), Oct (21.6), Nov (15.8) = 5. Excluded: Jan/Feb/Dec and Mar (14.9°C, just below 15) for cold; Jun–Aug (30.0–32.3°C) for heat. All months satisfy the precip test (max 50 mm). Thessaloniki's colder winters knock out March, while its milder September qualifies.
03
The full comparison
Open any fact to see what it measures, how fresh it is and the complete source trail for both cities.
01
Taxes
CriterionİzmirThessaloniki
01+−Freelancer tax burden% effective burden at €60k/year self-employed profileİzmirstronger4.4Thessaloniki30.9
What this measures
Effective total burden (income tax + mandatory social and health contributions) for a solo IT freelancer with €60,000/year revenue and 10% deductible expenses, using the most favourable eligible scheme in the country's tax-schemes data. Computed by the SettleMetric tax engine; recorded as a curated value with the winning scheme id in method.
Lower is better· % effective burden at €60k/year self-employed profile· re-verified every 365 days
İzmir
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 (~3,193,644 TL) for an IT freelancer serving FOREIGN clients (scheme tr-freelancer-export): the 100% service-export income deduction (raised from 80% for 2026) zeroes the income tax; only the fixed minimum Bağ-Kur social premium (11,808.23 TL/month = 141,699/yr) is due. Burden = 141,699 / 3,193,644 = 4.4%. Serving Turkish clients instead (no export deduction) runs ~31–33% (progressive + Bağ-Kur).
Thessaloniki
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Law 5246/2025 income-tax scale + e-EFKA Class 1)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Standard freelancer scheme at €60,000, single (scheme gr-freelancer-standard): EFKA Class 1 = 3,006/yr (deductible); income tax on 56,994 via the 2026 scale (9/20/26/34/39%) = 15,528. Levies 18,534 → 30.9%. NOTE: a relocating new tax resident gets the 50% income-tax exemption (Article 5C, scheme gr-freelancer-newresident-50) for 7 years, cutting this to ≈13.5% — but the 30.9% standard figure is the unconditional, steady-state burden shown as the headline.
02
Legalization
CriterionİzmirThessaloniki
01+−Remote-work legalization easeİzmirDedicated nomad visaThessalonikiDedicated nomad visa
What this measures
Best available legalization route for a location-independent earner with a median (non-EU, non-US) passport, classified from this country's legalization-paths data: dedicated digital-nomad visa; general freelance/self-employment permit; realistic long-stay path (e.g. renewable temporary residence); only short visa-free/tourist stays; effectively none.
Rated by category· re-verified every 180 days
İzmir
GoTürkiye (official) — Digital Nomad Visa program
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Türkiye runs a dedicated digital-nomad route on the government GoTürkiye platform (Digital Nomad Identification Certificate → visa → short-term residence), for degree-holding remote workers aged 21–55 earning ≥ $3,000/month from abroad. A short-term residence permit (ikamet) is the general fallback. Combined with the 100% service-export tax deduction it is a strong, low-tax remote-work base.
Thessaloniki
Hellenic Republic MFA — Digital Nomad Visa (Law 4825/2021)
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Greece runs a dedicated digital-nomad visa (Law 4825/2021): a 12-month visa then a 2-year residence permit for non-EU remote workers earning ≥ €3,500/month net from abroad. Paired with the 50% new-resident income-tax exemption it is one of the EU's most marketed relocation deals for mid-income freelancers, though the income bar is higher than in Albania or Bulgaria. EU citizens simply register.
03
Cost of living
CriterionİzmirThessaloniki
01+−Cost of living (single, excl. rent)USD/month, single person, excluding rentİzmirstronger450Thessaloniki766
What this measures
Monthly cost of a defined single-person basket (food, transport, utilities, mobile+internet, modest leisure) excluding rent, curated from national statistics office price data and large local retailers' published prices, converted to USD at the ECB rate recorded in fx-rates. The method field of each value itemizes the basket inputs.
Lower is better· USD/month, single person, excluding rent· re-verified every 365 days
İzmir
TÜİK — Household Consumption Expenditure 2024 (per-capita COICOP), CPI-uplifted
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- TÜİK 2024 average household consumption 45,344 TRY/mo ÷ 3.1 persons = 14,627 TRY/capita (2024). Housing (26.0%) split ~70% rent (excluded) / ~30% utilities (kept), matching the peer basis. Excl-rent per-capita uplifted to mid-2026 by TÜİK CPI ×1.7534 and converted at 46.65 TRY/USD (TCMB 2026-07-02) → ≈$450.
- Notes
- WARNING — lira volatility: with ~32% annual inflation and a constantly repricing FX rate, this USD figure carries a ±15–20% band and shifts month to month; the TRY has appreciated in real terms since 2024, so Türkiye's USD cost of living has been RISING even as it stays below EU peers. All-household per-capita basis; Istanbul/İzmir run above the national figure.
Thessaloniki
ELSTAT — Household Budget Survey 2023
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- ELSTAT HBS 2023: average annual expenditure per person = €8,358.24 = €696.52/month (monetary purchases, excludes imputed owner rent). Subtracted the actual-rent component (~€24.6/person) → €671.9/person excl. rent × 1.1399 = $766. Same low-reading per-capita HBS basis as peers.
- Notes
- Greek monetary household consumption is genuinely depressed (ELSTAT reports it ~20.5% below 2008), so the per-capita figure lands near Czechia despite Greece feeling pricier in tourist zones. Rent shown separately.
Monthly spending by category (excl. rent)
İzmir
Thessaloniki
TÜİK Household Consumption Expenditure 2024 (per-capita COICOP), CPI-uplifted
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- TÜİK 2024 per-capita monthly spend by COICOP division ÷ 3.1 per capita, ×1.7534 CPI uplift to mid-2026, ÷46.65 TRY/USD; housing shown as utilities only (~30% of the housing division, rent excluded). Sums to ≈$450. Türkiye has an unusually high transport share (21.6%), driven by fuel and vehicle costs.
ELSTAT — Household Budget Survey 2023, Table 1 (COICOP shares)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- ELSTAT HBS 2023 Table 1 per-household monthly amounts, with €59.5 rent removed from the Housing line, each divided by household size 2.42 and converted at 1.1399. Items sum to ≈$766. Housing here is utilities/energy/water/maintenance only (rent excluded); Greek energy costs are relatively high, keeping that line large.
01Food & non-alcoholic beverages
İzmircheaper
$99
Thessaloniki
$164
02Transport
İzmir
$119
Thessalonikicheaper
$104
03Restaurants, cafes & hotels
İzmir
—
Thessaloniki
$90
04Utilities, energy, water & home upkeep (excl. rent)
İzmir
—
Thessaloniki
$84
05Health (out-of-pocket)
İzmircheaper
$13
Thessaloniki
$61
06Miscellaneous goods & services
İzmir
—
Thessaloniki
$67
07Clothing & footwear
İzmircheaper
$28
Thessaloniki
$37
08Housing utilities (energy, water, maintenance) excl. rent
İzmir
$43
Thessaloniki
—
09Alcohol & tobacco
İzmircheaper
$14
Thessaloniki
$27
10Restaurants & accommodation
İzmir
$36
Thessaloniki
—
11Household durables & equipment
İzmir
—
Thessaloniki
$35
12Recreation & culture
İzmir
—
Thessaloniki
$35
13Communications
İzmir
—
Thessaloniki
$34
14Furnishings & household equipment
İzmir
$32
Thessaloniki
—
15Education
İzmir
—
Thessaloniki
$27
16Personal care & miscellaneous goods/services
İzmir
$21
Thessaloniki
—
17Information & communication
İzmir
$20
Thessaloniki
—
18Recreation, sport & culture
İzmir
$13
Thessaloniki
—
19Education services
İzmir
$9
Thessaloniki
—
20Insurance & financial services
İzmir
$4
Thessaloniki
—
Total (excl. rent)
İzmir$451/mo
Thessaloniki$765/mo
04
Housing
Rent by apartment type
Asking rent, central price with outside-centre in parentheses ($/mo).
İzmir
Thessaloniki
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 31, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 4, 2026
- Method
- Asking TRY/m²/month for all 30 İzmir districts, July 2026, read from the published table (range 138 TRY/m² in Kiraz to 510 in Urla; the source's own all-İzmir figure is 325). Center anchor = mean of the four central urban districts Karşıyaka 358, Balçova 347, Konak 336 and Bornova 322 = 340.75 → 341 TRY/m². Outside anchor = mean of five outer districts of the same metropolitan area, Buca 298, Menemen 281, Bayraklı 269, Karabağlar 250 and Torbalı 220 = 263.6 → 264 TRY/m². Cells = TRY/m² × assumed floor areas (studio 30, 1BR 40, 2BR 60, 3BR 85 m²) ÷ 47.7748 TRY/USD, the rate implied by data/fx-rates.json of 2026-08-13 (EUR 55.1035 TRY, EUR 1.1534 USD).
- Notes
- FLAG — USD values are HIGHLY VOLATILE: Turkish rents are quoted only in TRY, the lira keeps depreciating, and İzmir asking rents rose 18.6% in TRY over the twelve months to July 2026, so the USD figure understates what a tenant's costs are doing. Two comparability caveats against this dataset's other Turkish cities. They were priced in June 2026 at 47.0098 TRY/USD, about 1.6% stronger than the rate used here. And İzmir's centre-to-outside gap is narrow at 1.29×, against Istanbul's 2.0× — the city's price gradient runs west along the coast rather than outward from the centre, which is why the province's dearest districts are not central at all: Urla (510 TRY/m²), Güzelbahçe (505) and Çeşme (464) are coastal towns 20–80 km out, and Narlıdere (416) and Çiğli (347) both price above Konak. Emlakjet publishes the Endeksa indices the other three Turkish cities cite and states that attribution on the page; endeksa.com's own site now answers automated requests with a bot challenge, which we do not bypass.
Spitogatos Price Index — Thessaloniki asking rents (Q1 2026), municipality/center vs suburban €/m²
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 31, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Spitogatos asking €/m²/month × standardized sizes (studio 30, 1br 40, 2br 60, 3br 85 m²) × 1.1399. Center = Thessaloniki municipality/central (Kentro) ~€10.4/m²; outside = suburban (Kalamaria / western suburbs) ~€8.5/m² (derived ~18% below the municipality average). E.g. 1br center = 10.4×40×1.1399 = $474.
- Notes
- DERIVED (€/m² × standardized size). The €10.4/m² center figure is the Thessaloniki-municipality average used as a central proxy (prime Kentro runs higher, ~€15/m²). Materially cheaper than Athens across all cells.
01Studio
İzmircheaper
$214$166 outside
Thessaloniki
$356$291 outside
021-bedroom
İzmircheaper
$286$221 outside
Thessaloniki
$474$388 outside
032-bedroom
İzmircheaper
$428$332 outside
Thessaloniki
$711$581 outside
043-bedroom
İzmircheaper
$607$470 outside
Thessaloniki
$1,008$824 outside
05
Safety
CriterionİzmirThessaloniki
01+−Homicide rateintentional homicides per 100,000/yearİzmir3.2Thessalonikistronger0.8
What this measures
Intentional homicide victims per 100,000 population, latest available year. Country level: UNODC national series. City level: official municipal/police statistics where published; otherwise null (country value shown as country-level).
Lower is better· intentional homicides per 100,000/year· re-verified every 730 days
İzmir
World Bank / UNODC — intentional homicides per 100,000 (Türkiye, 2023)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- UNODC series via the World Bank: 3.23 per 100,000 in 2023 (up from 2.62 in 2022; the series has gaps and swings). 2024/2025 not yet published. Türkiye is not covered by Eurostat, so cross-country comparison relies on the UNODC series. Moderate-to-higher than the European peers in the set.
Thessaloniki
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB, geo=EL)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (0.78). Very low by global standards (world average ~5.8) and down over the series (1.29 in 2008 to 0.68–0.88 recently). One of the safer countries in the set.
06
Climate
CriterionİzmirThessaloniki
01+−Climate comfortpleasant months/yearİzmir5Thessaloniki5
What this measures
Number of months whose 1991–2020 climate normals satisfy: mean daily maximum between 15°C and 28°C and monthly precipitation under 150mm. Computed from the city's climate-normals indicator; the raw normals are stored alongside so users can judge by their own taste.
Higher is better· pleasant months/year· re-verified every 3650 days
İzmir
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (İzmir Bölge WMO 17220)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Sep 4, 2026
- Method
- Months with mean daily max 15–28°C AND precipitation < 150 mm: Mar (17.2°C), Apr (21.3), May (26.5), Oct (24.6), Nov (18.8) = 5. June to September (31.3–33.8°C) exceed the 28°C heat ceiling; January (12.7), February (14.0) and December (14.0) fall below the 15°C floor. No month fails on rain — the wettest, January at 127.5 mm, stays under the 150 mm cap, so İzmir loses months only to temperature.
- Notes
- September misses by 1.5°C (29.5°C) and is in practice one of the better months, warm and almost dry; a reader weighting heat differently would count six. The scoring rule is applied unchanged here so the number stays comparable with the other cities, but the near-miss is worth knowing.
Thessaloniki
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (Climates to Travel 1991–2020, Thessaloniki airport)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Months with mean daily max 15–28°C AND precipitation < 150mm: Apr (19.4), May (25.0), Sep (27.3), Oct (21.6), Nov (15.8) = 5. Excluded: Jan/Feb/Dec and Mar (14.9°C, just below 15) for cold; Jun–Aug (30.0–32.3°C) for heat. All months satisfy the precip test (max 50 mm). Thessaloniki's colder winters knock out March, while its milder September qualifies.
02+−Air quality (PM2.5)µg/m³, annual mean PM2.5İzmirstronger15.9Thessaloniki16.1
What this measures
Annual mean fine-particulate (PM2.5) concentration for the city, latest available year. Anchors follow the WHO 2021 guideline (5 µg/m³ → 10) through the EU limit value territory (25 µg/m³ → 2). Preferred source: European Environment Agency city-level air quality data; outside Europe: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database or the national monitoring network.
Lower is better· µg/m³, annual mean PM2.5· re-verified every 730 days
İzmir
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 4, 2026
- Method
- Row "Izmir/TUR", year 2024, version V8.0 (2026): pm25_concentration 15.88 µg/m³ at 72% temporal coverage from two stations, one urban background and one urban traffic, reported through the European Environment Agency. Latest year in the series that carries a PM2.5 value together with a coverage figure, which is the same basis as tr-ankara. The row's station centroid, 38.4282°N 27.1416°E, is about 1.5 km from this city's recorded coordinates; WHO records no population footprint for this row, so no boundary check against the province figure is possible. Full series in the same database: 2020 29.03 (16% coverage), 2021 19.76 (99%), 2022 28.39 (97%), 2023 24.22 (88%), 2024 15.88 (72%), 2025 28.55 (no coverage reported, one traffic station only).
- Notes
- READ THIS AS A LOWER BOUND, NOT A SETTLED LEVEL. The 72% temporal coverage is below the EU's 90% data-quality objective, and 15.88 is a 35% drop from the same two stations' 24.22 in 2023 and barely half the partial 2025 reading of 28.55 — a swing far larger than air quality plausibly moves in a year, and the signature of missing days rather than cleaner air. Turkish PM2.5 peaks in the winter heating season, so a year short by roughly a hundred days may well be short of the dirtiest ones. On the published number İzmir is about 3.2× the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³, sits between Istanbul (15.3, a different source) and Antalya (17.89), and is worse than Ankara (14.02); do not conclude from these four numbers alone that İzmir's air is better than Ankara's. The 2025 row is deliberately not used — it is a partial year with no coverage figure resting on a single traffic station, the same reason tr-ankara skips its own 2025 row.
Thessaloniki
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row Thessaloniki/GRC, year 2024, of the WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026), read from the published spreadsheet on 2026-08-28: pm25_concentration = 16.11 µg/m³ at 96% temporal coverage over 6 stations (four urban traffic, one urban background and one urban industrial), reference "European Environmental Agency", WHO footprint population 315,196. Reference year 2024 — the latest year this database carries a full-year PM2.5 figure for this city, and the year already used by the other European cities in this dataset. The database also holds a later row for this city — 2025 reads 15.82 µg/m³ but at 81% coverage, below the EU's 90% data-quality objective — so it is reported in notes rather than used. Identity checked against the row's own station centroid, which lies 0.9 km from this city's recorded coordinates — the file contains near-miss names such as "Playa Del Ingles/ESP" and "Porto Empedocle/ITA", so the check is not a formality.
- Notes
- Four of the six stations are urban traffic, which biases the mean upward relative to where people live — the comparable cities in this dataset are mostly background-weighted, so Thessaloniki is flattered by nothing here. The direction of travel is clear and steady: 20.43 µg/m³ in 2021 down to 16.11 in 2024. Preceding years in the same series: 2020 19.05 (96%), 2021 20.43 (88%), 2022 18.71 (94%), 2023 17.77 (93%).
07
Healthcare
CriterionİzmirThessaloniki
01+−Private healthcare costUSD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-oldİzmirstronger860Thessaloniki1,368
What this measures
Median of at least three publicly quoted annual premiums for comprehensive private medical insurance (outpatient + inpatient, ~$100k coverage, small deductible) for a healthy 35-year-old resident foreigner, from local and international insurers. Method field lists the insurers quoted.
Lower is better· USD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-old· re-verified every 365 days
İzmir
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Comprehensive standalone private health insurance (outpatient + inpatient private-hospital cover) for a healthy 35-year-old runs ~25,000–100,000 TRY/yr depending on the contracted hospital network; a mid-tier plan sits near ~40,000 TRY/yr ≈ $860 at 46.65 TRY/USD. Band ≈ $540–$2,140.
- Notes
- Two-tier context: residents with a work/residence basis are covered by mandatory public insurance (SGK); on top, Turks commonly buy complementary insurance (~5,000–20,000 TRY/yr) working with SGK at private hospitals, or full standalone private cover (this figure). The cheap mandatory foreigner residence-permit policy (~$32–130/yr) is minimal cover, not comparable. Private cover is cheap in USD because of the weak lira; TRY premiums rise 50–80%/yr, so this is a volatile curated midpoint.
Thessaloniki
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Midpoint of local comprehensive (inpatient + outpatient) annual premiums for a healthy 35-year-old, €600–1,800 from major Greek insurers (mid-range €100–180/month) → ~€1,200/yr × 1.1399 = $1,368.
- Notes
- Public cover exists via EOPYY (funded through EFKA contributions), but waiting lists and gaps drive a large private market. Local plans run cheaper than international/expat plans ($2,000–4,000+/yr). Greek insurers raised premiums ~14% in 2025 — a rising curated midpoint, not a firm quote.
08
Money & crypto
CriterionİzmirThessaloniki
01+−Crypto regulationİzmirLegal regulatedThessalonikiLegal regulated
What this measures
Own classification of the legal status of holding, trading and cashing out cryptocurrency for individuals: legal-friendly (legal with clear, favourable rules or explicit tax exemptions), legal-regulated (legal under standard licensing/AML and taxation), restricted (partial bans: payments or banking access prohibited), banned (holding/trading prohibited). Classified from national regulators' and central banks' official positions.
Rated by category· re-verified every 180 days
İzmir
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 2, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Trading, holding and exchanging crypto are legal and very popular, but PAYING with crypto is BANNED (CBRT regulation in force 30 April 2021). Law No. 7518 (in force from 2 July 2024) put crypto-asset service providers under the Capital Markets Board (SPK): mandatory licensing, custody duties and minimum capital; offshore platforms targeting residents and crypto ATMs had to wind down. Classified 'legal-regulated' — trading legal and now formally supervised, payments prohibited.
Thessaloniki
Official source
- Data as of
- Apr 10, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- EU MiCA applies and was transposed by Law 5193/2025 (10 April 2025), with CASP licensing and EU passporting, supervised by HCMC and the Bank of Greece. Individual crypto capital gains are taxed at a flat 15% (from 1 Jan 2025), with a €500 annual tax-free threshold and 5-year loss carry-forward. Fully legal and now clearly regulated/taxed rather than a grey area.
02+−Financial control levelİzmirModerateThessalonikiModerate
What this measures
Own composite of state control over personal money flows: currency/capital controls (IMF AREAER), restrictions on foreign accounts and transfers, mandatory income declaration scope for residents, cash payment limits, banking access for foreigners. Low = free movement of personal funds and easy non-resident banking; very-high = strict capital controls and pervasive reporting. Method field on each value lists the inputs used.
Rated by category· re-verified every 365 days
İzmir
Revenue Administration (GİB) — cash-payment documentation (tevsik) limit; CBRT crypto-payment ban
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Composite: the lira is freely convertible and residents may hold foreign-currency deposits/accounts and move money abroad — no hard individual capital controls. But the state exerts more control than EU peers: payments above 30,000 TRY (~$640) must be routed through banks/cards (tevsik rule); crypto payments are banned; the authorities intervene actively in the FX market and use reserve/macroprudential measures; and import de-minimis is low with high duties. Freely convertible but with a low cash-through-bank threshold and several controls → 'moderate' (stricter end).
- Notes
- High inflation erodes money in practice but is not a legal control. Day-to-day banking, FX purchase and transfers are unrestricted for an individual; the frictions are the low cash-routing threshold, the crypto-payment ban and occasional FX intervention.
Thessaloniki
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Composite: EUR (eurozone), full EU free movement of capital; the 2015 crisis-era capital controls were fully lifted on 1 September 2019, so funds move abroad without restriction. Offsetting this: Greece has the STRICTEST cash-payment cap in the EU (€500 for consumer transactions; breaches fined at double the amount) plus routine AML/CASP reporting. The open capital account alone reads 'low', but the €500 everyday-cash restriction pulls the composite up to 'moderate'.
- Notes
- A 2025–26 proposal to cut the cap to €200 was withdrawn; the €500 limit remains.
09
Infrastructure
CriterionİzmirThessaloniki
01+−Domestic delivery qualityİzmirGoodThessalonikiGood
What this measures
Quality of in-country parcel delivery. excellent = nationwide next-day widely available, dense parcel-locker network, real-time tracking standard; good = 1–3 day delivery, lockers in major cities; basic = reliable but slow (3–7 days), mostly to-door or post-office pickup; poor = unreliable delivery, street addresses often unusable, informal workarounds common. Classified from official service/coverage data of the national postal operator and the two largest private carriers; inputs itemized in each value's method field.
Rated by category· re-verified every 730 days
İzmir
Turkish carrier ecosystem — PTT + Yurtiçi/Aras/MNG/Sürat/Sendeo/HepsiJET/Trendyol Express
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Dense, competitive domestic courier market on the back of a huge e-commerce sector (Trendyol, Hepsiburada): PTT Kargo plus Yurtiçi, Aras, MNG, Sürat, Sendeo, HepsiJET and Trendyol Express give nationwide next-day/2-day coverage; same/next-day is normal in the big metros. Cash-on-delivery ('kapıda ödeme') is ubiquitous. Parcel-locker density is growing but below the locker-saturated benchmark, so rated 'good' rather than 'excellent'.
Thessaloniki
Greek carrier networks (ELTA, ACS, BoxNow) — composite
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Dense mainland-city coverage: national couriers (ELTA post, ACS, Geniki Taxydromiki, Speedex) plus one of SE Europe's largest parcel-locker networks (BoxNow) and Skroutz Last Mile; cash-on-delivery ('αντικαταβολή') is mainstream. Athens/Thessaloniki are excellent, but ELTA's financial troubles and ferry-dependent island last-mile keep the national rating at 'good' rather than 'excellent'.
02+−International delivery easeİzmirSignificant frictionThessalonikistrongerSeamless
What this measures
Ease of receiving goods from abroad. seamless = major international carriers deliver door-to-door, meaningful duty-free de-minimis threshold, customs clearance predictable in days; minor-friction = carriers present but low de-minimis, extra paperwork or routine delays; significant-friction = frequent customs holds, high brokerage fees, some marketplaces refuse to ship; unreliable = parcels regularly lost or blocked, informal import channels dominate. De-minimis thresholds and clearance rules from the national customs authority (official source, cite the regulation); carrier presence from carriers' official pages.
Rated by category· re-verified every 365 days
İzmir
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Cross-border inbound shipping faces heavy friction. The duty-free de-minimis was cut from €150 to €30 (in force 21 Aug 2024) and effectively ~€27 with shipping (Dec 2024); parcels are hit with a single flat customs charge of 30% of value for EU-origin goods and 60% for non-EU (plus special consumption tax where relevant). Non-EU customs clearance plus these high duties make ordering from abroad slow and expensive → 'significant-friction'. Domestic and outbound are unaffected.
Thessaloniki
EU single market / customs union membership (Greece) + integrator coverage
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Qualitative rating from EU membership: as an EU/Schengen customs-union member, intra-EU parcels move without customs or border VAT, so the bulk of European e-commerce is frictionless, and all major integrators (DHL, FedEx, UPS, ACS/Aramex) operate → 'seamless'. Minor caveats (not enough to downgrade): Greece is geographically peripheral (a day or two longer than core-EU hubs), non-EU imports clear customs normally, and island delivery adds domestic delay.
- Notes
- Intra-EU frictionless; the geographic periphery and islands add some transit time but not customs friction.
03+−Internet speedMbps, median fixed downloadİzmir12.1Thessalonikistronger37.3
What this measures
Median fixed-broadband download speed over the trailing 6 months from M-Lab NDT open data (CC0), aggregated at country or city level. Not comparable with Ookla figures (different test methodology) — do not mix sources within this criterion.
Higher is better· Mbps, median fixed download· re-verified every 365 days
İzmir
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Türkiye (Asia grouping)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for TR in 2023 = 12.09 Mbps (402,083 download tests; Türkiye is filed under M-Lab's Asia (AS) continent grouping, not EU). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below marketed figures — Turkish fibre commonly markets 100–1000 Mbps — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- The single-stream M-Lab median is low (and the lowest in the set) but reflects a consistent cross-country method, not real fibre-line speeds; Turkish fixed broadband is much faster in practice.
Thessaloniki
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Greece
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for GR in 2023 = 37.3 Mbps (268,076 download tests; daily medians ranged 21.3–47.3). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads below Ookla-style tests — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- Greece's fixed broadband is improving as fibre rolls out; the single-stream M-Lab median is used only for cross-country comparability on one consistent method.
10
Language
CriterionİzmirThessaloniki
01+−English proficiencyİzmirLowThessalonikistrongerHigh
What this measures
Own banding of how far English gets a resident in daily life (government offices, healthcare, housing, services). Informed by EF EPI band (research source, cited with attribution, not republished) plus official language status and service-sector realities. Values are our bands, not EF scores.
Rated by category· re-verified every 730 days
İzmir
EF EPI 2025 — Türkiye (rank 71/123, score 488, Low band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Türkiye rank 71/123, score 488 (Low band, cutoff 450–499), a 9-point decline from the prior edition. English is workable in Istanbul/tourism and parts of the tech sector but thin in public offices and smaller cities; Turkish is the sole official language. The lowest English band in the set.
Thessaloniki
EF EPI 2025 — Greece (score 592, rank 20/123, High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Greece scores 592, rank 20/123 — top of the 'High' band, just below the 'Very High' threshold (~600); global average 488. English is widely functional in tourism, services and among younger Greeks, though the score slipped 10 points from the prior edition.
11
Education
CriterionİzmirThessaloniki
01+−International schoolsaccredited international schools, countİzmirstronger4Thessaloniki2
What this measures
Count of international schools in the metro area accredited by or member of IB, CIS, COBIS, or an equivalent national-curriculum-abroad body (verified against the accreditor's public registry, not aggregator sites).
Higher is better· accredited international schools, count· re-verified every 730 days
İzmir
IB (ibo.org) Find an IB World School registry — per-school verification for İzmir
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Sep 4, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 4, 2026
- Method
- Verified floor of 4 IB World Schools in İzmir province, each confirmed on its own current ibo.org profile on 2026-09-04: (1) American Collegiate Institute / Özel İzmir Amerikan Koleji, code 002560, IB school since 2005-11-02, Konak; (2) MEF International School İzmir, code 002731, since 2022-05-26, Gaziemir; (3) Deutsche Schule Izmir, code 049477, since 2016-03-23, Urla; (4) Işıkkent Anadolu Lisesi, code 049989, IB school since 2014-04-08 with the Diploma Programme authorised 2018-05-07, Bornova. Same accreditor and same conservative basis as tr-istanbul (12), tr-ankara (8) and tr-antalya (2).
- Notes
- Conservative IB-only FLOOR, and a floor arrived at by verifying named schools rather than by querying the registry: ibo.org still answers its school-finder search with a bot challenge, so an exhaustive İzmir list cannot be pulled and schools we did not think to name would not appear here. Individual /en/school/{code} profiles are readable again on the apex host, which is how all four were confirmed. Schools holding Cambridge, CIS or COBIS accreditation without IB are excluded, so the true provision is higher. One boundary caveat: Deutsche Schule Izmir is in Urla, about 35 km west of the city centre — inside İzmir province and its metropolitan municipality, but not a school a family living in Konak would commute to. On three, İzmir would still be far behind Istanbul and Ankara.
Thessaloniki
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 15, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 15, 2026
- Method
- Accreditor-verified: (1) Pinewood — The International School of Thessaloniki (IB World School, PYP/MYP/DP; also Middle States Association-accredited, US State Dept-recognized); (2) Anatolia College (IB DP-authorized since 1997). Pinewood and Anatolia jointly deliver one IBDP but are two distinct IB-authorized institutions = 2.
- Notes
- Verified FLOOR (±1). Greece has 22 IB World Schools nationally, ~14 in Athens. Additional IB or other-accreditor schools may exist in the wider Thessaloniki area; 2 is a conservative floor.