CITY / CITYVerified city comparison
LondonvsParis.
London is stronger on 5 of 8 headline facts; Paris on 1. Cost of living (single, excl. rent): London $1,691/mo, Paris $1,816/mo. Freelancer tax burden: London 17%, Paris 34.1%. Climate comfort: London 7/12 mo, Paris 7/12 mo.
VerifiedUpdated
14 compared criteria · 30 sources · country-level facts are clearly inherited
gb / fr · 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
London leads on 5 of 8
London
5
Paris
1
01Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Londonstronger
$1,691/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Built from the Living Costs and Food Survey column for NON-RETIRED ONE-PERSON HOUSEHOLDS (4.95 million of them), the closest published match to this criterion’s single-person profile. Total expenditure across COICOP divisions 1–12 is £378.90 a week. Removed: net rent £66.60 and maintenance and repair of the dwelling £10.10, both from workbook 5 table 2.7 for the same household type, since rent is excluded by definition and repairs fall on the landlord for a renter. Water, energy and service charges stay in. Health and education are also removed because the ONS does not publish them separately for this household type (they account for £13.00 a week of the total), so the basket sums exactly to its published parts. Remainder £289.20 a week x 52/12 = £1,253.20 a month, at the 2026-08-13 ECB cross-rate of 1 GBP = 1.349164 USD = $1691.
- Notes
- Measured spending by people who actually live alone in the UK, not a priced shopping list, so it reflects British habits: transport is the single largest line at $317 a month, ahead of food. Excludes health and education, which understates by about 4%. It is a UK average — London runs well above it and the north of England below.
Paris
$1,816/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- INSEE national-accounts household final consumption by COICOP, 2024. Functions sum to €1,543.8B on-territory; subtract housing rentals (actual €77.0B + imputed €220.7B = €297.7B) → €1,246.1B non-rent. Per-capita on the household basis (to match peers): ÷ 31.377M households (Jan 2024) ÷ avg size 2.14 ÷ 12 = €1,546/capita/mo (2024). CPI-uplift mid-2024→mid-2026 ×1.030 = €1,593/mo. ×1.1399 USD/EUR = $1,816/mo. Per-capita basis to match Czechia/Spain/Austria; a lone single-person household spends materially more.
02Freelancer tax burden
Londonstronger
17%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Apr 6, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Scheme gb-sole-trader at €60,000 revenue with 10% expenses, converted at the 2026-08-13 ECB reference rate (1 EUR = 0.8549 GBP) to £51,294 of revenue and £46,164.60 of profit. Income Tax on profit above the £12,570 Personal Allowance: £33,594.60 entirely within the 20% basic-rate band = £6,718.92. Class 4 National Insurance on the same £33,594.60 at 6% = £2,015.68. Class 2 is voluntary from 2024-25 and costs nothing at this profit. Total £8,734.60 of £51,294 = 17.03%. The limited-company route was computed on the same profile and came out worse at 19.6%, and the Scottish sole trader at 19.3%, so the plain English/Welsh/Northern Irish sole trader is the most favourable eligible scheme.
- Notes
- Unusually LOW for a high-income European country, and the reason is National Insurance rather than income tax: a self-employed person pays 6% on profit in the basic-rate band and 2% above it, with no employer-side charge and no separate health contribution because the NHS is funded from general taxation. An employee on the same money pays 8% plus 15% from the employer. The figure rises steeply above £50,270, where the 40% higher rate starts, and there is a 60% marginal band between £100,000 and £125,140 where the Personal Allowance is withdrawn.
Paris
34.1%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 turnover, single (1 part) = micro-entrepreneur (micro-BNC, scheme fr-micro-bnc): micro-social 25.6% = 15,360; CFP 0.2% = 120; income tax on 66% of turnover (34% allowance) = 39,600 → 11%/30% bands = 4,984. Levies 20,464 → 34.1%. The versement libératoire (28% flat) is blocked at €60k by the RFR cap; a SASU all-dividend chain runs ≈43.7%.
03Homicide rate
Londonstronger
0.85/100k
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- UNODC records the UK as three separate jurisdictions, so the national rate is built from all three: England and Wales 522 victims, Scotland 45, Northern Ireland 19 = 586, against the ONS mid-2024 UK population of 69,281,400 = 0.846 per 100,000. Read from the UNODC bulk file dated 12 July 2026. One timing detail: UNODC’s "2024" for England and Wales is the year ending March 2025, which is the 522 figure ONS itself published as the lowest number since the year to March 2015 and the lowest rate since 1977.
- Notes
- Among the lowest in the dataset and about a sixth of the United States rate. Knife crime, not firearms, drives the English and Welsh figure. The three jurisdictions are close to each other: 0.93, 1.04 and 0.52 per 100,000 respectively on UNODC’s own 2023 rates.
Paris
1.28/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (value 1.28; 2023 was 1.30). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29; cross-checked against decoding the full crim_off_cat matrix. Moderate by European standards — above the safest EU states (Austria 0.85) but well below the global average.
04Climate comfort
London
7/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (Met Office 1991–2020, Greenwich, Observatory)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Months with a mean daily maximum of 15–28 °C and under 150 mm of rain, counted from this city’s climate-normals row. Every month of every one of the five UK cities passes the rainfall test, so in Britain this criterion is purely a temperature count. Qualifying: Apr (15.3), May (18.6), Jun (21.4), Jul (23.8), Aug (23.3), Sep (20.3), Oct (15.8). Excluded for cold: Jan (8.5), Feb (9.2), Mar (12.1), Nov (11.6), Dec (8.8).
Paris
7/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (Météo-France Paris-Montsouris 1991–2020)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Count of months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm: Apr (16.6), May (20.2), Jun (23.4), Jul (25.7), Aug (25.6), Sep (21.5), Oct (16.5) = 7. Nov (11.1°C) and Mar (12.8°C) miss on temperature; no month is excluded on rainfall (Paris is evenly, moderately wet year-round).
05Internet speed
London
49 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for the United Kingdom
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 2023 daily country medians over 344 days and 32,367,951 tests. Monthly medians ran 46.9–50.3 Mbps with no seasonal pattern. 2023 is the last complete year M-Lab publishes for the UK — the 2024 file stops on 26 March — and it is the year the other countries in this dataset are measured on.
- Notes
- M-Lab measures what a browser-based test achieves end to end, which reads well below the line speeds advertised by UK ISPs and below Ofcom’s own connection-based figures. It is used across this dataset because it is the only free, licence-clean source measured the same way everywhere, so compare it with other countries here rather than with a national regulator’s number.
Parisstronger
51 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for France
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 344 daily country-median download values for FR in 2023 (~10.47M download tests; daily medians ranged 24.9–61.1 Mbps). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style or advertised figures (French fibre commonly markets 300–1000+ Mbps) — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- France has extensive FTTH fibre coverage; the M-Lab single-stream median understates real-world line speeds and is used only for cross-country comparability on one consistent method.
06English proficiency
Londonstronger
Native
GOV.UK — English language requirements for visas and settlement
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Notes
- English is the national language and the language of government, courts, healthcare and business throughout the United Kingdom. Welsh has equal official standing in Wales and Scottish Gaelic and Irish have recognised status, but no part of the UK requires anything other than English of a resident. The direction of the requirement runs the other way here: most work and settlement visas require the APPLICANT to prove English at B1 or higher.
Paris
Moderate
EF EPI 2025 — France (score 539, rank 38/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): France score 539, global rank 38, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), up 11 places and +15 points vs 2024. English is workable in Paris tech/expat circles and tourism-facing Côte d'Azur, but French is essential for administration, most workplaces, and daily life — France sits below the very-high Northern-European tier.
07Private healthcare cost
London
no verified data
Paris
$821/yr
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- France has universal public health cover (Assurance Maladie, ~70% reimbursement) topped up by a COMPLEMENTARY private 'mutuelle santé' — supplementary, not full-replacement. Mutuelle pricing is age-banded, not health-rated. Market data (goodassur, 48,082 individual quotes, July 2026): age 25–34 avg €68.98/mo, 35–44 avg €90.68/mo; a mid-market intermediate plan for a healthy 35-year-old ≈ €60/mo = €720/yr → $821/yr at 1.1399. Range ≈ €35/mo ($479/yr) to ≈ €90/mo ($1,231/yr).
- Notes
- A supplementary top-up on the mandatory public system, not a full private replacement policy (like Austria's Sonderklasse). ~95%+ of residents carry a mutuelle; employees usually get a subsidised group contract (employer pays ≥50%), so this individually-purchased premium is the situation of a freelancer/self-employed person. Mid-market monthly range ≈ €50–70.
08Air quality (PM2.5)
Londonstronger
8.6 µg/m³
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Mean of the 5 Defra urban background stations in this city that met a 90% annual data-capture threshold in 2025: London Bloomsbury (8.86 µg/m³, 100% data capture); London Hillingdon (9.39 µg/m³, 96% data capture); London Honor Oak Park (8.07 µg/m³, 99% data capture); London N. Kensington (8.63 µg/m³, 100% data capture); London Teddington Bushy Park (8.09 µg/m³, 99% data capture). Roadside and kerbside stations (table 2.1a) are excluded, so this is background exposure rather than a network mean including traffic sites. Preceding years on the same station set: 2021 8.52, 2022 8.47, 2023 7.67, 2024 7.12.
- Notes
- Five qualifying urban background stations spread across the city, from Bloomsbury in the centre to Teddington in the south-west, which makes this the best-supported PM2.5 figure of the five UK cities.
Paris
10 µg/m³
Airparif — Bilan de la qualité de l'air à Paris 2023 (PM2.5, fond urbain)
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Airparif's 2023 Paris bilan reports urban-background (fond urbain) PM2.5 homogeneous across Paris at 10 µg/m³ (roadside 10–14). The 2024 regional bilan (published 2025) shows background falling to 7–10 µg/m³ across the agglomeration, so the current Paris value is at or just under 10.
- Notes
- About 2× the WHO 2021 annual guideline (5 µg/m³) but well under the current EU annual limit (25 µg/m³). It is at the stricter EU limit taking effect in 2030 (10 µg/m³). Urban-background levels have dropped over 35% across 2015–2024.
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.
London fits better — 3 of 5
01Freelancer tax burden
Londonstronger
17%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Apr 6, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Scheme gb-sole-trader at €60,000 revenue with 10% expenses, converted at the 2026-08-13 ECB reference rate (1 EUR = 0.8549 GBP) to £51,294 of revenue and £46,164.60 of profit. Income Tax on profit above the £12,570 Personal Allowance: £33,594.60 entirely within the 20% basic-rate band = £6,718.92. Class 4 National Insurance on the same £33,594.60 at 6% = £2,015.68. Class 2 is voluntary from 2024-25 and costs nothing at this profit. Total £8,734.60 of £51,294 = 17.03%. The limited-company route was computed on the same profile and came out worse at 19.6%, and the Scottish sole trader at 19.3%, so the plain English/Welsh/Northern Irish sole trader is the most favourable eligible scheme.
- Notes
- Unusually LOW for a high-income European country, and the reason is National Insurance rather than income tax: a self-employed person pays 6% on profit in the basic-rate band and 2% above it, with no employer-side charge and no separate health contribution because the NHS is funded from general taxation. An employee on the same money pays 8% plus 15% from the employer. The figure rises steeply above £50,270, where the 40% higher rate starts, and there is a 60% marginal band between £100,000 and £125,140 where the Personal Allowance is withdrawn.
Paris
34.1%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 turnover, single (1 part) = micro-entrepreneur (micro-BNC, scheme fr-micro-bnc): micro-social 25.6% = 15,360; CFP 0.2% = 120; income tax on 66% of turnover (34% allowance) = 39,600 → 11%/30% bands = 4,984. Levies 20,464 → 34.1%. The versement libératoire (28% flat) is blocked at €60k by the RFR cap; a SASU all-dividend chain runs ≈43.7%.
02Internet speed
London
49 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for the United Kingdom
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 2023 daily country medians over 344 days and 32,367,951 tests. Monthly medians ran 46.9–50.3 Mbps with no seasonal pattern. 2023 is the last complete year M-Lab publishes for the UK — the 2024 file stops on 26 March — and it is the year the other countries in this dataset are measured on.
- Notes
- M-Lab measures what a browser-based test achieves end to end, which reads well below the line speeds advertised by UK ISPs and below Ofcom’s own connection-based figures. It is used across this dataset because it is the only free, licence-clean source measured the same way everywhere, so compare it with other countries here rather than with a national regulator’s number.
Parisstronger
51 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for France
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 344 daily country-median download values for FR in 2023 (~10.47M download tests; daily medians ranged 24.9–61.1 Mbps). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style or advertised figures (French fibre commonly markets 300–1000+ Mbps) — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- France has extensive FTTH fibre coverage; the M-Lab single-stream median understates real-world line speeds and is used only for cross-country comparability on one consistent method.
03English proficiency
Londonstronger
Native
GOV.UK — English language requirements for visas and settlement
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Notes
- English is the national language and the language of government, courts, healthcare and business throughout the United Kingdom. Welsh has equal official standing in Wales and Scottish Gaelic and Irish have recognised status, but no part of the UK requires anything other than English of a resident. The direction of the requirement runs the other way here: most work and settlement visas require the APPLICANT to prove English at B1 or higher.
Paris
Moderate
EF EPI 2025 — France (score 539, rank 38/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): France score 539, global rank 38, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), up 11 places and +15 points vs 2024. English is workable in Paris tech/expat circles and tourism-facing Côte d'Azur, but French is essential for administration, most workplaces, and daily life — France sits below the very-high Northern-European tier.
04Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Londonstronger
$1,691/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Built from the Living Costs and Food Survey column for NON-RETIRED ONE-PERSON HOUSEHOLDS (4.95 million of them), the closest published match to this criterion’s single-person profile. Total expenditure across COICOP divisions 1–12 is £378.90 a week. Removed: net rent £66.60 and maintenance and repair of the dwelling £10.10, both from workbook 5 table 2.7 for the same household type, since rent is excluded by definition and repairs fall on the landlord for a renter. Water, energy and service charges stay in. Health and education are also removed because the ONS does not publish them separately for this household type (they account for £13.00 a week of the total), so the basket sums exactly to its published parts. Remainder £289.20 a week x 52/12 = £1,253.20 a month, at the 2026-08-13 ECB cross-rate of 1 GBP = 1.349164 USD = $1691.
- Notes
- Measured spending by people who actually live alone in the UK, not a priced shopping list, so it reflects British habits: transport is the single largest line at $317 a month, ahead of food. Excludes health and education, which understates by about 4%. It is a UK average — London runs well above it and the north of England below.
Paris
$1,816/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- INSEE national-accounts household final consumption by COICOP, 2024. Functions sum to €1,543.8B on-territory; subtract housing rentals (actual €77.0B + imputed €220.7B = €297.7B) → €1,246.1B non-rent. Per-capita on the household basis (to match peers): ÷ 31.377M households (Jan 2024) ÷ avg size 2.14 ÷ 12 = €1,546/capita/mo (2024). CPI-uplift mid-2024→mid-2026 ×1.030 = €1,593/mo. ×1.1399 USD/EUR = $1,816/mo. Per-capita basis to match Czechia/Spain/Austria; a lone single-person household spends materially more.
05Domestic delivery quality
London
Good
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 22, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Inputs: Royal Mail must deliver to every UK address at a uniform price. First Class letters keep a six-day-a-week next-working-day service, but Ofcom cut the headline target from 93% to 90% delivered next day in its 2025 reform, with 99% within three working days. Second Class was cut from six days a week to alternate weekdays, delivered within three working days at a 95% target and 99% within five. Ofcom opened an investigation into Royal Mail’s 2025/26 delivery performance. Next-day delivery therefore exists nationwide, which is the "excellent" test, but half the letter service is now a 1–3 day product and the regulator has both lowered the bar and is investigating failure to clear it — which is the "good" band.
- Notes
- This grades the regulated postal service, which is what has an official source. The UK parcel market is much faster than the letter service and is where most people’s experience comes from, but its carrier and parcel-locker networks could not be verified here — see the delivery-methods row.
Parisstronger
Excellent
La Poste / Colissimo (Pickup) and Mondial Relay network figures
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- France has one of Europe's densest out-of-home parcel networks. Colissimo/Pickup: 26,000+ pickup points (≈17,500 relay points + ≈6,500 automatic lockers, incl. ≈4,500 24/7 Pickup Station lockers). Mondial Relay: ≈17,000 points (≈9,000 lockers + ≈8,000 relais). Plus Relais Colis, Chronopost, DPD, and La Poste home delivery ~6 days/week, with nationwide next-day/2-day standard options → 'excellent'.
Family
Relocating with a partner and school-age children.
London fits better — 3 of 5
01International schools
London
no verified data
Paris
7
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 14, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Paris-metro schools each confirmed against a named accreditor: (1) International School of Paris (16e) — IB World School, all 3 programmes; (2) École Jeannine Manuel (7e/15e) — IB World School + CIS; (3) American School of Paris (Saint-Cloud) — IB World School (DP); (4) ICS Paris International School (15e) — IB continuum PYP/MYP/DP; (5) Ermitage International School (Maisons-Laffitte) — IB World School (DP); (6) Marymount International School Paris (Neuilly-sur-Seine) — IB (PYP); (7) The British School of Paris (Croissy-sur-Seine) — UK British Schools Overseas (BSO) accreditation, COBIS, ISI-inspected. Aggregators used only to find candidates.
- Notes
- Verified FLOOR of 7 (6 IB World Schools + 1 BSO-accredited British school). Strictly intra-muros the count is 3 (ISP 16e, École Jeannine Manuel, ICS Paris 15e); Paris's international-school scene is heavily suburban (Neuilly, Saint-Cloud, Maisons-Laffitte, Croissy, Saint-Germain-en-Laye). More qualify (e.g. EIB Étoile, Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye) but were not each individually verified this cycle.
02Homicide rate
Londonstronger
0.85/100k
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- UNODC records the UK as three separate jurisdictions, so the national rate is built from all three: England and Wales 522 victims, Scotland 45, Northern Ireland 19 = 586, against the ONS mid-2024 UK population of 69,281,400 = 0.846 per 100,000. Read from the UNODC bulk file dated 12 July 2026. One timing detail: UNODC’s "2024" for England and Wales is the year ending March 2025, which is the 522 figure ONS itself published as the lowest number since the year to March 2015 and the lowest rate since 1977.
- Notes
- Among the lowest in the dataset and about a sixth of the United States rate. Knife crime, not firearms, drives the English and Welsh figure. The three jurisdictions are close to each other: 0.93, 1.04 and 0.52 per 100,000 respectively on UNODC’s own 2023 rates.
Paris
1.28/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (value 1.28; 2023 was 1.30). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29; cross-checked against decoding the full crim_off_cat matrix. Moderate by European standards — above the safest EU states (Austria 0.85) but well below the global average.
03Private healthcare cost
London
no verified data
Paris
$821/yr
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- France has universal public health cover (Assurance Maladie, ~70% reimbursement) topped up by a COMPLEMENTARY private 'mutuelle santé' — supplementary, not full-replacement. Mutuelle pricing is age-banded, not health-rated. Market data (goodassur, 48,082 individual quotes, July 2026): age 25–34 avg €68.98/mo, 35–44 avg €90.68/mo; a mid-market intermediate plan for a healthy 35-year-old ≈ €60/mo = €720/yr → $821/yr at 1.1399. Range ≈ €35/mo ($479/yr) to ≈ €90/mo ($1,231/yr).
- Notes
- A supplementary top-up on the mandatory public system, not a full private replacement policy (like Austria's Sonderklasse). ~95%+ of residents carry a mutuelle; employees usually get a subsidised group contract (employer pays ≥50%), so this individually-purchased premium is the situation of a freelancer/self-employed person. Mid-market monthly range ≈ €50–70.
04Air quality (PM2.5)
Londonstronger
8.6 µg/m³
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Mean of the 5 Defra urban background stations in this city that met a 90% annual data-capture threshold in 2025: London Bloomsbury (8.86 µg/m³, 100% data capture); London Hillingdon (9.39 µg/m³, 96% data capture); London Honor Oak Park (8.07 µg/m³, 99% data capture); London N. Kensington (8.63 µg/m³, 100% data capture); London Teddington Bushy Park (8.09 µg/m³, 99% data capture). Roadside and kerbside stations (table 2.1a) are excluded, so this is background exposure rather than a network mean including traffic sites. Preceding years on the same station set: 2021 8.52, 2022 8.47, 2023 7.67, 2024 7.12.
- Notes
- Five qualifying urban background stations spread across the city, from Bloomsbury in the centre to Teddington in the south-west, which makes this the best-supported PM2.5 figure of the five UK cities.
Paris
10 µg/m³
Airparif — Bilan de la qualité de l'air à Paris 2023 (PM2.5, fond urbain)
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Airparif's 2023 Paris bilan reports urban-background (fond urbain) PM2.5 homogeneous across Paris at 10 µg/m³ (roadside 10–14). The 2024 regional bilan (published 2025) shows background falling to 7–10 µg/m³ across the agglomeration, so the current Paris value is at or just under 10.
- Notes
- About 2× the WHO 2021 annual guideline (5 µg/m³) but well under the current EU annual limit (25 µg/m³). It is at the stricter EU limit taking effect in 2030 (10 µg/m³). Urban-background levels have dropped over 35% across 2015–2024.
05English proficiency
Londonstronger
Native
GOV.UK — English language requirements for visas and settlement
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Notes
- English is the national language and the language of government, courts, healthcare and business throughout the United Kingdom. Welsh has equal official standing in Wales and Scottish Gaelic and Irish have recognised status, but no part of the UK requires anything other than English of a resident. The direction of the requirement runs the other way here: most work and settlement visas require the APPLICANT to prove English at B1 or higher.
Paris
Moderate
EF EPI 2025 — France (score 539, rank 38/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): France score 539, global rank 38, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), up 11 places and +15 points vs 2024. English is workable in Paris tech/expat circles and tourism-facing Côte d'Azur, but French is essential for administration, most workplaces, and daily life — France sits below the very-high Northern-European tier.
Money & crypto
Optimising tax, banking and crypto rules.
London fits better — 1 of 3
01Crypto regulation
London
Legal regulated
Financial Conduct Authority — Cryptoassets
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Holding, buying and selling cryptoassets is lawful for individuals and there is no restriction on it. Businesses carrying on cryptoasset activity have had to register with the FCA under the Money Laundering Regulations since 10 January 2020, and since 8 October 2023 any firm marketing cryptoassets to UK consumers falls under the FCA financial-promotions regime regardless of where the firm is based. Gains are taxed: HMRC treats cryptoassets as property for Capital Gains Tax, and trading as taxable income.
- Notes
- Not crypto-friendly in the tax sense — there is no exemption of the kind Portugal or Germany offer on long-held holdings. Two consumer restrictions are worth knowing: the FCA has banned the sale of crypto derivatives and exchange-traded notes to retail consumers, and cryptoassets are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so an exchange failure is not underwritten.
Paris
Legal regulated
impots.gouv.fr — Plus-values sur cessions d'actifs numériques (cryptomonnaies); AMF/MiCA CASP regime
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- Legal and regulated. Capital gains on digital assets for private/occasional investors are taxed at the flat PFU — 31.4% from 1 Jan 2026 (12.8% income tax + 18.6% social levies; the social part rose from 17.2% when the 2026 Social Security law lifted CSG on capital income 9.2%→10.6%), with the option to elect the progressive scale instead (since 2023). Total annual disposals ≤ €305 are exempt. Crypto-asset service providers authorise as CASPs under the EU MiCA regulation (the former AMF 'PSAN' regime from the 2019 PACTE law), with the AMF as competent authority.
02Financial control level
London
Low
GOV.UK — Take cash in and out of the UK
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Inputs weighed: no exchange or capital controls on moving personal funds into or out of the country, and no limit on the size of a bank transfer; sterling floats freely; non-residents may open UK bank accounts subject to the banks’ own identity checks rather than a legal bar; and the only cross-border reporting duty on an individual is a declaration of cash of £10,000 or more carried in or out of Great Britain, with a penalty of up to £5,000 and seizure for failing to declare. Residents are taxed on worldwide income and must report it through Self Assessment, which is ordinary for a developed economy rather than a control on money.
- Notes
- Opening a first UK bank account without a UK address or credit history is the practical friction, not the law — it is a bank compliance problem, and it is why many new arrivals start with an e-money account.
Paris
Low
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 1, 2015
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Composite: France uses the euro, fully convertible, with EU free movement of capital and NO exchange/capital controls. The main constraint is a cash-payment cap — a French tax resident may pay at most €1,000 in cash to a professional (since Sept 2015; non-resident tourists up to €15,000); cash between private individuals is unlimited (written proof required above €1,500). The EU Anti-Money-Laundering Regulation adds an EU-wide €10,000 cash cap from 2027. Non-resident banking is available with standard KYC. These are ordinary AML measures, not capital controls → 'low'.
03Freelancer tax burden
Londonstronger
17%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Apr 6, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Scheme gb-sole-trader at €60,000 revenue with 10% expenses, converted at the 2026-08-13 ECB reference rate (1 EUR = 0.8549 GBP) to £51,294 of revenue and £46,164.60 of profit. Income Tax on profit above the £12,570 Personal Allowance: £33,594.60 entirely within the 20% basic-rate band = £6,718.92. Class 4 National Insurance on the same £33,594.60 at 6% = £2,015.68. Class 2 is voluntary from 2024-25 and costs nothing at this profit. Total £8,734.60 of £51,294 = 17.03%. The limited-company route was computed on the same profile and came out worse at 19.6%, and the Scottish sole trader at 19.3%, so the plain English/Welsh/Northern Irish sole trader is the most favourable eligible scheme.
- Notes
- Unusually LOW for a high-income European country, and the reason is National Insurance rather than income tax: a self-employed person pays 6% on profit in the basic-rate band and 2% above it, with no employer-side charge and no separate health contribution because the NHS is funded from general taxation. An employee on the same money pays 8% plus 15% from the employer. The figure rises steeply above £50,270, where the 40% higher rate starts, and there is a 60% marginal band between £100,000 and £125,140 where the Personal Allowance is withdrawn.
Paris
34.1%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 turnover, single (1 part) = micro-entrepreneur (micro-BNC, scheme fr-micro-bnc): micro-social 25.6% = 15,360; CFP 0.2% = 120; income tax on 66% of turnover (34% allowance) = 39,600 → 11%/30% bands = 4,984. Levies 20,464 → 34.1%. The versement libératoire (28% flat) is blocked at €60k by the RFR cap; a SASU all-dividend chain runs ≈43.7%.
Calm lifestyle
Prioritising safety, air, and an easy daily life.
London fits better — 3 of 4
01Homicide rate
Londonstronger
0.85/100k
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- UNODC records the UK as three separate jurisdictions, so the national rate is built from all three: England and Wales 522 victims, Scotland 45, Northern Ireland 19 = 586, against the ONS mid-2024 UK population of 69,281,400 = 0.846 per 100,000. Read from the UNODC bulk file dated 12 July 2026. One timing detail: UNODC’s "2024" for England and Wales is the year ending March 2025, which is the 522 figure ONS itself published as the lowest number since the year to March 2015 and the lowest rate since 1977.
- Notes
- Among the lowest in the dataset and about a sixth of the United States rate. Knife crime, not firearms, drives the English and Welsh figure. The three jurisdictions are close to each other: 0.93, 1.04 and 0.52 per 100,000 respectively on UNODC’s own 2023 rates.
Paris
1.28/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (value 1.28; 2023 was 1.30). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29; cross-checked against decoding the full crim_off_cat matrix. Moderate by European standards — above the safest EU states (Austria 0.85) but well below the global average.
02Air quality (PM2.5)
Londonstronger
8.6 µg/m³
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Mean of the 5 Defra urban background stations in this city that met a 90% annual data-capture threshold in 2025: London Bloomsbury (8.86 µg/m³, 100% data capture); London Hillingdon (9.39 µg/m³, 96% data capture); London Honor Oak Park (8.07 µg/m³, 99% data capture); London N. Kensington (8.63 µg/m³, 100% data capture); London Teddington Bushy Park (8.09 µg/m³, 99% data capture). Roadside and kerbside stations (table 2.1a) are excluded, so this is background exposure rather than a network mean including traffic sites. Preceding years on the same station set: 2021 8.52, 2022 8.47, 2023 7.67, 2024 7.12.
- Notes
- Five qualifying urban background stations spread across the city, from Bloomsbury in the centre to Teddington in the south-west, which makes this the best-supported PM2.5 figure of the five UK cities.
Paris
10 µg/m³
Airparif — Bilan de la qualité de l'air à Paris 2023 (PM2.5, fond urbain)
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Airparif's 2023 Paris bilan reports urban-background (fond urbain) PM2.5 homogeneous across Paris at 10 µg/m³ (roadside 10–14). The 2024 regional bilan (published 2025) shows background falling to 7–10 µg/m³ across the agglomeration, so the current Paris value is at or just under 10.
- Notes
- About 2× the WHO 2021 annual guideline (5 µg/m³) but well under the current EU annual limit (25 µg/m³). It is at the stricter EU limit taking effect in 2030 (10 µg/m³). Urban-background levels have dropped over 35% across 2015–2024.
03Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Londonstronger
$1,691/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Built from the Living Costs and Food Survey column for NON-RETIRED ONE-PERSON HOUSEHOLDS (4.95 million of them), the closest published match to this criterion’s single-person profile. Total expenditure across COICOP divisions 1–12 is £378.90 a week. Removed: net rent £66.60 and maintenance and repair of the dwelling £10.10, both from workbook 5 table 2.7 for the same household type, since rent is excluded by definition and repairs fall on the landlord for a renter. Water, energy and service charges stay in. Health and education are also removed because the ONS does not publish them separately for this household type (they account for £13.00 a week of the total), so the basket sums exactly to its published parts. Remainder £289.20 a week x 52/12 = £1,253.20 a month, at the 2026-08-13 ECB cross-rate of 1 GBP = 1.349164 USD = $1691.
- Notes
- Measured spending by people who actually live alone in the UK, not a priced shopping list, so it reflects British habits: transport is the single largest line at $317 a month, ahead of food. Excludes health and education, which understates by about 4%. It is a UK average — London runs well above it and the north of England below.
Paris
$1,816/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- INSEE national-accounts household final consumption by COICOP, 2024. Functions sum to €1,543.8B on-territory; subtract housing rentals (actual €77.0B + imputed €220.7B = €297.7B) → €1,246.1B non-rent. Per-capita on the household basis (to match peers): ÷ 31.377M households (Jan 2024) ÷ avg size 2.14 ÷ 12 = €1,546/capita/mo (2024). CPI-uplift mid-2024→mid-2026 ×1.030 = €1,593/mo. ×1.1399 USD/EUR = $1,816/mo. Per-capita basis to match Czechia/Spain/Austria; a lone single-person household spends materially more.
04Climate comfort
London
7/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (Met Office 1991–2020, Greenwich, Observatory)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Months with a mean daily maximum of 15–28 °C and under 150 mm of rain, counted from this city’s climate-normals row. Every month of every one of the five UK cities passes the rainfall test, so in Britain this criterion is purely a temperature count. Qualifying: Apr (15.3), May (18.6), Jun (21.4), Jul (23.8), Aug (23.3), Sep (20.3), Oct (15.8). Excluded for cold: Jan (8.5), Feb (9.2), Mar (12.1), Nov (11.6), Dec (8.8).
Paris
7/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (Météo-France Paris-Montsouris 1991–2020)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Count of months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm: Apr (16.6), May (20.2), Jun (23.4), Jul (25.7), Aug (25.6), Sep (21.5), Oct (16.5) = 7. Nov (11.1°C) and Mar (12.8°C) miss on temperature; no month is excluded on rainfall (Paris is evenly, moderately wet year-round).
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
CriterionLondonParis
01+−Freelancer tax burden% effective burden at €60k/year self-employed profileLondonstronger17Paris34.1
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
London
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Apr 6, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Scheme gb-sole-trader at €60,000 revenue with 10% expenses, converted at the 2026-08-13 ECB reference rate (1 EUR = 0.8549 GBP) to £51,294 of revenue and £46,164.60 of profit. Income Tax on profit above the £12,570 Personal Allowance: £33,594.60 entirely within the 20% basic-rate band = £6,718.92. Class 4 National Insurance on the same £33,594.60 at 6% = £2,015.68. Class 2 is voluntary from 2024-25 and costs nothing at this profit. Total £8,734.60 of £51,294 = 17.03%. The limited-company route was computed on the same profile and came out worse at 19.6%, and the Scottish sole trader at 19.3%, so the plain English/Welsh/Northern Irish sole trader is the most favourable eligible scheme.
- Notes
- Unusually LOW for a high-income European country, and the reason is National Insurance rather than income tax: a self-employed person pays 6% on profit in the basic-rate band and 2% above it, with no employer-side charge and no separate health contribution because the NHS is funded from general taxation. An employee on the same money pays 8% plus 15% from the employer. The figure rises steeply above £50,270, where the 40% higher rate starts, and there is a 60% marginal band between £100,000 and £125,140 where the Personal Allowance is withdrawn.
Paris
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 turnover, single (1 part) = micro-entrepreneur (micro-BNC, scheme fr-micro-bnc): micro-social 25.6% = 15,360; CFP 0.2% = 120; income tax on 66% of turnover (34% allowance) = 39,600 → 11%/30% bands = 4,984. Levies 20,464 → 34.1%. The versement libératoire (28% flat) is blocked at €60k by the RFR cap; a SASU all-dividend chain runs ≈43.7%.
02
Legalization
CriterionLondonParis
01+−Remote-work legalization easeLondonLong stay pathParisLong stay path
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
London
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Classified from this country’s legalization data. The United Kingdom has NO digital-nomad visa and no general freelance or self-employment permit — the old Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and self-employment routes are closed. What exists for someone working for themselves is the Global Talent visa: up to 5 years at a time, no sponsor, self-employment allowed, open to any nationality, and it leads to settlement after 3 or 5 years. It is not granted for being a freelancer — it requires endorsement as a leader or potential leader in academia, the arts or digital technology — so it is a realistic long-stay path rather than a freelance permit. The High Potential Individual visa also permits self-employment without a sponsor but lasts only 2–3 years, cannot be extended and does not count towards settlement.
- Notes
- Everyone else works from the UK as a visitor. Since January 2024 the Immigration Rules explicitly allow a visitor to work remotely for an overseas employer or their own overseas business, provided that is not the primary purpose of the visit — which legalises the short stay but is capped at 6 months and is not a residence route.
Paris
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 14, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- France has no dedicated digital-nomad or remote-work visa. The long-stay visitor visa (VLS-TS visiteur) forbids any professional activity, so it does not fit an actively-earning remote worker. Non-EU self-employed freelancers use the 'entrepreneur/profession libérale' long-stay visa or the Passeport Talent (for qualifying founders/investors/highly-skilled). EU/EEA/Swiss citizens work and freelance freely with no permit. Classified 'long-stay-path'.
03
Cost of living
CriterionLondonParis
01+−Cost of living (single, excl. rent)USD/month, single person, excluding rentLondonstronger1,691Paris1,816
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
London
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Built from the Living Costs and Food Survey column for NON-RETIRED ONE-PERSON HOUSEHOLDS (4.95 million of them), the closest published match to this criterion’s single-person profile. Total expenditure across COICOP divisions 1–12 is £378.90 a week. Removed: net rent £66.60 and maintenance and repair of the dwelling £10.10, both from workbook 5 table 2.7 for the same household type, since rent is excluded by definition and repairs fall on the landlord for a renter. Water, energy and service charges stay in. Health and education are also removed because the ONS does not publish them separately for this household type (they account for £13.00 a week of the total), so the basket sums exactly to its published parts. Remainder £289.20 a week x 52/12 = £1,253.20 a month, at the 2026-08-13 ECB cross-rate of 1 GBP = 1.349164 USD = $1691.
- Notes
- Measured spending by people who actually live alone in the UK, not a priced shopping list, so it reflects British habits: transport is the single largest line at $317 a month, ahead of food. Excludes health and education, which understates by about 4%. It is a UK average — London runs well above it and the north of England below.
Paris
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- INSEE national-accounts household final consumption by COICOP, 2024. Functions sum to €1,543.8B on-territory; subtract housing rentals (actual €77.0B + imputed €220.7B = €297.7B) → €1,246.1B non-rent. Per-capita on the household basis (to match peers): ÷ 31.377M households (Jan 2024) ÷ avg size 2.14 ÷ 12 = €1,546/capita/mo (2024). CPI-uplift mid-2024→mid-2026 ×1.030 = €1,593/mo. ×1.1399 USD/EUR = $1,816/mo. Per-capita basis to match Czechia/Spain/Austria; a lone single-person household spends materially more.
Monthly spending by category (excl. rent)
London
Paris
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- The COICOP divisions of the same one-person household column, each converted from £/week at 52/12 weeks a month and 1 GBP = 1.349164 USD. The housing line is division 4 less net rent and less maintenance and repair, so it is water, energy and service charges only. Health and education are not published for this household type and are therefore absent rather than estimated.
INSEE — La consommation des ménages en 2024 (Insee Première 2056, COICOP functional breakdown)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Each INSEE 2024 COICOP function (€B/yr) → per-capita USD/mo by ÷ 31.377M households ÷ 2.14 ÷ 12 then ×1.030 CPI uplift ×1.1399 FX. Housing (04) shown net of rent (actual + imputed rents excluded). Items sum ≈ $1,814 ≈ the $1,816 headline. Health is households' out-of-pocket/non-reimbursed only — France's universal Assurance Maladie plus near-universal mutuelles cover most care, so this line is structurally low.
01Transport
London
$317
Parischeaper
$283
02Restaurants & hotels
Londoncheaper
$158
Paris
$191
03Food & non-alcoholic beverages
London
—
Paris
$273
04Food & non-alcoholic drinks
London
$236
Paris
—
05Recreation & culture
London
$236
Paris
—
06Utilities (water, energy and service charges)
London
$218
Paris
—
07Housing (water, energy, maintenance — excl. rent)
London
—
Paris
$185
08Insurance & financial services
London
—
Paris
$182
09Household goods & services
London
$164
Paris
—
10Miscellaneous goods & services
London
$163
Paris
—
11Recreation, sport & culture
London
—
Paris
$158
12Other goods & services (personal care, social protection, misc.)
London
—
Paris
$138
13Clothing & footwear
Londoncheaper
$61
Paris
$65
14Communication
London
$87
Paris
—
15Health (out-of-pocket & non-reimbursed)
London
—
Paris
$85
16Furnishings & household equipment
London
—
Paris
$84
17Information & communication
London
—
Paris
$80
18Alcoholic beverages & tobacco
London
—
Paris
$74
19Alcohol & tobacco
London
$50
Paris
—
20Education
London
—
Paris
$16
Total (excl. rent)
London$1,690/mo
Paris$1,814/mo
04
Housing
Rent by apartment type
Asking rent, central price with outside-centre in parentheses ($/mo).
London
Paris
ONS — Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics (August 2026), London
Official source
- Data as of
- Aug 31, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- ONS Price Index of Private Rents, average monthly rent for August 2026 by number of bedrooms, converted at the 2026-08-13 ECB reference cross-rate in data/fx-rates.json (1 GBP = 1.349164 USD). Centre = the 13 Inner London boroughs the ONS groups as Inner London — East and Inner London — West (Camden, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth, Westminster). Outside the centre = the 19 Outer London boroughs (Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Sutton, Waltham Forest), averaged with each area weighted by its ONS mid-2025 population. PIPR is a stock measure: it covers rents actually being paid under both new and continuing tenancies, not asking prices. Local-currency originals, £/month: 1br 1932 centre / 1424 outside, 2br 2423 / 1772, 3br 2781 / 2105.
- Notes
- No studio row: the ONS series publishes one-, two-, three- and four-or-more-bedroom categories and no studio or room-only category, so there is nothing to put in that cell. The outside row is the rest of the conurbation rather than this city’s own suburbs — the ONS series has no geography below the local authority in England — so it reads as "the wider urban area" rather than "the outskirts".
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Furnished asking-rent €/m²/month by type (SeLoger, 2025): studio 40.30, 1BR 35.00, 2BR 33.80, 3BR 33.30 — €/m² already embeds Paris's steep size gradient. Central/outer factor from the 1BR arrondissement spread (central arr. 1–8 ~€40.3/m² vs citywide €35.0 vs outer arr. 18–20 ~€33.0): center ×1.15, outside ×0.94. Monthly € = adjusted €/m² × sizes (studio 30, 1BR 40, 2BR 60, 3BR 85 m²) × 1.1399 USD/EUR. E.g. 1BR center = €35.00×1.15×40 = €1,610 → $1,835. Central asking rents cluster at the DRIHL loyer de référence majoré (the legal cap for a new lease).
- Notes
- ASKING rents for a new lease (what a mover pays), furnished basis (the typical choice for internationals); unfurnished runs ~10–12% lower. Paris has statutory rent control (encadrement des loyers) — the loyer de référence majoré caps a newcomer's rent, and central asking rents sit right at that cap. 'Outside' uses outer arrondissements (18–20) as proxy; petite-couronne suburbs vary widely. Per-cell figures carry ~±10–15% modeling uncertainty.
01Studio
London
—
Paris
$1,585$1,295 outside
021-bedroom
London
$2,607$1,922 outside
Parischeaper
$1,835$1,500 outside
032-bedroom
London
$3,269$2,391 outside
Parischeaper
$2,659$2,173 outside
043-bedroom
London
$3,752$2,840 outside
Parischeaper
$3,710$3,033 outside
05
Safety
CriterionLondonParis
01+−Homicide rateintentional homicides per 100,000/yearLondonstronger0.9Paris1.3
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
London
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- UNODC records the UK as three separate jurisdictions, so the national rate is built from all three: England and Wales 522 victims, Scotland 45, Northern Ireland 19 = 586, against the ONS mid-2024 UK population of 69,281,400 = 0.846 per 100,000. Read from the UNODC bulk file dated 12 July 2026. One timing detail: UNODC’s "2024" for England and Wales is the year ending March 2025, which is the 522 figure ONS itself published as the lowest number since the year to March 2015 and the lowest rate since 1977.
- Notes
- Among the lowest in the dataset and about a sixth of the United States rate. Knife crime, not firearms, drives the English and Welsh figure. The three jurisdictions are close to each other: 0.93, 1.04 and 0.52 per 100,000 respectively on UNODC’s own 2023 rates.
Paris
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (value 1.28; 2023 was 1.30). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29; cross-checked against decoding the full crim_off_cat matrix. Moderate by European standards — above the safest EU states (Austria 0.85) but well below the global average.
06
Climate
CriterionLondonParis
01+−Climate comfortpleasant months/yearLondon7Paris7
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
London
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (Met Office 1991–2020, Greenwich, Observatory)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Months with a mean daily maximum of 15–28 °C and under 150 mm of rain, counted from this city’s climate-normals row. Every month of every one of the five UK cities passes the rainfall test, so in Britain this criterion is purely a temperature count. Qualifying: Apr (15.3), May (18.6), Jun (21.4), Jul (23.8), Aug (23.3), Sep (20.3), Oct (15.8). Excluded for cold: Jan (8.5), Feb (9.2), Mar (12.1), Nov (11.6), Dec (8.8).
Paris
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (Météo-France Paris-Montsouris 1991–2020)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Count of months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm: Apr (16.6), May (20.2), Jun (23.4), Jul (25.7), Aug (25.6), Sep (21.5), Oct (16.5) = 7. Nov (11.1°C) and Mar (12.8°C) miss on temperature; no month is excluded on rainfall (Paris is evenly, moderately wet year-round).
02+−Air quality (PM2.5)µg/m³, annual mean PM2.5Londonstronger8.6Paris10
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
London
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Mean of the 5 Defra urban background stations in this city that met a 90% annual data-capture threshold in 2025: London Bloomsbury (8.86 µg/m³, 100% data capture); London Hillingdon (9.39 µg/m³, 96% data capture); London Honor Oak Park (8.07 µg/m³, 99% data capture); London N. Kensington (8.63 µg/m³, 100% data capture); London Teddington Bushy Park (8.09 µg/m³, 99% data capture). Roadside and kerbside stations (table 2.1a) are excluded, so this is background exposure rather than a network mean including traffic sites. Preceding years on the same station set: 2021 8.52, 2022 8.47, 2023 7.67, 2024 7.12.
- Notes
- Five qualifying urban background stations spread across the city, from Bloomsbury in the centre to Teddington in the south-west, which makes this the best-supported PM2.5 figure of the five UK cities.
Paris
Airparif — Bilan de la qualité de l'air à Paris 2023 (PM2.5, fond urbain)
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Airparif's 2023 Paris bilan reports urban-background (fond urbain) PM2.5 homogeneous across Paris at 10 µg/m³ (roadside 10–14). The 2024 regional bilan (published 2025) shows background falling to 7–10 µg/m³ across the agglomeration, so the current Paris value is at or just under 10.
- Notes
- About 2× the WHO 2021 annual guideline (5 µg/m³) but well under the current EU annual limit (25 µg/m³). It is at the stricter EU limit taking effect in 2030 (10 µg/m³). Urban-background levels have dropped over 35% across 2015–2024.
07
Healthcare
CriterionLondonParis
01+−Private healthcare costUSD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-oldLondonno verified dataParis821
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
London
Not priced. No UK private medical insurer publishes a rate table: Bupa, AXA Health, Aviva and Vitality all quote only through a form that requires personal details, so there is no public figure to take a median of and we do not fill in quote engines. The criterion also fits the UK badly. Healthcare here is not bought — anyone ordinarily resident uses the NHS free at the point of use, and a migrant on a visa of more than six months pays the Immigration Health Surcharge instead, £1,035 a year on most work routes and £776 a year on the Youth Mobility and student routes, which buys full NHS access. Private cover in the UK is a top-up bought mainly for faster elective treatment, not a substitute, so a premium would not be comparable with the figures other countries in this dataset carry.
Paris
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- France has universal public health cover (Assurance Maladie, ~70% reimbursement) topped up by a COMPLEMENTARY private 'mutuelle santé' — supplementary, not full-replacement. Mutuelle pricing is age-banded, not health-rated. Market data (goodassur, 48,082 individual quotes, July 2026): age 25–34 avg €68.98/mo, 35–44 avg €90.68/mo; a mid-market intermediate plan for a healthy 35-year-old ≈ €60/mo = €720/yr → $821/yr at 1.1399. Range ≈ €35/mo ($479/yr) to ≈ €90/mo ($1,231/yr).
- Notes
- A supplementary top-up on the mandatory public system, not a full private replacement policy (like Austria's Sonderklasse). ~95%+ of residents carry a mutuelle; employees usually get a subsidised group contract (employer pays ≥50%), so this individually-purchased premium is the situation of a freelancer/self-employed person. Mid-market monthly range ≈ €50–70.
08
Money & crypto
CriterionLondonParis
01+−Crypto regulationLondonLegal regulatedParisLegal 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
London
Financial Conduct Authority — Cryptoassets
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Holding, buying and selling cryptoassets is lawful for individuals and there is no restriction on it. Businesses carrying on cryptoasset activity have had to register with the FCA under the Money Laundering Regulations since 10 January 2020, and since 8 October 2023 any firm marketing cryptoassets to UK consumers falls under the FCA financial-promotions regime regardless of where the firm is based. Gains are taxed: HMRC treats cryptoassets as property for Capital Gains Tax, and trading as taxable income.
- Notes
- Not crypto-friendly in the tax sense — there is no exemption of the kind Portugal or Germany offer on long-held holdings. Two consumer restrictions are worth knowing: the FCA has banned the sale of crypto derivatives and exchange-traded notes to retail consumers, and cryptoassets are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so an exchange failure is not underwritten.
Paris
impots.gouv.fr — Plus-values sur cessions d'actifs numériques (cryptomonnaies); AMF/MiCA CASP regime
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- Legal and regulated. Capital gains on digital assets for private/occasional investors are taxed at the flat PFU — 31.4% from 1 Jan 2026 (12.8% income tax + 18.6% social levies; the social part rose from 17.2% when the 2026 Social Security law lifted CSG on capital income 9.2%→10.6%), with the option to elect the progressive scale instead (since 2023). Total annual disposals ≤ €305 are exempt. Crypto-asset service providers authorise as CASPs under the EU MiCA regulation (the former AMF 'PSAN' regime from the 2019 PACTE law), with the AMF as competent authority.
02+−Financial control levelLondonLowParisLow
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
London
GOV.UK — Take cash in and out of the UK
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Inputs weighed: no exchange or capital controls on moving personal funds into or out of the country, and no limit on the size of a bank transfer; sterling floats freely; non-residents may open UK bank accounts subject to the banks’ own identity checks rather than a legal bar; and the only cross-border reporting duty on an individual is a declaration of cash of £10,000 or more carried in or out of Great Britain, with a penalty of up to £5,000 and seizure for failing to declare. Residents are taxed on worldwide income and must report it through Self Assessment, which is ordinary for a developed economy rather than a control on money.
- Notes
- Opening a first UK bank account without a UK address or credit history is the practical friction, not the law — it is a bank compliance problem, and it is why many new arrivals start with an e-money account.
Paris
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 1, 2015
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Composite: France uses the euro, fully convertible, with EU free movement of capital and NO exchange/capital controls. The main constraint is a cash-payment cap — a French tax resident may pay at most €1,000 in cash to a professional (since Sept 2015; non-resident tourists up to €15,000); cash between private individuals is unlimited (written proof required above €1,500). The EU Anti-Money-Laundering Regulation adds an EU-wide €10,000 cash cap from 2027. Non-resident banking is available with standard KYC. These are ordinary AML measures, not capital controls → 'low'.
09
Infrastructure
CriterionLondonParis
01+−Domestic delivery qualityLondonGoodParisstrongerExcellent
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
London
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 22, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Inputs: Royal Mail must deliver to every UK address at a uniform price. First Class letters keep a six-day-a-week next-working-day service, but Ofcom cut the headline target from 93% to 90% delivered next day in its 2025 reform, with 99% within three working days. Second Class was cut from six days a week to alternate weekdays, delivered within three working days at a 95% target and 99% within five. Ofcom opened an investigation into Royal Mail’s 2025/26 delivery performance. Next-day delivery therefore exists nationwide, which is the "excellent" test, but half the letter service is now a 1–3 day product and the regulator has both lowered the bar and is investigating failure to clear it — which is the "good" band.
- Notes
- This grades the regulated postal service, which is what has an official source. The UK parcel market is much faster than the letter service and is where most people’s experience comes from, but its carrier and parcel-locker networks could not be verified here — see the delivery-methods row.
Paris
La Poste / Colissimo (Pickup) and Mondial Relay network figures
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- France has one of Europe's densest out-of-home parcel networks. Colissimo/Pickup: 26,000+ pickup points (≈17,500 relay points + ≈6,500 automatic lockers, incl. ≈4,500 24/7 Pickup Station lockers). Mondial Relay: ≈17,000 points (≈9,000 lockers + ≈8,000 relais). Plus Relais Colis, Chronopost, DPD, and La Poste home delivery ~6 days/week, with nationwide next-day/2-day standard options → 'excellent'.
02+−International delivery easeLondonMinor frictionParisMinor friction
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
London
GOV.UK — Tax and duty on goods sent from abroad
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- The UK left the EU customs union, so every consignment from abroad is cleared. Customs duty is relieved on non-excise goods worth £135 or less; above that, duty applies at tariff rates. VAT is due on everything except gifts of £39 or less — on consignments of £135 or less the overseas seller is required to charge it at the point of sale, above that the carrier collects it before delivery and adds a handling fee. All the major international carriers deliver door to door and clearance is routine rather than uncertain. Northern Ireland follows different rules for goods "at risk" of entering the EU.
- Notes
- The £135 threshold is low enough that most ordinary online orders from outside the UK carry VAT, and the sting is usually the carrier’s handling fee rather than the tax. Nothing is blocked and nothing is unpredictable, which is what separates this from significant-friction.
Paris
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- Intra-EU shipping is frictionless (single market — most European cross-border parcels arrive like domestic ones). For non-EU imports the EU removed the €150 duty-free threshold and from 1 July 2026 applies a temporary flat customs duty per item on ≤€150 consignments (VAT already collected at checkout via IOSS since 2021). Predictable but no longer duty-free — the same EU regime as other member states.
03+−Internet speedMbps, median fixed downloadLondon49.2Parisstronger51.4
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
London
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for the United Kingdom
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 2023 daily country medians over 344 days and 32,367,951 tests. Monthly medians ran 46.9–50.3 Mbps with no seasonal pattern. 2023 is the last complete year M-Lab publishes for the UK — the 2024 file stops on 26 March — and it is the year the other countries in this dataset are measured on.
- Notes
- M-Lab measures what a browser-based test achieves end to end, which reads well below the line speeds advertised by UK ISPs and below Ofcom’s own connection-based figures. It is used across this dataset because it is the only free, licence-clean source measured the same way everywhere, so compare it with other countries here rather than with a national regulator’s number.
Paris
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for France
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 344 daily country-median download values for FR in 2023 (~10.47M download tests; daily medians ranged 24.9–61.1 Mbps). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style or advertised figures (French fibre commonly markets 300–1000+ Mbps) — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- France has extensive FTTH fibre coverage; the M-Lab single-stream median understates real-world line speeds and is used only for cross-country comparability on one consistent method.
10
Language
CriterionLondonParis
01+−English proficiencyLondonstrongerNativeParisModerate
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
London
GOV.UK — English language requirements for visas and settlement
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Notes
- English is the national language and the language of government, courts, healthcare and business throughout the United Kingdom. Welsh has equal official standing in Wales and Scottish Gaelic and Irish have recognised status, but no part of the UK requires anything other than English of a resident. The direction of the requirement runs the other way here: most work and settlement visas require the APPLICANT to prove English at B1 or higher.
Paris
EF EPI 2025 — France (score 539, rank 38/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): France score 539, global rank 38, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), up 11 places and +15 points vs 2024. English is workable in Paris tech/expat circles and tourism-facing Côte d'Azur, but French is essential for administration, most workplaces, and daily life — France sits below the very-high Northern-European tier.
11
Education
CriterionLondonParis
01+−International schoolsaccredited international schools, countLondonno verified dataParis7
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
London
Not counted. The IB’s school finder answers HTTP 403 to our requests (checked again 2026-09-20) and the Council of International Schools publishes no readable member directory, so neither accreditor could be queried for this city. Guessing from aggregator sites is not an option, and the United Kingdom has no national register of "international" schools — the Department for Education’s Get Information About Schools records establishment type, not curriculum. The honest answer is that we do not know the number.
Paris
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 14, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 14, 2026
- Method
- Paris-metro schools each confirmed against a named accreditor: (1) International School of Paris (16e) — IB World School, all 3 programmes; (2) École Jeannine Manuel (7e/15e) — IB World School + CIS; (3) American School of Paris (Saint-Cloud) — IB World School (DP); (4) ICS Paris International School (15e) — IB continuum PYP/MYP/DP; (5) Ermitage International School (Maisons-Laffitte) — IB World School (DP); (6) Marymount International School Paris (Neuilly-sur-Seine) — IB (PYP); (7) The British School of Paris (Croissy-sur-Seine) — UK British Schools Overseas (BSO) accreditation, COBIS, ISI-inspected. Aggregators used only to find candidates.
- Notes
- Verified FLOOR of 7 (6 IB World Schools + 1 BSO-accredited British school). Strictly intra-muros the count is 3 (ISP 16e, École Jeannine Manuel, ICS Paris 15e); Paris's international-school scene is heavily suburban (Neuilly, Saint-Cloud, Maisons-Laffitte, Croissy, Saint-Germain-en-Laye). More qualify (e.g. EIB Étoile, Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye) but were not each individually verified this cycle.