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SettleMetric

CITY / CITYVerified city comparison

PraguevsRiga.

Prague is stronger on 3 of 8 headline facts; Riga on 2. Cost of living (single, excl. rent): Prague $785/mo, Riga $873/mo. Freelancer tax burden: Prague 13%, Riga 20.2%. Climate comfort: Prague 5/12 mo, Riga 5/12 mo.

VerifiedUpdated

14 compared criteria · 29 sources · country-level facts are clearly inherited

cz / lv · 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

Prague leads on 3 of 8

Prague

3

Riga

2

01Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Praguestronger
$785/mo

ČSÚ — Household Consumption Expenditures 2024 (per-capita CZ-COICOP), CPI-uplifted

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jun 30, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
ČSÚ 2024 all-households per-capita consumption 212,569 CZK/yr minus actual rentals (04.1) 19,621 CZK → 192,948 CZK/yr = 16,079 CZK/mo excluding rent; uplifted by CPI to mid-2026 (2025 avg +2.5%, +~1.1% into 2026 → ×1.037) → ≈16,674 CZK/mo; converted at 21.244 CZK/USD (ECB 2026-07-02, EUR/CZK 24.216 ÷ EUR/USD 1.1399) → ≈$785. All-households per-capita basis (single-person basket not separately published in this release); city living runs somewhat higher.
Riga
$873/mo

Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia — Household Budget Survey 2025: mean monthly consumption expenditure of one-person households by ECOICOP v2 division (table MBI031)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
One-person households spent €798.57 a month in the Central Statistical Bureau's 2025 Household Budget Survey (CSP table MBI031, published 17 August 2026; consumption in cash and in kind, imputed rent not included). The survey is current-year, so no inflation uplift applies. Actual rentals are removed: Eurostat's HBS 2020 structure for Latvian one-adult households puts actual rentals at 23 per mille of consumption that includes 196 per mille of imputed rent, i.e. 23 / 804 = 2.86% of consumption without imputed rent, = €22.84 a month. €798.57 − €22.84 = €775.73, × 1.1253 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-16) = $873. The 13 ECOICOP v2 divisions are summed in cost-breakdown.
Notes
The 2025 survey (2,063 responding households, 20% response rate) is Latvia's first to use ECOICOP version 2 and, by the CSP's own warning, is not fully comparable with 2019 and earlier. One-person households include many pensioners, so the basket is an average for people living alone, not a working remote worker's. The rent split is the weakest input, because the CSP does not publish rentals by household type; using the all-household 2025 share of rentals instead (€164.65 of €7,428.08 a year, 2.2%) would remove €17.70 rather than €22.84, a $6 difference. Cross-check: the CSP's 2019 one-person figure (€513.62 a month) lifted by Latvia's HICP from the 2019 to the 2025 annual average (108.53 → 150.85, ×1.390) gives €714, 11% below the 2025 survey figure.
02Freelancer tax burden
Praguestronger
13%

SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Finanční správa, ČSSZ, VZP)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jan 1, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Best eligible scheme cz-osvc-pausal-60 at €60,000 revenue = 1,452,960 CZK (ECB EUR/CZK 24.216): 60% expense lump-sum → profit 581,184; social 29.2%×55% = 93,338.15; health 13.5%×50% = 39,663.27 (min floor); PIT (581,184 − 205,600 allowance) × 15% = 56,337.60; total levies 189,339.02 → 13.03%. The paušální-daň Band 2 (200,940 CZK fixed) gives 13.83%, so the 60% lump-sum wins at this income. Expenses are the statutory 60% flat rate, not actual costs.
Riga
20.2%

SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Uzņēmumu ienākuma nodokļa likums; VID — board-member remuneration, social insurance and wage tax)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jan 1, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Best eligible scheme = lv-sia-distributed-profit (SIA, whole profit distributed) at €60,000 revenue with 10% deductible expenses (net profit €54,000). Monthly turnover is €5,000, above the €3,900 test, so the sole director must be paid at least the minimum wage or is deemed to earn it: salary 12 × €780 = €9,360 (a deductible company cost and the owner's own income), employer social insurance 23.59% × 780 × 12 = €2,208.00 (deductible), employee social insurance 10.50% × 780 × 12 = €982.80, wage tax 12 × 25.5% × (780 − 81.90 − 550 non-taxable minimum) = 12 × 37.77 = €453.24. Distributable profit = 54,000 − 9,360 − 2,208.00 = €42,432.00, corporate tax 20% of the gross distribution = €8,486.40; the dividend itself carries no personal tax. Levies €12,130.44 → 20.2% of revenue. The microenterprise tax is not available at this size (turnover limit = the €50,000 VAT threshold), so the company route is the lowest-burden option open to a resident freelancer.
Notes
The ordinary self-employed route (lv-self-employed-general) at the same profile costs €17,579.29, i.e. 29.3%: social insurance €7,372.20 (31.07% on the €780-a-month minimum base plus 10% of the profit above it) and income tax 25.5% × (54,000 − 7,372.20 − 6,600) = €10,207.09, with the contributions deductible. The microenterprise tax would be 25.0% of turnover (€15,000) but is closed to a freelancer above €50,000 of turnover or with VAT-registered business customers in other EU states. A non-EU remote worker on the remote-work long-stay visa pays a flat 15% income tax for the first 365 days of Latvian residency, but VID treats such a person as an employee of a foreign employer owing 34.09% social insurance, so the burden is €23,747.31 (39.6%) unless the contributions are paid in another state, in which case it is €8,100 (13.5%) (lv-remote-work-visa-15pct). The company figure excludes accounting and filing costs and buys social-insurance rights only on the minimum-wage base; below the €3,900-a-month turnover line there is no director's salary and the burden is a flat 20.0% (with no insurance cover at all), while just above it the same company pays about 22.8% (a profile without expenses), so the figure moves with the turnover test.
03Homicide rate
Praguestronger
0.77/100k

UNODC / World Bank — intentional homicides per 100,000 (Czechia, 2023)

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
UNODC series via World Bank: 0.768 per 100,000 in 2023 (down from 0.815 in 2022). Rounded to 0.77. 2024 not yet published at the national series level on checked sources.
Riga
3.55/100k

Ministry of the Interior Information Centre (IeM IC) — Kriminālā statistika par 2025. gadu, offences registered in Riga by Criminal Law article

Official source

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Offences registered in Riga in 2025 under Criminal Law section 116 (murder) 15, section 117 (murder under aggravating circumstances) 3 and section 118 (murder under especially aggravating circumstances) 3 = 21, from the annual workbook NN_2025.xlsx (sheet XII nodaļa, distribution by State city; read 2026-10-19), divided by Riga’s 2025 annual average population of 591,982 (CSP IRS031, POP) and multiplied by 100,000 = 3.55.
Notes
Registered offences by the place where they were committed, not victims by residence, and the register may include attempts along with completed offences, so the figure can overstate the completed-homicide rate and cannot be set directly against UNODC or Eurostat series. The same workbook gives 53 such offences for all of Latvia (34 + 13 + 6), 2.9 per 100,000 on the national average population, so Riga reads about a quarter above the country.
04Climate comfort
Prague
5/12 mo

SettleMetric computation over climate-normals

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2020
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm: May (18.9), Jun (22.2), Jul (24.5), Aug (24.4), Sep (19.1) = 5 (April misses at 14.5°C).
Riga
5/12 mo

SettleMetric computation over Riga LU climate-normals (WMO 26422)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2020
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Count of months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm, from the 1991–2020 normals: May (17.8°C), Jun (21.3), Jul (23.8), Aug (22.7), Sep (17.3) qualify = 5. April misses at 11.9°C and October at 10.5°C; no month exceeds 28°C or 150 mm.
05Internet speed
Prague
30 Mbps

M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Czechia

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Median of 343 daily country medians, 957,549 download tests (2023 — latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API; 2025/2026 files not yet published).
Notes
M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style figures (Czech fixed broadband commonly markets 100–1000 Mbps) — comparable only within this criterion.
Rigastronger
34 Mbps

M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Latvia

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for LV in 2023 (18,575 download tests; daily medians ranged 10.1-63.2 Mbps). 2023 is the year used across the dataset.
Notes
M-Lab NDT is a single-stream test and reads well below advertised fibre speeds; it is comparable only within this criterion.
06English proficiency
Prague
High

EF EPI 2025 (rank 23/123, score 582 — High band)

Research

Data as of
Nov 1, 2025
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Czechia rank 23/123, score 582, EF 'High'/B2 band. English is broadly workable in Prague/Brno and the service and tech sectors, thinner in smaller towns and public offices. Czech is the sole official language.
Riga
High

EF English Proficiency Index 2025 — Latvia (rank 16/123, score 598, High band)

Research

Data as of
Nov 1, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Notes
Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Latvia ranks 16th of 123 with 598 points, at the top of EF's High band and two points short of Very High (600); the global average is 488 and Riga scores 611. By skill: reading 605, listening 586, writing 551, speaking 542. Banded 'high' rather than 'very-high' because Latvian is the sole official language (State Language Law, art. 3(1)) and state and municipal bodies accept documents only in Latvian, a foreign-language document needing a translation (art. 10(2)-(3), likumi.lv/ta/id/14740), so English will not carry a resident through every government office. Eurostat's Adult Education Survey 2022 (self-reported, not English-specific) shows 95.0% of 25-64-year-olds in Latvia know at least one foreign language, and Eurostat attributes the high share among older people to Russian and among younger people to English.
07Private healthcare cost
Prague
$1,186/yr

PVZP Comprehensive medical insurance (EXCLUSIVE) + UNIQA/Slavia/Maxima comprehensive foreigner plans — market midpoint; insurers quote on request

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jul 4, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Comprehensive (outpatient + inpatient/hospital, benefit limit 1.8–10 million CZK/event, ~EUR 400,000) commercial medical insurance for foreigners — PVZP Comprehensive EXCLUSIVE and comparable UNIQA/Slavia/Maxima/Ergo products — runs ≈1,700–2,500 CZK/month for a healthy 35-year-old. Midpoint ≈2,100 CZK/mo ≈ 25,200 CZK/yr ≈ $1,186 at 21.244 CZK/USD (range ≈ $960–$1,412). Premiums are quoted on request, so this is a curated market midpoint.
Notes
Residents with a residence permit and local work/business are covered by mandatory public health insurance (VZP etc.) at 13.5% of the assessment base — comprehensive commercial cover is mainly for those not yet in the public system (long-stay visa holders must carry it). This figure is the comprehensive with-inpatient tier, chosen to be comparable with other countries' comprehensive plans; a cheaper 'basic' (urgent-care-only) foreigner plan starts around 900 CZK/mo.
Riga
no verified data
08Air quality (PM2.5)
Prague
12 µg/m³

SZÚ / ČHMÚ — outdoor air quality assessment, Prague 2023

Official source

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
SZÚ/ČHMÚ report: 2023 annual PM2.5 means at Prague's seven monitoring stations ranged 9.5–14.5 µg/m³ (urban-background midpoint ≈ 12 µg/m³). 2023 was an unusually clean year; the limit (20 µg/m³) was not exceeded.
Notes
About 2.4× the WHO 2021 guideline (5 µg/m³) but well under the EU limit (20–25). A 2024 traffic station (Praha 2-Legerova) reached 15.5 µg/m³; winter heating and traffic are the main sources.
Rigastronger
8.8 µg/m³

European Environment Agency — Air Quality Statistics (E1a validated), station LV0026A "Riga Kronvalda boulevard"

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Validated (E1a, verification flag 1) 2025 annual mean at station LV0026A, Riga Kronvalda boulevard, an urban background site at 56.9548°N 24.1048°E (3 m): 8.812 µg/m³ on 99.28% data coverage, hourly data, queried from the EEA statistics service on 2026-10-19 (calculated 2026-10-15). It is the only Riga station with PM2.5 in the EEA’s annual statistics. Earlier years at the same station: 8.920 µg/m³ in 2024 (99.35%), 8.468 in 2023 (96.95%) and 9.245 in 2022 (97.76%). The WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026) carries the same series for Riga/LVA — 9.24, 8.47 and 8.92 for 2022–2024 — and has no 2025 row yet.
Notes
ONE STATION: an urban-background site near the centre, so it describes the city’s general level, not traffic corridors. Riga’s only other station in the EEA statistics, LV0027A Riga-Valdemara street (traffic, urban), reports PM10, NO2 and benzene but no PM2.5 in 2025; the WHO row counts both stations (n=2) because it pools three pollutants, but its PM2.5 value is the Kronvalda station alone. 8.8 µg/m³ is above the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³ and below the EU limit of 10 µg/m³ that applies from 2030. Kronvalda’s 2025 PM10 annual mean was 16.2 µg/m³.

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.

Prague fits better — 2 of 5

01Freelancer tax burden
Praguestronger
13%

SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Finanční správa, ČSSZ, VZP)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jan 1, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Best eligible scheme cz-osvc-pausal-60 at €60,000 revenue = 1,452,960 CZK (ECB EUR/CZK 24.216): 60% expense lump-sum → profit 581,184; social 29.2%×55% = 93,338.15; health 13.5%×50% = 39,663.27 (min floor); PIT (581,184 − 205,600 allowance) × 15% = 56,337.60; total levies 189,339.02 → 13.03%. The paušální-daň Band 2 (200,940 CZK fixed) gives 13.83%, so the 60% lump-sum wins at this income. Expenses are the statutory 60% flat rate, not actual costs.
Riga
20.2%

SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Uzņēmumu ienākuma nodokļa likums; VID — board-member remuneration, social insurance and wage tax)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jan 1, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Best eligible scheme = lv-sia-distributed-profit (SIA, whole profit distributed) at €60,000 revenue with 10% deductible expenses (net profit €54,000). Monthly turnover is €5,000, above the €3,900 test, so the sole director must be paid at least the minimum wage or is deemed to earn it: salary 12 × €780 = €9,360 (a deductible company cost and the owner's own income), employer social insurance 23.59% × 780 × 12 = €2,208.00 (deductible), employee social insurance 10.50% × 780 × 12 = €982.80, wage tax 12 × 25.5% × (780 − 81.90 − 550 non-taxable minimum) = 12 × 37.77 = €453.24. Distributable profit = 54,000 − 9,360 − 2,208.00 = €42,432.00, corporate tax 20% of the gross distribution = €8,486.40; the dividend itself carries no personal tax. Levies €12,130.44 → 20.2% of revenue. The microenterprise tax is not available at this size (turnover limit = the €50,000 VAT threshold), so the company route is the lowest-burden option open to a resident freelancer.
Notes
The ordinary self-employed route (lv-self-employed-general) at the same profile costs €17,579.29, i.e. 29.3%: social insurance €7,372.20 (31.07% on the €780-a-month minimum base plus 10% of the profit above it) and income tax 25.5% × (54,000 − 7,372.20 − 6,600) = €10,207.09, with the contributions deductible. The microenterprise tax would be 25.0% of turnover (€15,000) but is closed to a freelancer above €50,000 of turnover or with VAT-registered business customers in other EU states. A non-EU remote worker on the remote-work long-stay visa pays a flat 15% income tax for the first 365 days of Latvian residency, but VID treats such a person as an employee of a foreign employer owing 34.09% social insurance, so the burden is €23,747.31 (39.6%) unless the contributions are paid in another state, in which case it is €8,100 (13.5%) (lv-remote-work-visa-15pct). The company figure excludes accounting and filing costs and buys social-insurance rights only on the minimum-wage base; below the €3,900-a-month turnover line there is no director's salary and the burden is a flat 20.0% (with no insurance cover at all), while just above it the same company pays about 22.8% (a profile without expenses), so the figure moves with the turnover test.
02Internet speed
Prague
30 Mbps

M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Czechia

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Median of 343 daily country medians, 957,549 download tests (2023 — latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API; 2025/2026 files not yet published).
Notes
M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style figures (Czech fixed broadband commonly markets 100–1000 Mbps) — comparable only within this criterion.
Rigastronger
34 Mbps

M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Latvia

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for LV in 2023 (18,575 download tests; daily medians ranged 10.1-63.2 Mbps). 2023 is the year used across the dataset.
Notes
M-Lab NDT is a single-stream test and reads well below advertised fibre speeds; it is comparable only within this criterion.
03English proficiency
Prague
High

EF EPI 2025 (rank 23/123, score 582 — High band)

Research

Data as of
Nov 1, 2025
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Czechia rank 23/123, score 582, EF 'High'/B2 band. English is broadly workable in Prague/Brno and the service and tech sectors, thinner in smaller towns and public offices. Czech is the sole official language.
Riga
High

EF English Proficiency Index 2025 — Latvia (rank 16/123, score 598, High band)

Research

Data as of
Nov 1, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Notes
Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Latvia ranks 16th of 123 with 598 points, at the top of EF's High band and two points short of Very High (600); the global average is 488 and Riga scores 611. By skill: reading 605, listening 586, writing 551, speaking 542. Banded 'high' rather than 'very-high' because Latvian is the sole official language (State Language Law, art. 3(1)) and state and municipal bodies accept documents only in Latvian, a foreign-language document needing a translation (art. 10(2)-(3), likumi.lv/ta/id/14740), so English will not carry a resident through every government office. Eurostat's Adult Education Survey 2022 (self-reported, not English-specific) shows 95.0% of 25-64-year-olds in Latvia know at least one foreign language, and Eurostat attributes the high share among older people to Russian and among younger people to English.
04Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Praguestronger
$785/mo

ČSÚ — Household Consumption Expenditures 2024 (per-capita CZ-COICOP), CPI-uplifted

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jun 30, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
ČSÚ 2024 all-households per-capita consumption 212,569 CZK/yr minus actual rentals (04.1) 19,621 CZK → 192,948 CZK/yr = 16,079 CZK/mo excluding rent; uplifted by CPI to mid-2026 (2025 avg +2.5%, +~1.1% into 2026 → ×1.037) → ≈16,674 CZK/mo; converted at 21.244 CZK/USD (ECB 2026-07-02, EUR/CZK 24.216 ÷ EUR/USD 1.1399) → ≈$785. All-households per-capita basis (single-person basket not separately published in this release); city living runs somewhat higher.
Riga
$873/mo

Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia — Household Budget Survey 2025: mean monthly consumption expenditure of one-person households by ECOICOP v2 division (table MBI031)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
One-person households spent €798.57 a month in the Central Statistical Bureau's 2025 Household Budget Survey (CSP table MBI031, published 17 August 2026; consumption in cash and in kind, imputed rent not included). The survey is current-year, so no inflation uplift applies. Actual rentals are removed: Eurostat's HBS 2020 structure for Latvian one-adult households puts actual rentals at 23 per mille of consumption that includes 196 per mille of imputed rent, i.e. 23 / 804 = 2.86% of consumption without imputed rent, = €22.84 a month. €798.57 − €22.84 = €775.73, × 1.1253 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-16) = $873. The 13 ECOICOP v2 divisions are summed in cost-breakdown.
Notes
The 2025 survey (2,063 responding households, 20% response rate) is Latvia's first to use ECOICOP version 2 and, by the CSP's own warning, is not fully comparable with 2019 and earlier. One-person households include many pensioners, so the basket is an average for people living alone, not a working remote worker's. The rent split is the weakest input, because the CSP does not publish rentals by household type; using the all-household 2025 share of rentals instead (€164.65 of €7,428.08 a year, 2.2%) would remove €17.70 rather than €22.84, a $6 difference. Cross-check: the CSP's 2019 one-person figure (€513.62 a month) lifted by Latvia's HICP from the 2019 to the 2025 annual average (108.53 → 150.85, ×1.390) gives €714, 11% below the 2025 survey figure.
05Domestic delivery quality
Prague
Excellent

Packeta/Zásilkovna official news + Czech Post / carrier service pages (composite)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Packeta/Zásilkovna: ~6,200 Z-BOX lockers + ~4,000 staffed pickup points (≈10,000 points in Czechia), 184 million parcels delivered in 2025; Czech Post (Česká pošta) nationwide with Balíkovna pickup; PPL, DPD, GLS, DHL nationwide with next-day standard. Dense locker + PUDO network; next-day delivery is the norm.
Riga
Excellent

Latvijas Pasts / Omniva / DPD Latvia / Venipak official network and delivery-time pages (composite)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Oct 19, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Classified from the carriers' own pages, read on 2026-10-19. Latvijas Pasts, the national postal operator: parcel-locker shipments delivered 'as soon as the next day', courier shipments across Latvia on the next business day, 155 post offices and 421 parcel lockers at the end of 2024 (annual report 2024). Omniva: 416 parcel machines in Latvia in its public locations file (modified 2026-10-16); next-day delivery for parcels handed in before a city cut-off (17:00 in Riga, Mārupe and Jaunmārupe, 12:00 in about 30 towns, 10:00 elsewhere), with 1-2 working days as the general delivery time to a machine. DPD Latvia: a published delivery-time table showing delivery on day 1 'in whole Latvia' for pick-up on day 0 in all three zones, more than 345 parcel lockers, real-time tracking. Venipak: 271 lockers and 130 pick-up points in its public list and about 98% of parcels delivered the next working day (its own figure). SmartPosti: lockers usually served within one working day (not guaranteed), all indoors. Four locker networks add up to roughly 1,400 machines (counts of different dates, not de-duplicated), tracking is standard, and nationwide next-day delivery is published by the national operator and by DPD, Venipak and Omniva → 'excellent'.
Notes
Promises differ by carrier: Omniva states 1-2 working days from handover to a parcel machine and SmartPosti says one working day is usual but not guaranteed, so next-day is the norm rather than a guarantee from every carrier. Unisend Latvija, whose lockers Latvijas Pasts shares, is not counted.

Family

Relocating with a partner and school-age children.

Prague fits better — 2 of 5

01International schools
Praguestronger
9

Accreditor registries (IB World Schools, AEFE, German ZfA, CIS/COBIS/BSO, Cambridge International) — per-school verification

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jul 4, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Count of Prague-metro schools each individually confirmed against a qualifying accreditor: (1) International School of Prague — CIS + NEASC, IB continuum (ibo.org/en/school/000889); (2) The English College in Prague — IB DP (ibo.org/en/school/000821); (3) Prague British International School / Nord Anglia — IB DP (ibo.org/en/school/001042); (4) Park Lane International School — IB PYP/MYP/DP (ibo.org/en/school/052209); (5) Nový PORG — IB DP + Cambridge (ibo.org/en/school/004534); (6) Riverside School — CIS + IB + COBIS + BSO (school accreditation page); (7) Lycée français de Prague — AEFE-homologated, all levels (aefe.gouv.fr); (8) Deutsche Schule Prag — German ZfA-recognized Auslandsschule, 'Excellent German School Abroad' seal; (9) Meridian International School — British Schools Overseas (ISI BSO report), Cambridge International pathway. Aggregator sites were used only to find candidates, not as the recorded source.
Notes
Verified FLOOR of 9 (±2). The IB find-an-ib-school finder and some accreditor registries returned 403 to automated fetches, so each school was confirmed via its own IB school-detail page, accreditor report, or accreditor's official listing rather than a single directory pull. Additional Prague schools may hold qualifying accreditation but were not each individually verified this cycle (e.g. Christian International School of Prague is ACSI/MSA-accredited — a US regional/faith accreditor, not on the IB/Cambridge/AEFE/German/CIS/COBIS list — so it is excluded from this strict count).
Riga
6

CIS membership directory, AEFE school directory and Internet Archive captures of IB school profiles

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Oct 19, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Count for the Riga metro area = 4 schools in the city + 2 in Piņķi (Babīte, about 12 km west of the centre, in Mārupe municipality). Read directly at an accreditor on 2026-10-19: the Council of International Schools member directory (queried the way its own map does) lists three Latvian members, all "Accredited" — International School of Riga (Kalnciema iela 118, Riga; IB DP and PYP, IB code 002334), and International School of Latvia (001796) and Exupery International School (060211), both in Piņķi — and the AEFE directory lists one school in Latvia, Lycée français international Jules-Verne de Riga (Patversmes iela 20; 529 pupils, all 15 levels homologated). Two state schools are counted on Internet Archive captures of their IB profiles, because ibo.org answers our requests with a Cloudflare challenge: Riga State Gymnasium No. 1 (001001, Diploma Programme since 16 July 1997; capture of April 2018) and Riga State Gymnasium No. 2 (050320, DP since 22 July 2014 and MYP since 8 January 2016; capture of November 2019).
Notes
A floor, not a tally. Two more Riga schools appear as IB World Schools only in search-engine views of ibo.org pages, with no live page or capture read: Riga State Gymnasium No. 3 (061962, DP authorised 13 February 2024) and the International Montessori School of Latvia (PYP, December 2024); with them the count would be 8, which fits the IB's Latvia total of 11 schools (9 DP, 5 MYP, 4 PYP, 1 CP, per the IB World Schools Yearbook). COBIS's member file (read 2026-10-19, last modified 30 September 2026) lists no school in Latvia, and the Accredited European Schools list (eursc.eu) has none in Latvia; no German school abroad (ZfA) in Riga was found — the Riga State German Gymnasium is a language-partner school and is not counted. King's College, The British School of Latvia (Mārupe), a UK-curriculum school the Yearbook advertises, appears in none of these registries and is not counted. The International School of Riga's own site calls itself "the only IB World School in Riga", which the IB profiles of the state gymnasia contradict.
02Homicide rate
Praguestronger
0.77/100k

UNODC / World Bank — intentional homicides per 100,000 (Czechia, 2023)

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
UNODC series via World Bank: 0.768 per 100,000 in 2023 (down from 0.815 in 2022). Rounded to 0.77. 2024 not yet published at the national series level on checked sources.
Riga
3.55/100k

Ministry of the Interior Information Centre (IeM IC) — Kriminālā statistika par 2025. gadu, offences registered in Riga by Criminal Law article

Official source

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Offences registered in Riga in 2025 under Criminal Law section 116 (murder) 15, section 117 (murder under aggravating circumstances) 3 and section 118 (murder under especially aggravating circumstances) 3 = 21, from the annual workbook NN_2025.xlsx (sheet XII nodaļa, distribution by State city; read 2026-10-19), divided by Riga’s 2025 annual average population of 591,982 (CSP IRS031, POP) and multiplied by 100,000 = 3.55.
Notes
Registered offences by the place where they were committed, not victims by residence, and the register may include attempts along with completed offences, so the figure can overstate the completed-homicide rate and cannot be set directly against UNODC or Eurostat series. The same workbook gives 53 such offences for all of Latvia (34 + 13 + 6), 2.9 per 100,000 on the national average population, so Riga reads about a quarter above the country.
03Private healthcare cost
Prague
$1,186/yr

PVZP Comprehensive medical insurance (EXCLUSIVE) + UNIQA/Slavia/Maxima comprehensive foreigner plans — market midpoint; insurers quote on request

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jul 4, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Comprehensive (outpatient + inpatient/hospital, benefit limit 1.8–10 million CZK/event, ~EUR 400,000) commercial medical insurance for foreigners — PVZP Comprehensive EXCLUSIVE and comparable UNIQA/Slavia/Maxima/Ergo products — runs ≈1,700–2,500 CZK/month for a healthy 35-year-old. Midpoint ≈2,100 CZK/mo ≈ 25,200 CZK/yr ≈ $1,186 at 21.244 CZK/USD (range ≈ $960–$1,412). Premiums are quoted on request, so this is a curated market midpoint.
Notes
Residents with a residence permit and local work/business are covered by mandatory public health insurance (VZP etc.) at 13.5% of the assessment base — comprehensive commercial cover is mainly for those not yet in the public system (long-stay visa holders must carry it). This figure is the comprehensive with-inpatient tier, chosen to be comparable with other countries' comprehensive plans; a cheaper 'basic' (urgent-care-only) foreigner plan starts around 900 CZK/mo.
Riga
no verified data
04Air quality (PM2.5)
Prague
12 µg/m³

SZÚ / ČHMÚ — outdoor air quality assessment, Prague 2023

Official source

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
SZÚ/ČHMÚ report: 2023 annual PM2.5 means at Prague's seven monitoring stations ranged 9.5–14.5 µg/m³ (urban-background midpoint ≈ 12 µg/m³). 2023 was an unusually clean year; the limit (20 µg/m³) was not exceeded.
Notes
About 2.4× the WHO 2021 guideline (5 µg/m³) but well under the EU limit (20–25). A 2024 traffic station (Praha 2-Legerova) reached 15.5 µg/m³; winter heating and traffic are the main sources.
Rigastronger
8.8 µg/m³

European Environment Agency — Air Quality Statistics (E1a validated), station LV0026A "Riga Kronvalda boulevard"

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Validated (E1a, verification flag 1) 2025 annual mean at station LV0026A, Riga Kronvalda boulevard, an urban background site at 56.9548°N 24.1048°E (3 m): 8.812 µg/m³ on 99.28% data coverage, hourly data, queried from the EEA statistics service on 2026-10-19 (calculated 2026-10-15). It is the only Riga station with PM2.5 in the EEA’s annual statistics. Earlier years at the same station: 8.920 µg/m³ in 2024 (99.35%), 8.468 in 2023 (96.95%) and 9.245 in 2022 (97.76%). The WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026) carries the same series for Riga/LVA — 9.24, 8.47 and 8.92 for 2022–2024 — and has no 2025 row yet.
Notes
ONE STATION: an urban-background site near the centre, so it describes the city’s general level, not traffic corridors. Riga’s only other station in the EEA statistics, LV0027A Riga-Valdemara street (traffic, urban), reports PM10, NO2 and benzene but no PM2.5 in 2025; the WHO row counts both stations (n=2) because it pools three pollutants, but its PM2.5 value is the Kronvalda station alone. 8.8 µg/m³ is above the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³ and below the EU limit of 10 µg/m³ that applies from 2030. Kronvalda’s 2025 PM10 annual mean was 16.2 µg/m³.
05English proficiency
Prague
High

EF EPI 2025 (rank 23/123, score 582 — High band)

Research

Data as of
Nov 1, 2025
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Czechia rank 23/123, score 582, EF 'High'/B2 band. English is broadly workable in Prague/Brno and the service and tech sectors, thinner in smaller towns and public offices. Czech is the sole official language.
Riga
High

EF English Proficiency Index 2025 — Latvia (rank 16/123, score 598, High band)

Research

Data as of
Nov 1, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Notes
Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Latvia ranks 16th of 123 with 598 points, at the top of EF's High band and two points short of Very High (600); the global average is 488 and Riga scores 611. By skill: reading 605, listening 586, writing 551, speaking 542. Banded 'high' rather than 'very-high' because Latvian is the sole official language (State Language Law, art. 3(1)) and state and municipal bodies accept documents only in Latvian, a foreign-language document needing a translation (art. 10(2)-(3), likumi.lv/ta/id/14740), so English will not carry a resident through every government office. Eurostat's Adult Education Survey 2022 (self-reported, not English-specific) shows 95.0% of 25-64-year-olds in Latvia know at least one foreign language, and Eurostat attributes the high share among older people to Russian and among younger people to English.

Money & crypto

Optimising tax, banking and crypto rules.

Prague fits better — 2 of 3

01Crypto regulation
Praguestronger
Legal friendly

Finanční správa — exemption of income from transfer of crypto-assets (§4 Income Tax Act, from 15 Feb 2025)

Official source

Data as of
Feb 15, 2025
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
Holding and trading are legal. From 15 Feb 2025 individuals enjoy two explicit exemptions: a value test (crypto income up to 100,000 CZK/year is tax-free) and a time test (crypto held over 3 years before sale is exempt, up to 40 million CZK/year). Otherwise gains are taxed as other income (§10) at 15%/23%. EU MiCA applies. The explicit exemptions and the 3-year 0% rule make this 'legal-friendly' (clear favourable rules), a notch above standard 'legal-regulated'.
Riga
Legal regulated

Kriptoaktīvu pakalpojumu likums (Crypto-Asset Services Law), adopted 13 June 2024, in force 30 June 2024

Official source

Data as of
Jun 30, 2024
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Notes
Legal and licensed under the EU's MiCA regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114). The Crypto-Asset Services Law supplements MiCA and, in article 4(1), names Latvijas Banka as Latvia's competent authority under article 93(1) of MiCA for issuers, offerors and crypto-asset service providers (the financial supervisor's functions passed to Latvijas Banka on 1 January 2023). Providers already operating before 30 December 2024 under the State Revenue Service's anti-money-laundering supervision could continue without MiCA authorisation until 30 June 2025, or until Latvijas Banka decided if they had applied by then (transitional provision 2). The law regulates providers and issuers; it contains no restriction on individuals holding or trading crypto-assets. For tax, the State Revenue Service treats a private person's gain on selling crypto-assets as capital gain, taxed at 25.5% from 2025.
02Financial control level
Prague
Low

Ministry of Finance — Act No. 254/2004 Coll. on restriction of cash payments (limit 270,000 CZK/day)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jan 1, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Composite: CZK is fully convertible with no capital/exchange controls (EU/OECD member; free movement of capital under EU law); cash-payment limit 270,000 CZK/day per payer-recipient pair (Act 254/2004), no limit on card/transfer payments; no FBAR-style foreign-account disclosure beyond EU CRS exchange via banks; free non-resident banking. Low state control over personal money flows.
Riga
Low

Composite — euro-area free movement of capital + Law "On Taxes and Fees" (Par nodokļiem un nodevām), article 30 (restrictions on the use of cash)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Oct 15, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Composite, each input read at its source on 2026-10-19. Latvia is a euro-area member of the EU, so capital moves freely under EU law and no currency or capital controls apply. The restrictions on personal money flows found: (1) cash payments, Law "On Taxes and Fees" article 30: a natural person who carries on no economic activity may not make a cash transaction above EUR 7,200, in one operation or several (art. 30(8); in force since 1 January 2017 under the amending law of 23 November 2016, transitional provision 181); taxpayers other than private individuals face the same EUR 7,200 ceiling and must declare monthly their cash transactions above EUR 1,500 (art. 30(1)); and no taxpayer, a private individual included, may sell or buy immovable property in cash, at any amount (art. 30(1^6)). Article 30 is read in the version in force since 15 October 2026; the last amending law (17 September 2026) restated only part 3, which keeps credit institutions, payment service providers and licensed consumer lenders outside the rules. (2) Reporting: under article 22^3 banks and payment service providers report to the State Revenue Service (VID) each year on resident individuals whose accounts turned over EUR 15,000 or more, or who paid in EUR 7,000 or more in cash. (3) Cash of EUR 10,000 or more crossing the EU's external border must be declared under Regulation (EU) 2018/1672 (VID cash page). (4) Latvijas Banka states that EU residents, and people without a residence permit who cannot be expelled from Latvia, have a right to a basic payment account, and a bank may not refuse it on grounds of citizenship or residence. The EU-wide EUR 10,000 cash cap in article 80 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 applies from 10 July 2027 and, under article 80(3), leaves Latvia's lower existing limit in force. These are anti-money-laundering rules on cash and on reporting, not limits on moving one's own money by bank transfer. Classified 'low'.
03Freelancer tax burden
Praguestronger
13%

SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Finanční správa, ČSSZ, VZP)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jan 1, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Best eligible scheme cz-osvc-pausal-60 at €60,000 revenue = 1,452,960 CZK (ECB EUR/CZK 24.216): 60% expense lump-sum → profit 581,184; social 29.2%×55% = 93,338.15; health 13.5%×50% = 39,663.27 (min floor); PIT (581,184 − 205,600 allowance) × 15% = 56,337.60; total levies 189,339.02 → 13.03%. The paušální-daň Band 2 (200,940 CZK fixed) gives 13.83%, so the 60% lump-sum wins at this income. Expenses are the statutory 60% flat rate, not actual costs.
Riga
20.2%

SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Uzņēmumu ienākuma nodokļa likums; VID — board-member remuneration, social insurance and wage tax)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jan 1, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Best eligible scheme = lv-sia-distributed-profit (SIA, whole profit distributed) at €60,000 revenue with 10% deductible expenses (net profit €54,000). Monthly turnover is €5,000, above the €3,900 test, so the sole director must be paid at least the minimum wage or is deemed to earn it: salary 12 × €780 = €9,360 (a deductible company cost and the owner's own income), employer social insurance 23.59% × 780 × 12 = €2,208.00 (deductible), employee social insurance 10.50% × 780 × 12 = €982.80, wage tax 12 × 25.5% × (780 − 81.90 − 550 non-taxable minimum) = 12 × 37.77 = €453.24. Distributable profit = 54,000 − 9,360 − 2,208.00 = €42,432.00, corporate tax 20% of the gross distribution = €8,486.40; the dividend itself carries no personal tax. Levies €12,130.44 → 20.2% of revenue. The microenterprise tax is not available at this size (turnover limit = the €50,000 VAT threshold), so the company route is the lowest-burden option open to a resident freelancer.
Notes
The ordinary self-employed route (lv-self-employed-general) at the same profile costs €17,579.29, i.e. 29.3%: social insurance €7,372.20 (31.07% on the €780-a-month minimum base plus 10% of the profit above it) and income tax 25.5% × (54,000 − 7,372.20 − 6,600) = €10,207.09, with the contributions deductible. The microenterprise tax would be 25.0% of turnover (€15,000) but is closed to a freelancer above €50,000 of turnover or with VAT-registered business customers in other EU states. A non-EU remote worker on the remote-work long-stay visa pays a flat 15% income tax for the first 365 days of Latvian residency, but VID treats such a person as an employee of a foreign employer owing 34.09% social insurance, so the burden is €23,747.31 (39.6%) unless the contributions are paid in another state, in which case it is €8,100 (13.5%) (lv-remote-work-visa-15pct). The company figure excludes accounting and filing costs and buys social-insurance rights only on the minimum-wage base; below the €3,900-a-month turnover line there is no director's salary and the burden is a flat 20.0% (with no insurance cover at all), while just above it the same company pays about 22.8% (a profile without expenses), so the figure moves with the turnover test.

Calm lifestyle

Prioritising safety, air, and an easy daily life.

Prague fits better — 2 of 4

01Homicide rate
Praguestronger
0.77/100k

UNODC / World Bank — intentional homicides per 100,000 (Czechia, 2023)

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
UNODC series via World Bank: 0.768 per 100,000 in 2023 (down from 0.815 in 2022). Rounded to 0.77. 2024 not yet published at the national series level on checked sources.
Riga
3.55/100k

Ministry of the Interior Information Centre (IeM IC) — Kriminālā statistika par 2025. gadu, offences registered in Riga by Criminal Law article

Official source

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Offences registered in Riga in 2025 under Criminal Law section 116 (murder) 15, section 117 (murder under aggravating circumstances) 3 and section 118 (murder under especially aggravating circumstances) 3 = 21, from the annual workbook NN_2025.xlsx (sheet XII nodaļa, distribution by State city; read 2026-10-19), divided by Riga’s 2025 annual average population of 591,982 (CSP IRS031, POP) and multiplied by 100,000 = 3.55.
Notes
Registered offences by the place where they were committed, not victims by residence, and the register may include attempts along with completed offences, so the figure can overstate the completed-homicide rate and cannot be set directly against UNODC or Eurostat series. The same workbook gives 53 such offences for all of Latvia (34 + 13 + 6), 2.9 per 100,000 on the national average population, so Riga reads about a quarter above the country.
02Air quality (PM2.5)
Prague
12 µg/m³

SZÚ / ČHMÚ — outdoor air quality assessment, Prague 2023

Official source

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
SZÚ/ČHMÚ report: 2023 annual PM2.5 means at Prague's seven monitoring stations ranged 9.5–14.5 µg/m³ (urban-background midpoint ≈ 12 µg/m³). 2023 was an unusually clean year; the limit (20 µg/m³) was not exceeded.
Notes
About 2.4× the WHO 2021 guideline (5 µg/m³) but well under the EU limit (20–25). A 2024 traffic station (Praha 2-Legerova) reached 15.5 µg/m³; winter heating and traffic are the main sources.
Rigastronger
8.8 µg/m³

European Environment Agency — Air Quality Statistics (E1a validated), station LV0026A "Riga Kronvalda boulevard"

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Validated (E1a, verification flag 1) 2025 annual mean at station LV0026A, Riga Kronvalda boulevard, an urban background site at 56.9548°N 24.1048°E (3 m): 8.812 µg/m³ on 99.28% data coverage, hourly data, queried from the EEA statistics service on 2026-10-19 (calculated 2026-10-15). It is the only Riga station with PM2.5 in the EEA’s annual statistics. Earlier years at the same station: 8.920 µg/m³ in 2024 (99.35%), 8.468 in 2023 (96.95%) and 9.245 in 2022 (97.76%). The WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026) carries the same series for Riga/LVA — 9.24, 8.47 and 8.92 for 2022–2024 — and has no 2025 row yet.
Notes
ONE STATION: an urban-background site near the centre, so it describes the city’s general level, not traffic corridors. Riga’s only other station in the EEA statistics, LV0027A Riga-Valdemara street (traffic, urban), reports PM10, NO2 and benzene but no PM2.5 in 2025; the WHO row counts both stations (n=2) because it pools three pollutants, but its PM2.5 value is the Kronvalda station alone. 8.8 µg/m³ is above the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³ and below the EU limit of 10 µg/m³ that applies from 2030. Kronvalda’s 2025 PM10 annual mean was 16.2 µg/m³.
03Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Praguestronger
$785/mo

ČSÚ — Household Consumption Expenditures 2024 (per-capita CZ-COICOP), CPI-uplifted

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jun 30, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
ČSÚ 2024 all-households per-capita consumption 212,569 CZK/yr minus actual rentals (04.1) 19,621 CZK → 192,948 CZK/yr = 16,079 CZK/mo excluding rent; uplifted by CPI to mid-2026 (2025 avg +2.5%, +~1.1% into 2026 → ×1.037) → ≈16,674 CZK/mo; converted at 21.244 CZK/USD (ECB 2026-07-02, EUR/CZK 24.216 ÷ EUR/USD 1.1399) → ≈$785. All-households per-capita basis (single-person basket not separately published in this release); city living runs somewhat higher.
Riga
$873/mo

Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia — Household Budget Survey 2025: mean monthly consumption expenditure of one-person households by ECOICOP v2 division (table MBI031)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
One-person households spent €798.57 a month in the Central Statistical Bureau's 2025 Household Budget Survey (CSP table MBI031, published 17 August 2026; consumption in cash and in kind, imputed rent not included). The survey is current-year, so no inflation uplift applies. Actual rentals are removed: Eurostat's HBS 2020 structure for Latvian one-adult households puts actual rentals at 23 per mille of consumption that includes 196 per mille of imputed rent, i.e. 23 / 804 = 2.86% of consumption without imputed rent, = €22.84 a month. €798.57 − €22.84 = €775.73, × 1.1253 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-16) = $873. The 13 ECOICOP v2 divisions are summed in cost-breakdown.
Notes
The 2025 survey (2,063 responding households, 20% response rate) is Latvia's first to use ECOICOP version 2 and, by the CSP's own warning, is not fully comparable with 2019 and earlier. One-person households include many pensioners, so the basket is an average for people living alone, not a working remote worker's. The rent split is the weakest input, because the CSP does not publish rentals by household type; using the all-household 2025 share of rentals instead (€164.65 of €7,428.08 a year, 2.2%) would remove €17.70 rather than €22.84, a $6 difference. Cross-check: the CSP's 2019 one-person figure (€513.62 a month) lifted by Latvia's HICP from the 2019 to the 2025 annual average (108.53 → 150.85, ×1.390) gives €714, 11% below the 2025 survey figure.
04Climate comfort
Prague
5/12 mo

SettleMetric computation over climate-normals

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2020
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm: May (18.9), Jun (22.2), Jul (24.5), Aug (24.4), Sep (19.1) = 5 (April misses at 14.5°C).
Riga
5/12 mo

SettleMetric computation over Riga LU climate-normals (WMO 26422)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2020
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Count of months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm, from the 1991–2020 normals: May (17.8°C), Jun (21.3), Jul (23.8), Aug (22.7), Sep (17.3) qualify = 5. April misses at 11.9°C and October at 10.5°C; no month exceeds 28°C or 150 mm.

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

1 verified fact
01+−Freelancer tax burden% effective burden at €60k/year self-employed profilePraguestronger13Riga20.2

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

Prague

SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Finanční správa, ČSSZ, VZP)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jan 1, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Best eligible scheme cz-osvc-pausal-60 at €60,000 revenue = 1,452,960 CZK (ECB EUR/CZK 24.216): 60% expense lump-sum → profit 581,184; social 29.2%×55% = 93,338.15; health 13.5%×50% = 39,663.27 (min floor); PIT (581,184 − 205,600 allowance) × 15% = 56,337.60; total levies 189,339.02 → 13.03%. The paušální-daň Band 2 (200,940 CZK fixed) gives 13.83%, so the 60% lump-sum wins at this income. Expenses are the statutory 60% flat rate, not actual costs.

Riga

SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Uzņēmumu ienākuma nodokļa likums; VID — board-member remuneration, social insurance and wage tax)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jan 1, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Best eligible scheme = lv-sia-distributed-profit (SIA, whole profit distributed) at €60,000 revenue with 10% deductible expenses (net profit €54,000). Monthly turnover is €5,000, above the €3,900 test, so the sole director must be paid at least the minimum wage or is deemed to earn it: salary 12 × €780 = €9,360 (a deductible company cost and the owner's own income), employer social insurance 23.59% × 780 × 12 = €2,208.00 (deductible), employee social insurance 10.50% × 780 × 12 = €982.80, wage tax 12 × 25.5% × (780 − 81.90 − 550 non-taxable minimum) = 12 × 37.77 = €453.24. Distributable profit = 54,000 − 9,360 − 2,208.00 = €42,432.00, corporate tax 20% of the gross distribution = €8,486.40; the dividend itself carries no personal tax. Levies €12,130.44 → 20.2% of revenue. The microenterprise tax is not available at this size (turnover limit = the €50,000 VAT threshold), so the company route is the lowest-burden option open to a resident freelancer.
Notes
The ordinary self-employed route (lv-self-employed-general) at the same profile costs €17,579.29, i.e. 29.3%: social insurance €7,372.20 (31.07% on the €780-a-month minimum base plus 10% of the profit above it) and income tax 25.5% × (54,000 − 7,372.20 − 6,600) = €10,207.09, with the contributions deductible. The microenterprise tax would be 25.0% of turnover (€15,000) but is closed to a freelancer above €50,000 of turnover or with VAT-registered business customers in other EU states. A non-EU remote worker on the remote-work long-stay visa pays a flat 15% income tax for the first 365 days of Latvian residency, but VID treats such a person as an employee of a foreign employer owing 34.09% social insurance, so the burden is €23,747.31 (39.6%) unless the contributions are paid in another state, in which case it is €8,100 (13.5%) (lv-remote-work-visa-15pct). The company figure excludes accounting and filing costs and buys social-insurance rights only on the minimum-wage base; below the €3,900-a-month turnover line there is no director's salary and the burden is a flat 20.0% (with no insurance cover at all), while just above it the same company pays about 22.8% (a profile without expenses), so the figure moves with the turnover test.

02

Legalization

1 verified fact
01+−Remote-work legalization easePragueLong stay pathRigastrongerDedicated 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

Prague

Ministry of the Interior — long-term residence for the purpose of business (podnikání / živnostenské oprávnění)

Official source

Data as of
Jul 4, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
Czechia has no dedicated digital-nomad visa (the earlier special programme for selected nationalities was a labour scheme, not a nomad visa). The realistic long-stay route for a location-independent earner is the long-term residence/long-stay visa for the purpose of business, held on a Czech trade licence (živnostenské oprávnění); renewable and a path toward permanent residence. Classified 'long-stay-path' (renewable temporary residence), not a dedicated nomad visa.

Riga

Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP) — Receiving a long-term visa for remote work

Official source

Data as of
Sep 15, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Notes
Latvia issues a long-stay (D) visa for remote work to third-country nationals, except Russian citizens, who work for an employer registered in an OECD member state or are self-employed and registered in one. The pay or income test is 2.5 times the previous year's average gross monthly wage, 4,538 EUR in 2026; the visa lasts up to a year, can be repeated once for another year, and gives no right to work in Latvia or a route to permanent residence (see lv-remote-work-visa). The earlier permit for self-employed persons ended on 15 September 2026.

03

Cost of living

1 verified fact
01+−Cost of living (single, excl. rent)USD/month, single person, excluding rentPraguestronger785Riga873

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

Prague

ČSÚ — Household Consumption Expenditures 2024 (per-capita CZ-COICOP), CPI-uplifted

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jun 30, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
ČSÚ 2024 all-households per-capita consumption 212,569 CZK/yr minus actual rentals (04.1) 19,621 CZK → 192,948 CZK/yr = 16,079 CZK/mo excluding rent; uplifted by CPI to mid-2026 (2025 avg +2.5%, +~1.1% into 2026 → ×1.037) → ≈16,674 CZK/mo; converted at 21.244 CZK/USD (ECB 2026-07-02, EUR/CZK 24.216 ÷ EUR/USD 1.1399) → ≈$785. All-households per-capita basis (single-person basket not separately published in this release); city living runs somewhat higher.

Riga

Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia — Household Budget Survey 2025: mean monthly consumption expenditure of one-person households by ECOICOP v2 division (table MBI031)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
One-person households spent €798.57 a month in the Central Statistical Bureau's 2025 Household Budget Survey (CSP table MBI031, published 17 August 2026; consumption in cash and in kind, imputed rent not included). The survey is current-year, so no inflation uplift applies. Actual rentals are removed: Eurostat's HBS 2020 structure for Latvian one-adult households puts actual rentals at 23 per mille of consumption that includes 196 per mille of imputed rent, i.e. 23 / 804 = 2.86% of consumption without imputed rent, = €22.84 a month. €798.57 − €22.84 = €775.73, × 1.1253 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-16) = $873. The 13 ECOICOP v2 divisions are summed in cost-breakdown.
Notes
The 2025 survey (2,063 responding households, 20% response rate) is Latvia's first to use ECOICOP version 2 and, by the CSP's own warning, is not fully comparable with 2019 and earlier. One-person households include many pensioners, so the basket is an average for people living alone, not a working remote worker's. The rent split is the weakest input, because the CSP does not publish rentals by household type; using the all-household 2025 share of rentals instead (€164.65 of €7,428.08 a year, 2.2%) would remove €17.70 rather than €22.84, a $6 difference. Cross-check: the CSP's 2019 one-person figure (€513.62 a month) lifted by Latvia's HICP from the 2019 to the 2025 annual average (108.53 → 150.85, ×1.390) gives €714, 11% below the 2025 survey figure.

Monthly spending by category (excl. rent)

Prague

ČSÚ Household Consumption Expenditures 2024 (per-capita CZ-COICOP), CPI-uplifted

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jun 30, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
ČSÚ 2024 all-households per-capita annual spending by CZ-COICOP division (Kč/yr): food 37,888; housing excl. rent 35,314 (04 total 54,935 − 04.1 rent 19,621); transport 21,063; recreation 18,904; restaurants 15,574; furnishings 12,680; info & communication 11,887; clothing 8,373; alcohol & tobacco 6,652; insurance & finance 6,689; health 6,880; education 1,665. Each ÷12, ×1.037 CPI uplift, ÷21.244 CZK/USD. Categories approximate the ~$785/mo cost-of-living aggregate (small housing sub-lines within 04.4 rounded).
Riga

Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia — Household Budget Survey 2025, one-person households: consumption expenditure by ECOICOP v2 division (table MBI031)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Monthly euro spending of one-person households by ECOICOP v2 division in the CSP's 2025 survey (food 210.19, housing 168.49, health 65.37, transport 57.82, recreation 55.42, information and communication 42.92, personal care and miscellaneous 40.03, restaurants and accommodation 39.22, furnishings 38.58, clothing 28.22, alcohol and tobacco 25.70, insurance and financial services 22.93, education 3.68; total 798.57), each × 1.1253 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-16). Actual rentals (€22.84, see cost-of-living-single) are taken out of the housing division, leaving €145.64; the items sum to $873, the cost-of-living-single figure.
Notes
The CSP publishes household type only at the level of the 13 divisions, so the housing line cannot be split further for one-person households (energy, water, maintenance). For all households in 2025, electricity, gas, solid fuels and heat were 55% of the housing division and water, refuse, sewage and building charges 26%.
01Food & non-alcoholic beverages
Praguecheaper
$154
Riga
$237
02Housing utilities & upkeep (water, electricity, gas, heating, maintenance)
Prague
—
Riga
$164
03Transport
Prague
$86
Rigacheaper
$65
04Housing utilities (energy, water, maintenance) excl. rent
Prague
$144
Riga
—
05Recreation, sport & culture
Prague
$77
Rigacheaper
$62
06Restaurants & accommodation
Prague
$63
Rigacheaper
$44
07Health (out-of-pocket)
Praguecheaper
$28
Riga
$74
08Information & communication
Prague
$48
Riga
$48
09Furnishings & household equipment
Prague
$52
Rigacheaper
$43
10Clothing & footwear
Prague
$34
Rigacheaper
$32
11Insurance & financial services
Prague
$27
Rigacheaper
$26
12Other goods & services (personal care, social protection, misc.)
Prague
—
Riga
$45
13Alcoholic beverages & tobacco
Prague
—
Riga
$29
14Alcohol & tobacco
Prague
$27
Riga
—
15Education services
Prague
$7
Riga
—
16Education
Prague
—
Riga
$4
Total (excl. rent)
Prague$747/mo
Riga$873/mo

04

Housing

0 verified facts

Rent by apartment type

Asking rent, central price with outside-centre in parentheses ($/mo).

Prague

Deloitte Czech Rent Index Q1 2026 (Prague, per-m² offered rents by district)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Mar 31, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Deloitte Q1 2026 offered-rent per-m² figures — Prague city-wide 466 CZK/m²/mo; central Prague 1 505 CZK/m² (×1.084 vs city); outer-district factor 429 CZK/m² (×0.92, below Prague 5's 459) — applied to standard sizes by room class (studio/1+kk 30 m², 1BR/2+kk 47 m², 2BR/3+kk 68 m², 3BR/4+kk 90 m²), converted at 21.244 CZK/USD (ECB EUR/CZK 24.216 ÷ EUR/USD 1.1399, 2026-07-02). The 1BR city-wide figure (466×47 ≈ $1,031) matches the scored rent-1br-center value.
Notes
DERIVED matrix: Deloitte publishes offered rent per m² by district, not a room-count × center/outside table. Cells = district per-m² rate × typical unit size for each room class. Center = Prague 1 (top published district); outside = outer residential districts (≈0.92 of city mean). Prague's district rent spread is narrower than in some capitals, so the center/outside gap here is modest. Room sizes are conventional Czech class midpoints.
Riga

Global Property Guide — Latvia rental yields, Riga median asking rents (data from SS.lv and City24), 2026 Q2

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jun 30, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Global Property Guide’s Riga table of median monthly asking rents, 2026 Q2 (page read 2026-10-19), converted at 1.1253 USD per EUR (ECB euro reference rate of 2026-10-16). Centre = the Centrs district: studio €470, 1-bedroom €800, 2-bedroom €1,400, 3-bedroom €1,700 (→ $529, $900, $1,575, $1,913). Outside = Āgenskalns, the one district outside the centre that the table gives: studio €340, 1-bedroom €550, 2-bedroom €1,000 (→ $383, $619, $1,125). Vecrīga (Old Riga) is tabulated separately at €850, €1,450 and €2,500 for 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom flats.
Notes
Asking prices from SS.lv and City24 listings as summarised by GPG, not transactions. Latvia publishes no official rental statistics: the Central Statistical Bureau’s database has no table of rent levels, and the State Land Service’s market data cover sale transactions only. The "outside" column is a single district, Āgenskalns; the table has no figure for the Soviet-era estates (Purvciems, Imanta, Pļavnieki, Ziepniekkalns), so the outside cells are one district’s reading of the non-central market, and there is no 3-bedroom outside cell. The Latvian room count excludes the kitchen: GPG’s "1-Bedroom" corresponds to a Latvian 2-room flat. Corroboration is partial and not like-for-like: Latio, for new-build projects in the first half of 2026, gives €540 for a 1-room and €760 for a 2-room flat in the centre, €460 and €720 in Āgenskalns, €500 for a 1-room flat in Imanta and €610 for a 2-room flat in Teika. GPG’s citywide 2-bedroom median (€1,300) is high against these and against Arco’s €350–550 for centre one- and two-room flats, so the larger-flat cells are the least reliable.
01Studio
Prague
$713$606 outside
Rigacheaper
$529$383 outside
021-bedroom
Prague
$1,117$949 outside
Rigacheaper
$900$619 outside
032-bedroom
Prague
$1,616$1,373 outside
Rigacheaper
$1,575$1,125 outside
043-bedroom
Prague
$2,139$1,817 outside
Rigacheaper
$1,913

05

Safety

1 verified fact
01+−Homicide rateintentional homicides per 100,000/yearPraguestronger0.8Riga3.6

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

Prague

UNODC / World Bank — intentional homicides per 100,000 (Czechia, 2023)

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
UNODC series via World Bank: 0.768 per 100,000 in 2023 (down from 0.815 in 2022). Rounded to 0.77. 2024 not yet published at the national series level on checked sources.

Riga

Ministry of the Interior Information Centre (IeM IC) — Kriminālā statistika par 2025. gadu, offences registered in Riga by Criminal Law article

Official source

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Offences registered in Riga in 2025 under Criminal Law section 116 (murder) 15, section 117 (murder under aggravating circumstances) 3 and section 118 (murder under especially aggravating circumstances) 3 = 21, from the annual workbook NN_2025.xlsx (sheet XII nodaļa, distribution by State city; read 2026-10-19), divided by Riga’s 2025 annual average population of 591,982 (CSP IRS031, POP) and multiplied by 100,000 = 3.55.
Notes
Registered offences by the place where they were committed, not victims by residence, and the register may include attempts along with completed offences, so the figure can overstate the completed-homicide rate and cannot be set directly against UNODC or Eurostat series. The same workbook gives 53 such offences for all of Latvia (34 + 13 + 6), 2.9 per 100,000 on the national average population, so Riga reads about a quarter above the country.

06

Climate

2 verified facts
01+−Climate comfortpleasant months/yearPrague5Riga5

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

Prague

SettleMetric computation over climate-normals

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2020
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm: May (18.9), Jun (22.2), Jul (24.5), Aug (24.4), Sep (19.1) = 5 (April misses at 14.5°C).

Riga

SettleMetric computation over Riga LU climate-normals (WMO 26422)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2020
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Count of months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm, from the 1991–2020 normals: May (17.8°C), Jun (21.3), Jul (23.8), Aug (22.7), Sep (17.3) qualify = 5. April misses at 11.9°C and October at 10.5°C; no month exceeds 28°C or 150 mm.
02+−Air quality (PM2.5)µg/m³, annual mean PM2.5Prague12Rigastronger8.8

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

Prague

SZÚ / ČHMÚ — outdoor air quality assessment, Prague 2023

Official source

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
SZÚ/ČHMÚ report: 2023 annual PM2.5 means at Prague's seven monitoring stations ranged 9.5–14.5 µg/m³ (urban-background midpoint ≈ 12 µg/m³). 2023 was an unusually clean year; the limit (20 µg/m³) was not exceeded.
Notes
About 2.4× the WHO 2021 guideline (5 µg/m³) but well under the EU limit (20–25). A 2024 traffic station (Praha 2-Legerova) reached 15.5 µg/m³; winter heating and traffic are the main sources.

Riga

European Environment Agency — Air Quality Statistics (E1a validated), station LV0026A "Riga Kronvalda boulevard"

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Validated (E1a, verification flag 1) 2025 annual mean at station LV0026A, Riga Kronvalda boulevard, an urban background site at 56.9548°N 24.1048°E (3 m): 8.812 µg/m³ on 99.28% data coverage, hourly data, queried from the EEA statistics service on 2026-10-19 (calculated 2026-10-15). It is the only Riga station with PM2.5 in the EEA’s annual statistics. Earlier years at the same station: 8.920 µg/m³ in 2024 (99.35%), 8.468 in 2023 (96.95%) and 9.245 in 2022 (97.76%). The WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026) carries the same series for Riga/LVA — 9.24, 8.47 and 8.92 for 2022–2024 — and has no 2025 row yet.
Notes
ONE STATION: an urban-background site near the centre, so it describes the city’s general level, not traffic corridors. Riga’s only other station in the EEA statistics, LV0027A Riga-Valdemara street (traffic, urban), reports PM10, NO2 and benzene but no PM2.5 in 2025; the WHO row counts both stations (n=2) because it pools three pollutants, but its PM2.5 value is the Kronvalda station alone. 8.8 µg/m³ is above the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³ and below the EU limit of 10 µg/m³ that applies from 2030. Kronvalda’s 2025 PM10 annual mean was 16.2 µg/m³.

07

Healthcare

1 verified fact
01+−Private healthcare costUSD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-oldPrague1,186Rigano verified data

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

Prague

PVZP Comprehensive medical insurance (EXCLUSIVE) + UNIQA/Slavia/Maxima comprehensive foreigner plans — market midpoint; insurers quote on request

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jul 4, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Comprehensive (outpatient + inpatient/hospital, benefit limit 1.8–10 million CZK/event, ~EUR 400,000) commercial medical insurance for foreigners — PVZP Comprehensive EXCLUSIVE and comparable UNIQA/Slavia/Maxima/Ergo products — runs ≈1,700–2,500 CZK/month for a healthy 35-year-old. Midpoint ≈2,100 CZK/mo ≈ 25,200 CZK/yr ≈ $1,186 at 21.244 CZK/USD (range ≈ $960–$1,412). Premiums are quoted on request, so this is a curated market midpoint.
Notes
Residents with a residence permit and local work/business are covered by mandatory public health insurance (VZP etc.) at 13.5% of the assessment base — comprehensive commercial cover is mainly for those not yet in the public system (long-stay visa holders must carry it). This figure is the comprehensive with-inpatient tier, chosen to be comparable with other countries' comprehensive plans; a cheaper 'basic' (urgent-care-only) foreigner plan starts around 900 CZK/mo.

Riga

Not priced. No Latvian insurer publishes a premium for a comprehensive individual policy. BTA's private-persons page is written for employers and gives programme descriptions with benefit limits but no premiums; Balta lists health cover only for companies; ERGO describes its PRIORA and PRIORA PLUS programmes without prices and offers a quote-request form; Compensa (Compensa Seesam and Compensa Life) offers a quote form and a PDF application, again without prices. The one public price list found is If's, on its application page, by age band. For a 35-year-old (band 24-36) it shows EUR 420 a year for programme 1 (about USD 473 at 1.1253) or EUR 770 a year with paid operations for programme 2 (about USD 866), valid only for people who have not held an If private health policy before. It is not a comprehensive policy and is not recorded as the value: the total insured sum is EUR 3,000, it pays the statutory patient co-payments in the state system, 50% of paid outpatient services and diagnostics, and in programme 2 paid operations up to EUR 450; cover applies in the Baltic states, starts one month after purchase and runs 12 months. For reference, the remote-work long-stay visa (PMLP) requires a policy valid in Latvia and the Schengen states with a minimum liability limit of EUR 42,600 (Cabinet Regulation 591, point 7.2; the minimum cover is urgent care, treatment of life-threatening conditions in hospital, transport and repatriation). If's foreigners' policy built to that rule lists a first-year price of EUR 55 for ages up to 64 (about USD 62; EUR 50 deductible) and EUR 300 for ages 65 to 80, but it covers emergencies only.

08

Money & crypto

2 verified facts
01+−Crypto regulationPraguestrongerLegal friendlyRigaLegal 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

Prague

Finanční správa — exemption of income from transfer of crypto-assets (§4 Income Tax Act, from 15 Feb 2025)

Official source

Data as of
Feb 15, 2025
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
Holding and trading are legal. From 15 Feb 2025 individuals enjoy two explicit exemptions: a value test (crypto income up to 100,000 CZK/year is tax-free) and a time test (crypto held over 3 years before sale is exempt, up to 40 million CZK/year). Otherwise gains are taxed as other income (§10) at 15%/23%. EU MiCA applies. The explicit exemptions and the 3-year 0% rule make this 'legal-friendly' (clear favourable rules), a notch above standard 'legal-regulated'.

Riga

Kriptoaktīvu pakalpojumu likums (Crypto-Asset Services Law), adopted 13 June 2024, in force 30 June 2024

Official source

Data as of
Jun 30, 2024
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Notes
Legal and licensed under the EU's MiCA regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114). The Crypto-Asset Services Law supplements MiCA and, in article 4(1), names Latvijas Banka as Latvia's competent authority under article 93(1) of MiCA for issuers, offerors and crypto-asset service providers (the financial supervisor's functions passed to Latvijas Banka on 1 January 2023). Providers already operating before 30 December 2024 under the State Revenue Service's anti-money-laundering supervision could continue without MiCA authorisation until 30 June 2025, or until Latvijas Banka decided if they had applied by then (transitional provision 2). The law regulates providers and issuers; it contains no restriction on individuals holding or trading crypto-assets. For tax, the State Revenue Service treats a private person's gain on selling crypto-assets as capital gain, taxed at 25.5% from 2025.
02+−Financial control levelPragueLowRigaLow

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

Prague

Ministry of Finance — Act No. 254/2004 Coll. on restriction of cash payments (limit 270,000 CZK/day)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jan 1, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Composite: CZK is fully convertible with no capital/exchange controls (EU/OECD member; free movement of capital under EU law); cash-payment limit 270,000 CZK/day per payer-recipient pair (Act 254/2004), no limit on card/transfer payments; no FBAR-style foreign-account disclosure beyond EU CRS exchange via banks; free non-resident banking. Low state control over personal money flows.

Riga

Composite — euro-area free movement of capital + Law "On Taxes and Fees" (Par nodokļiem un nodevām), article 30 (restrictions on the use of cash)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Oct 15, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Composite, each input read at its source on 2026-10-19. Latvia is a euro-area member of the EU, so capital moves freely under EU law and no currency or capital controls apply. The restrictions on personal money flows found: (1) cash payments, Law "On Taxes and Fees" article 30: a natural person who carries on no economic activity may not make a cash transaction above EUR 7,200, in one operation or several (art. 30(8); in force since 1 January 2017 under the amending law of 23 November 2016, transitional provision 181); taxpayers other than private individuals face the same EUR 7,200 ceiling and must declare monthly their cash transactions above EUR 1,500 (art. 30(1)); and no taxpayer, a private individual included, may sell or buy immovable property in cash, at any amount (art. 30(1^6)). Article 30 is read in the version in force since 15 October 2026; the last amending law (17 September 2026) restated only part 3, which keeps credit institutions, payment service providers and licensed consumer lenders outside the rules. (2) Reporting: under article 22^3 banks and payment service providers report to the State Revenue Service (VID) each year on resident individuals whose accounts turned over EUR 15,000 or more, or who paid in EUR 7,000 or more in cash. (3) Cash of EUR 10,000 or more crossing the EU's external border must be declared under Regulation (EU) 2018/1672 (VID cash page). (4) Latvijas Banka states that EU residents, and people without a residence permit who cannot be expelled from Latvia, have a right to a basic payment account, and a bank may not refuse it on grounds of citizenship or residence. The EU-wide EUR 10,000 cash cap in article 80 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 applies from 10 July 2027 and, under article 80(3), leaves Latvia's lower existing limit in force. These are anti-money-laundering rules on cash and on reporting, not limits on moving one's own money by bank transfer. Classified 'low'.

09

Infrastructure

3 verified facts
01+−Domestic delivery qualityPragueExcellentRigaExcellent

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

Prague

Packeta/Zásilkovna official news + Czech Post / carrier service pages (composite)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Packeta/Zásilkovna: ~6,200 Z-BOX lockers + ~4,000 staffed pickup points (≈10,000 points in Czechia), 184 million parcels delivered in 2025; Czech Post (Česká pošta) nationwide with Balíkovna pickup; PPL, DPD, GLS, DHL nationwide with next-day standard. Dense locker + PUDO network; next-day delivery is the norm.

Riga

Latvijas Pasts / Omniva / DPD Latvia / Venipak official network and delivery-time pages (composite)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Oct 19, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Classified from the carriers' own pages, read on 2026-10-19. Latvijas Pasts, the national postal operator: parcel-locker shipments delivered 'as soon as the next day', courier shipments across Latvia on the next business day, 155 post offices and 421 parcel lockers at the end of 2024 (annual report 2024). Omniva: 416 parcel machines in Latvia in its public locations file (modified 2026-10-16); next-day delivery for parcels handed in before a city cut-off (17:00 in Riga, Mārupe and Jaunmārupe, 12:00 in about 30 towns, 10:00 elsewhere), with 1-2 working days as the general delivery time to a machine. DPD Latvia: a published delivery-time table showing delivery on day 1 'in whole Latvia' for pick-up on day 0 in all three zones, more than 345 parcel lockers, real-time tracking. Venipak: 271 lockers and 130 pick-up points in its public list and about 98% of parcels delivered the next working day (its own figure). SmartPosti: lockers usually served within one working day (not guaranteed), all indoors. Four locker networks add up to roughly 1,400 machines (counts of different dates, not de-duplicated), tracking is standard, and nationwide next-day delivery is published by the national operator and by DPD, Venipak and Omniva → 'excellent'.
Notes
Promises differ by carrier: Omniva states 1-2 working days from handover to a parcel machine and SmartPosti says one working day is usual but not guaranteed, so next-day is the norm rather than a guarantee from every carrier. Unisend Latvija, whose lockers Latvijas Pasts shares, is not counted.
02+−International delivery easePragueMinor frictionRigaMinor 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

Prague

European Commission — temporary flat fee on low-value imports (applies from 1 July 2026, EU-wide incl. Czechia)

Official source

Data as of
Jul 1, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
Intra-EU shipping is frictionless (single market, all major carriers). Non-EU imports: the EU removed the €150 duty-free threshold and from 1 July 2026 a temporary flat €3/item duty applies to ≤€150 consignments (until 2028); VAT is collected at checkout via IOSS. Predictable but no longer duty-free — same EU regime as other member states.

Riga

State Revenue Service (VID) — Postal consignments: changes from 1 July and 1 November 2026 (temporary EUR 3 customs duty; Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382)

Official source

Data as of
Jul 1, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Notes
Parcels from the EU single market arrive without customs. Every consignment from outside the EU must be declared. The duty exemption for consignments up to EUR 150 ended on 30 June 2026; since 1 July 2026 a temporary customs duty of EUR 3 per item applies until 1 July 2028 (European Commission page of 8 June 2026), plus Latvian VAT at 21%, collected at checkout when the shop uses the IOSS scheme. VID states that from 1 November 2026 a Union handling fee of EUR 2 per item is added; the Commission's page, last updated 20 July 2026, still describes that fee as proposed, with amount and date to be set. Gifts from a private person abroad up to EUR 45 are exempt from duty, VAT and the fee but still need a declaration. Clearance is done by the carrier when the shop supplies the data, by the recipient in VID's Electronic Declaration System, or through Latvijas Pasts: its self-service site atmuito.pasts.lv charges EUR 1.28 for a consignment up to EUR 150 without excise goods and its customs broker EUR 5.99 (EUR 30.25 above EUR 1,000 or for excise or restricted goods); a parcel over 500 g kept at a Pasts customer location more than 10 days costs EUR 1 a day. Latvijas Pasts has stopped clearing goods from Russia and Belarus under EU sanctions. Carriers: DPD, Omniva, SmartPosti, Venipak and Latvijas Pasts deliver across the Baltic states.
03+−Internet speedMbps, median fixed downloadPrague30.1Rigastronger34

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

Prague

M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Czechia

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Median of 343 daily country medians, 957,549 download tests (2023 — latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API; 2025/2026 files not yet published).
Notes
M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style figures (Czech fixed broadband commonly markets 100–1000 Mbps) — comparable only within this criterion.

Riga

M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Latvia

Open data

Data as of
Dec 31, 2023
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for LV in 2023 (18,575 download tests; daily medians ranged 10.1-63.2 Mbps). 2023 is the year used across the dataset.
Notes
M-Lab NDT is a single-stream test and reads well below advertised fibre speeds; it is comparable only within this criterion.

10

Language

1 verified fact
01+−English proficiencyPragueHighRigaHigh

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

Prague

EF EPI 2025 (rank 23/123, score 582 — High band)

Research

Data as of
Nov 1, 2025
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Notes
Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Czechia rank 23/123, score 582, EF 'High'/B2 band. English is broadly workable in Prague/Brno and the service and tech sectors, thinner in smaller towns and public offices. Czech is the sole official language.

Riga

EF English Proficiency Index 2025 — Latvia (rank 16/123, score 598, High band)

Research

Data as of
Nov 1, 2025
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Notes
Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Latvia ranks 16th of 123 with 598 points, at the top of EF's High band and two points short of Very High (600); the global average is 488 and Riga scores 611. By skill: reading 605, listening 586, writing 551, speaking 542. Banded 'high' rather than 'very-high' because Latvian is the sole official language (State Language Law, art. 3(1)) and state and municipal bodies accept documents only in Latvian, a foreign-language document needing a translation (art. 10(2)-(3), likumi.lv/ta/id/14740), so English will not carry a resident through every government office. Eurostat's Adult Education Survey 2022 (self-reported, not English-specific) shows 95.0% of 25-64-year-olds in Latvia know at least one foreign language, and Eurostat attributes the high share among older people to Russian and among younger people to English.

11

Education

1 verified fact
01+−International schoolsaccredited international schools, countPraguestronger9Riga6

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

Prague

Accreditor registries (IB World Schools, AEFE, German ZfA, CIS/COBIS/BSO, Cambridge International) — per-school verification

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jul 4, 2026
Verified
Jul 4, 2026
Method
Count of Prague-metro schools each individually confirmed against a qualifying accreditor: (1) International School of Prague — CIS + NEASC, IB continuum (ibo.org/en/school/000889); (2) The English College in Prague — IB DP (ibo.org/en/school/000821); (3) Prague British International School / Nord Anglia — IB DP (ibo.org/en/school/001042); (4) Park Lane International School — IB PYP/MYP/DP (ibo.org/en/school/052209); (5) Nový PORG — IB DP + Cambridge (ibo.org/en/school/004534); (6) Riverside School — CIS + IB + COBIS + BSO (school accreditation page); (7) Lycée français de Prague — AEFE-homologated, all levels (aefe.gouv.fr); (8) Deutsche Schule Prag — German ZfA-recognized Auslandsschule, 'Excellent German School Abroad' seal; (9) Meridian International School — British Schools Overseas (ISI BSO report), Cambridge International pathway. Aggregator sites were used only to find candidates, not as the recorded source.
Notes
Verified FLOOR of 9 (±2). The IB find-an-ib-school finder and some accreditor registries returned 403 to automated fetches, so each school was confirmed via its own IB school-detail page, accreditor report, or accreditor's official listing rather than a single directory pull. Additional Prague schools may hold qualifying accreditation but were not each individually verified this cycle (e.g. Christian International School of Prague is ACSI/MSA-accredited — a US regional/faith accreditor, not on the IB/Cambridge/AEFE/German/CIS/COBIS list — so it is excluded from this strict count).

Riga

CIS membership directory, AEFE school directory and Internet Archive captures of IB school profiles

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Oct 19, 2026
Verified
Oct 19, 2026
Method
Count for the Riga metro area = 4 schools in the city + 2 in Piņķi (Babīte, about 12 km west of the centre, in Mārupe municipality). Read directly at an accreditor on 2026-10-19: the Council of International Schools member directory (queried the way its own map does) lists three Latvian members, all "Accredited" — International School of Riga (Kalnciema iela 118, Riga; IB DP and PYP, IB code 002334), and International School of Latvia (001796) and Exupery International School (060211), both in Piņķi — and the AEFE directory lists one school in Latvia, Lycée français international Jules-Verne de Riga (Patversmes iela 20; 529 pupils, all 15 levels homologated). Two state schools are counted on Internet Archive captures of their IB profiles, because ibo.org answers our requests with a Cloudflare challenge: Riga State Gymnasium No. 1 (001001, Diploma Programme since 16 July 1997; capture of April 2018) and Riga State Gymnasium No. 2 (050320, DP since 22 July 2014 and MYP since 8 January 2016; capture of November 2019).
Notes
A floor, not a tally. Two more Riga schools appear as IB World Schools only in search-engine views of ibo.org pages, with no live page or capture read: Riga State Gymnasium No. 3 (061962, DP authorised 13 February 2024) and the International Montessori School of Latvia (PYP, December 2024); with them the count would be 8, which fits the IB's Latvia total of 11 schools (9 DP, 5 MYP, 4 PYP, 1 CP, per the IB World Schools Yearbook). COBIS's member file (read 2026-10-19, last modified 30 September 2026) lists no school in Latvia, and the Accredited European Schools list (eursc.eu) has none in Latvia; no German school abroad (ZfA) in Riga was found — the Riga State German Gymnasium is a language-partner school and is not counted. King's College, The British School of Latvia (Mārupe), a UK-curriculum school the Yearbook advertises, appears in none of these registries and is not counted. The International School of Riga's own site calls itself "the only IB World School in Riga", which the IB profiles of the state gymnasia contradict.