Brussels

Quality of life in Brussels

By Katre Liis Kallas

Life in Brussels is a culturally rich, central-European adventure offering a high quality of life. Home to much of the European Union infrastructure, it attracts a diverse population, while maintaining its distinct identity. You can go hiking in the woods, attend various cultural events and talk to people of multiple nationalities in a single day. The key districts of Brussels are well connected by a quality transportation network, but its compact size also allows for navigation by foot and all the opportunities that creates.

Brussels is one of the top ten city matches for 0.4% of Teleport users.

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Life quality score

City ranking

Housing

6
155/265
Details
Large apartment$1400.00
Medium apartment$1200.00
Rent index [score]0.64
Small apartment$880.00

Cost of Living

4
214/248
Details
5km taxi ride$11.00
A Cappuccino$3.50
A beer$2.40
A kilogram of Apples$2.60
Bread$1.00
Inflation [score]0.45
Lunch$19.00
Monthly fitness club membership$49.00
Monthly public transport$64.00
Movie ticket$12.00
Price of a meal at a restaurant$89.64

Startups

6
72/264
Details
Average monthly increase in number of startups7
Average monthly increase in number of startups [score]0.47
Coworking spaces [score]0.72
Coworking spaces on WorkFrom.co36
Meetups [score]0.70
Meetups groups199
Meetups members92818
Number of investors52
Number of startup events in the last 12 months690
Number of upcoming meetup events57
Startup climate scene [score]0.59
Startup events190
Startup events [score]0.77
Startups [score]0.67
Total number of startups262

Venture Capital

3
82/192
Details
Venture capital [score]0.34

Travel Connectivity

7
15/266
Details
Airport hub189
Airport hub [score]0.80
Intercity train connectivity [score]0.69

Commute

5
97/255
Details
Human city pagehttp://cities.human.co/details/Belgium/Brussels
Traffic handling [score]0.75

Business Freedom

9
63/264
Details
Business freedom85.40
Business freedom [score]0.88
Freedom from corruption76.00
Freedom from corruption [score]0.82
Lack of labor restrictions60.50
Lack of labor restrictions [score]0.46
Time to open a business4.00
Time to open a business [score]0.97

Safety

7
174/266
Details
Crime rate [score]0.43
Gun-related deaths per 100,000 residents per year2
Guns per 100 residents17
Lack of gun related deaths [score]0.95
Lack of guns [score]0.91
Lack of guns and gun-related deaths [score]0.93

Healthcare

9
62/265
Details
Healthcare expenditure [score]0.86
Healthcare quality [score]0.92
Life expectancy (years)81.06
Life expectancy [score]0.86

Education

7
22/240
Details
Best university in rankingKU Leuven
Best university ranking40
Country mean scores in PISA math test518.81
Country mean scores in PISA reading test508.62
Country mean scores in PISA science test504.87
PISA math ranking (high school)13
PISA ranking15
PISA ranking (high school) [score]0.83
PISA reading (high school)14
PISA science (high school)16
Percent of happy students0.82
Percent of low performers in PISA math test0.19
Percent of low performers in PISA reading test0.16
Percent of low performers in PISA science test0.18
Percent of top performers in PISA math test0.20
Percent of top performers in PISA reading test0.12
Percent of top performers in PISA science test0.09
University quality [score]0.51

Environmental Quality

5
187/266
Details
Air quality [score]0.37
Cleanliness [score]0.29
Drinking water quality [score]0.51
Urban greenery [score]0.67

Economy

5
158/263
Details
Currency exchange rate per US dollar for urban area0.85
Currency for urban areaEUR
GDP growth rate0.01
GDP growth rate [score]0.27
GDP per capita$42973.43
GDP per capita [score]0.69

Taxation

2
260/266
Details
Effective company profit tax rate on payouts as dividends [score]0.28
Income tax level [score]0.10
Profit tax (% of profit)0.59
Time overhead to file company taxes161
VAT (Sales Tax)0.21

Internet Access

8
31/266
Details
Download speed (Mbps)78.88
Internet access (download) [score]0.77
Internet access (upload) [score]0.74
Upload speed (Mbps)23.19

Leisure & Culture

8
33/264
Details
Art galleries352
Art galleries [score]0.83
Cinemas191
Cinemas [score]0.75
Comedy clubs245
Comedy clubs [score]0.92
Concert venues355
Concerts [score]0.94
Historical sites267
Historical sites [score]0.84
Museums174
Museums [score]0.79
Performing art venues300
Performing arts [score]0.93
Sport venues220
Sports [score]0.98
Zoos31
Zoos [score]0.92

Tolerance

6
175/266
Details
LGBT Equality Index92.26
LGBT Equality Index [score]0.95
LGBT adoption rights✔ Legal
LGBT age of consent✔ Equal
LGBT blood donation regulations✖ Banned (indefinite deferral)
LGBT conversion therapy regulations✔ Banned
LGBT discrimination legality✔ Illegal
LGBT employment discrimination legality✔ Sexual orientation and gender identity
LGBT gender changing rights✔ Legal, but requires surgery
LGBT homosexuality rights✔ Legal
LGBT housing discrimination legality✔ Sexual orientation and gender identity
LGBT marriage rights✔ Legal
Tolerance towards minorities [score]0.35

Outdoors

4
178/266
Details
Elevation (hills or mountains) [score]0.13
Median peak in meters117.50
Urban area elevation (meters)34.00
Water access [score]0.70
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Cost of living

Costs of living in Brussels are in the most expensive 20 percent of all 248 Teleport cities. Sign up for free to get access to our cost of living index and use our international  cost of living calculator to do cost comparison by city.

Housing costs (USD)

$1,300$1,600
$1400
Median rent for
apartments in city center

Daily living costs (USD)

Monthly fitness club membership$49
Movie ticket$12
Broadband internet connection$44
Monthly public transport$64
Lunch$19
-18%
compared to
San Francisco
See more prices and detailed cost of living data in Brussels

Job salary calculator

Software Engineer salaries in Brussels are below average. For this job type, Brussels ranks 141st for salaries among 265 cities. Get access to our salary comparison calculator by signing up. Compare salaries city by city with our free salary wizard and convert your own salary to a local salary in Brussels.

Estimated annual salary (in USD)

$39,845
Median salary
See more details and salary rankings for all job types in Brussels

Locals review Brussels

Do locals recommend living in Brussels?

What could Brussels do better?#improveBrussels

How could Brussels improve to make it a more liveable city? We will make sure that the local government will know about the suggestions that reach enough votes.
You can be the first! 😊  Tell us something that can be improved about your city.

What makes Brussels a special place?#praiseBrussels

Is Brussels a great place to live? What makes it special for you? What makes it liveable? What should others know about? Why should they move here? Why do you love it?
You can be the first! 😊  Tell us something nice about your city.

Taxation

Personal taxation

Effective income tax rate

38%
For annual salary of $40000
44%
For annual salary of $80000

Value added tax (VAT)

21%
Standard tax rate. Different rates might apply for certain product categories.

Compared to other cities

260/266

Corporate taxation

Compared to other cities

228/263
See more details on taxation in Brussels
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Safety

Gun crimes & Ownership

17.20
Guns per 100 people
1.82
Gun deaths per 100k people / year
HIGH GUN CRIMELOW GUN CRIMEFEW GUNSMANY GUNS
North America
Europe
Asia
South America
Africa
Oceania

Overall crime rate city ranking

The overall crime rate puts Brussels in position 196 of 266 Teleport Cities in a ranking for the safest cities.

WORSTBEST
See more details on gun crime and safety in Brussels

Visa

For visits up to 90 days

Required with citizenship of
Get more information about visas in Brussels here
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People in Brussels

Population of Brussels

2,429,800
1,063 /km²
123/264
Density (people per unit of area)
5%
Growth in 2015-2020
Brussels

Demographics of Belgium

Median age
41
Elderly people
18%
Life expectancy at birth
81
GDP per capita (in USD)
$42,973
123/263
Unemployment
8%
192/264

Languages

English proficiency score
61
135/228
Common spoken languages
Dutch
French

Friends living in Brussels

Find out which of your friends are living in Brussels. Nothing is better than knowing a local 😉

Teleport Users  X  Brussels

Teleport users who are      Brussels

Work in:

Software Engineer
8.01%
Founder
6.41%
Marketing Manager
6.09%
Web Designer
3.53%
Project Manager
3.21%
Operations Manager
2.88%
Web Developer
2.88%
Other
66.99%

Come from:

Climate

Average day length (hours)

12.9

Climate type

Marine West Coast

Average daily maximum temperature

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Impressions from Brussels

2:23 visit.brussels

A video by visit.brussels

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On living in Brussels


Brussels (French: Bruxelles, Dutch: Brussel) is the capital of Belgium and one of the three administrative regions within the country, together with Flanders and Wallonia. Apart from its role within its country, it is also an internationally important city, hosting numerous international institutions, and in particular the core institutions of the European Union. Due to that, it is sometimes referred to informally as the capital of the EU, and even used as a metonym for the EU institutions.

Brussels blends the heritage of a medieval Flemish town with the grandiose projects initiated after it became the capital of what was then a French-speaking country, as well as some impressive modern architecture erected in a large part to house the aforementioned institutions. Brussels is now bi-lingual, hosting and officially recognizing both the Dutch- and French-speaking communities of Belgium, and has become increasingly international with the influx of people of various origin who came there to work, many of them for the European Union. This all makes Brussels a rather unique blend, sprinkled with a number of Belgian peculiarities, and for the inquisitive tourist a large treasure chest to discover.

Read more

Good Country Index

Every city comes with a country. How is this one doing in terms of giving back to the global community? Our friends at The Good Country Index measure what each country on earth contributes to the common good of humanity, and what it takes away, relative to its size.

Overall ranking

Belgium
9th from a total of 163 countries

World Order

18th

Refugees hosted

Refugees generated

Charity giving

Birth rate

UN Treaties signed

International Peace & Security

105th

Dues in arrears to UN peace keeping budgets

International violent conflict

Peacekeeping troops

Arms exports

Internet security (2014)

Planet & Climate

30th

Ecological footprint

Reforestation since 1992

Hazardous pesticides exports

CO2 emissions

Ozone

Prosperity & Equality

6th

Development assistance

FDI outflows

Fairtrade market size

UN volunteers abroad

Open trading

Culture

1st

Freedom of movement

Press freedom

Creative services exports

UNESCO dues in arrears as % of contribution

Creative goods exports

Science & Technology

12th

Nobel prizes

Patents

Journal exports

International publications

International Students

Health & Wellbeing

9th

Pharmaceutical exports

Voluntary excess donations to the WHO

Food aid

Humanitarian aid donations

International Health Regulations Compliance

See details ▽

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