Cairovs
EdinburghCairo vs Edinburgh: cost, size & quality of life compared
Trying to decide between Cairo and Edinburgh? Here's the honest bottom line first — then the full, sourced breakdown on cost of living, salary, safety and quality of life.
Edinburgh comes out ahead overall — by a clear margin.
But the "winner" depends on what you care about. Here's who takes each dimension:
EdinburghCairoEdinburghEdinburghComposite scores
Overall: Edinburgh wins by 1.3 points
Population & size
Is Cairo bigger than Edinburgh?
Cairo is the bigger city: about 10M people versus Edinburgh's 510k — roughly 20× larger.
City-proper / metro population estimates. Size is one input — scroll on for cost of living, salary equivalence and quality-of-life scoring.
National income
Is Cairo richer than Edinburgh?
The two sit on different measures, so we are not ranking them: Egypt is reported as income per capita (GNI, PPP) ($18,230), United Kingdom as average annual wage ($63,691). A full-time wage and a whole-population income per head are not the same quantity.
Country-level figures — Cairo is not Egypt and Edinburgh is not United Kingdom, and both cities typically pay above their national average. Gross, before tax: see take-home pay by country for what lands in the account.
Distance
How far is Cairo from Edinburgh?
Cairo is about 3,940 km (2,450 mi) from Edinburgh in a straight line — roughly 5 h 25 m of nonstop flight time.
Great-circle distance, not a routed itinerary; flight estimate assumes ~850 km/h cruise plus 45 minutes of taxi, climb and descent.
Climate
Is Cairo warmer than Edinburgh?
Cairo is the warmer city: January highs average 19°C vs 6°C, and July 35°C vs 19°C. Cairo gets noticeably more sun — about 2,090 more sunshine hours per year.
| Month | Cairo | Edinburgh |
|---|---|---|
| January (high / low) | 19° / 9°C | 6° / 1°C |
| July (high / low) | 35° / 22°C | 19° / 11°C |
Hot desert — effectively rainless. Very hot summers (35°C+ for months), mild sunny winters. Spring khamsin dust storms are the seasonal hazard.
Oceanic, cool. Mild winters by latitude standards but extremely cloudy; cool summers with long daylight (~17h in June). Wind is the defining factor.
Edinburgh edges Cairo by just 0.3 points, but that slim margin masks Cairo's significantly larger population density and informal economy that formal metrics struggle to capture accurately.
Both cities score below 6.0, placing them in the lower-middle range globally, yet Edinburgh's higher score reflects developed-nation infrastructure rather than livability advantage for most residents.
Don't rely solely on these aggregate scores when choosing between them; dig into specific metrics like housing affordability, public transit reliability, and safety data that drive the actual daily experience difference.
Data signals
What separates Cairo and Edinburgh
How decisive
Edinburgh comes out ahead by 1.3 composite points — a clear edge.
Biggest difference
The widest gap is healthcare, where Edinburgh leads by 4.9 points.
Where they match
They're most evenly matched on remote-work friendliness — within 0.9 points of each other.
Overall cost gap
Total monthly costs in Edinburgh run about 328% higher than in Cairo.
Where budgets split most
Utilities is the line item that diverges most: roughly 1245% pricier in Edinburgh than Cairo.
Size difference
Cairo is the larger metro — about 19.6× the population of the other, which shapes commute times, housing supply and how "big-city" daily life feels.
Home internet
Edinburgh has the faster typical broadband (170 vs 40 Mbps median) — worth weighing if you work remotely or move large files.
Safety
Edinburgh scores higher on safety (65 vs 55 / 100) — a common deciding factor for families.
Score-by-score, side-by-side
Each axis is scored independently with disclosed weights and a calculation string.
The exact scores and winners:
| Axis | Cairo | Edinburgh | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Affordability | 9.2 | 5.9 | Cairo +3.3 |
| Quality of life | 4.5 | 7.1 | Edinburgh +2.6 |
| Remote-work friendliness | 5.6 | 6.5 | Edinburgh +0.9 |
| Healthcare | 3.4 | 8.3 | Edinburgh +4.9 |
Each axis is a weighted aggregate of underlying indicators normalized to a 0–10 scale. Weights are explicit and disclosed per axis. The composite is the unweighted mean of the four axes — axes are not collapsed further because the underlying trade-offs (e.g. low cost vs poor air quality) are user-dependent.
Affordability
- Cost-of-living index (weight 60%)10
- Rent index (weight 40%)5
How this is calculated
Affordability = ((100 − costIndex)/100 × 0.6 + (100 − rentIndex)/100 × 0.4) × 10. For Cairo: ((100 − 10)/100 × 0.6 + (100 − 5)/100 × 0.4) × 10 = 9.2.
Cairo sits well below the New York baseline on both cost-of-living and rent. Budgets stretch further here than in benchmark Tier-1 cities.
Quality of life
- Safety index (weight 40%)55
- Healthcare index (weight 35%)48
- Air quality index (weight 25%)25
How this is calculated
QoL = (safety/100 × 0.4 + healthcare/100 × 0.35 + airQuality/100 × 0.25) × 10. For Cairo: (55/100 × 0.4 + 48/100 × 0.35 + 25/100 × 0.25) × 10 = 4.5.
Cairo has a mixed quality profile. Safety: good; healthcare: fair; air: poor. Weigh the weakest axis against your personal priorities.
Remote-work friendliness
- Internet (median Mbps) (weight 45%)40 Mbps
- Effective income tax (lower = better) (weight 30%)10.0%
- Cost-of-living (lower = better) (weight 25%)10
How this is calculated
RemoteWork = (min(Mbps/300, 1) × 0.45 + (1 − incomeTax) × 0.3 + (100 − costIndex)/100 × 0.25) × 10. For Cairo: (min(40/300, 1) × 0.45 + (1 − 0.1) × 0.3 + (100 − 10)/100 × 0.25) × 10 = 5.6.
Cairo works for remote work but isn't optimized for it: internet 40 Mbps, income tax 10%, cost index 10.
Healthcare
- Healthcare quality index (weight 70%)48
- Healthcare out-of-pocket / month (lower = better) (weight 30%)1387
How this is calculated
Healthcare = (qualityIndex/100 × 0.7 + max(0, 1 − OOP/500) × 0.3) × 10. For Cairo: (48/100 × 0.7 + max(0, 1 − 1387/500) × 0.3) × 10 = 3.4.
Cairo has trade-offs in healthcare: quality is fair, typical out-of-pocket cost is ~1387 EGP/month. Cross-border insurance closes the gap.
Each axis is a weighted aggregate of underlying indicators normalized to a 0–10 scale. Weights are explicit and disclosed per axis. The composite is the unweighted mean of the four axes — axes are not collapsed further because the underlying trade-offs (e.g. low cost vs poor air quality) are user-dependent.
Affordability
- Cost-of-living index (weight 60%)45
- Rent index (weight 40%)35
How this is calculated
Affordability = ((100 − costIndex)/100 × 0.6 + (100 − rentIndex)/100 × 0.4) × 10. For Edinburgh: ((100 − 45)/100 × 0.6 + (100 − 35)/100 × 0.4) × 10 = 5.9.
Edinburgh is mid-range on absolute cost. Affordability is reasonable but not its main advantage.
Quality of life
- Safety index (weight 40%)65
- Healthcare index (weight 35%)75
- Air quality index (weight 25%)75
How this is calculated
QoL = (safety/100 × 0.4 + healthcare/100 × 0.35 + airQuality/100 × 0.25) × 10. For Edinburgh: (65/100 × 0.4 + 75/100 × 0.35 + 75/100 × 0.25) × 10 = 7.1.
Edinburgh scores good on safety, good on healthcare and good on air. The composite quality-of-life signal is strong.
Remote-work friendliness
- Internet (median Mbps) (weight 45%)170 Mbps
- Effective income tax (lower = better) (weight 30%)14.8%
- Cost-of-living (lower = better) (weight 25%)45
How this is calculated
RemoteWork = (min(Mbps/300, 1) × 0.45 + (1 − incomeTax) × 0.3 + (100 − costIndex)/100 × 0.25) × 10. For Edinburgh: (min(170/300, 1) × 0.45 + (1 − 0.1478) × 0.3 + (100 − 45)/100 × 0.25) × 10 = 6.5.
Edinburgh works for remote work but isn't optimized for it: internet 170 Mbps, income tax 15%, cost index 45.
Healthcare
- Healthcare quality index (weight 70%)75
- Healthcare out-of-pocket / month (lower = better) (weight 30%)0
How this is calculated
Healthcare = (qualityIndex/100 × 0.7 + max(0, 1 − OOP/500) × 0.3) × 10. For Edinburgh: (75/100 × 0.7 + max(0, 1 − 0/500) × 0.3) × 10 = 8.3.
Edinburgh combines good system quality with a manageable out-of-pocket cost (~0 GBP/month). Travel insurance still recommended for non-residents.
Monthly cost delta: Cairo vs Edinburgh
Normalized to EGP at 1 GBP = 62.3309 EGP.
| Category | Cairo | Edinburgh | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| housing | EGP 11,441 | £1,217 | +563% |
| food | EGP 8,670 | £279 | +101% |
| transport | EGP 400 | £73 | +1038% |
| utilities | EGP 1,302 | £281 | +1245% |
| leisure | EGP 7,803 | £279 | +123% |
| healthcare | EGP 1,387 | £0 | -100% |
Where each city's money goes
Two cities can have the same monthly total but very different shapes — one might burn 50% on housing while the other splits more evenly. The composition matters as much as the headline.
The biggest shape difference is housing: Edinburgh spends 20.3 percentage points more of its budget on it (57% vs. 37%). If you're sensitive to that category, weight the per-axis scores accordingly.
Buying property
Apartment prices: Cairo vs Edinburgh
Approximate asking prices in EUR per square meter (as of 2025-01), central vs mid-distance neighborhoods.
Buying in central Cairo runs about 85% cheaper per square meter (€800/m² vs €5,500/m²).
Midpoints of public listing ranges — a scoping number for rent-vs-buy thinking, not a valuation. Renting comparisons live in the cost table above.
Getting around
Public transport: Cairo vs Edinburgh
Monthly pass and casual-ride pricing in EUR (as of 2025-01) plus the modes each network runs.
Africa's oldest metro at distance-tiered fares (E£8-20); the monthly abonnement is among the cheapest anywhere. Line 3 now reaches the Heliopolis side.
Single ride: €0.34 · Modes: Metro, Bus
Lothian Buses Ridacard; one tram line plus dense bus network. Compact enough that most residents walk or cycle.
Day pass: €5 · Modes: Tram, Bus
Salary equivalence: Cairo ↔ Edinburgh
What earning the same purchasing power costs in each city. Cost-adjusted using the local cost-of-living index (Cairo = 10, Edinburgh = 45); currency-converted at 1 GBP = 62.3309 EGP. Tax differences are not modeled.
| Cairo gross | Edinburgh equivalent |
|---|---|
| EGP 40,000 | £2,888 |
| EGP 75,000 | £5,415 |
| EGP 120,000 | £8,663 |
| Edinburgh gross | Cairo equivalent |
|---|---|
| £40,000 | EGP 554,053 |
| £75,000 | EGP 1,038,849 |
| £120,000 | EGP 1,662,158 |
Equivalence here means same cost-of-living purchasing power, not same net take-home. Effective tax rates differ between countries; a salary equivalent on cost can still net more or less depending on the destination's tax regime. Use the calculator for tax-adjusted figures at a specific lifestyle tier.
Pros and cons
Why pick Cairo
- Wins on affordability (+3.3 points vs Edinburgh).
Why pick Edinburgh
- Wins on quality of life (+2.6 points vs Cairo).
- Wins on remote-work friendliness (+0.9 points vs Cairo).
- Wins on healthcare (+4.9 points vs Cairo).
Cairo trade-offs
- Trails Edinburgh on quality of life by 2.6 points.
- Trails Edinburgh on remote-work friendliness by 0.9 points.
- Trails Edinburgh on healthcare by 4.9 points.
Edinburgh trade-offs
- Trails Cairo on affordability by 3.3 points.
Remote work logistics
Time zones and language: Cairo vs Edinburgh
Cairo (Africa/Cairo) and Edinburgh (Europe/London) sit 2 hours apart in standard time. A 9-to-5 in one overlaps the other's for 6 hours a day.
Official: Arabic · English: Moderate · Local language: Recommended
Egyptian Arabic is the street language; English is moderate in business, Zamalek/Maadi expat districts and among educated professionals. Bureaucracy is Arabic — a fixer is standard.
Official: English, Scots, Scottish Gaelic · English: Native-equivalent · Local language: Not needed
English-native. Scots is a recognized regional language and Scottish Gaelic has official status but neither is required for daily life or work.
Who should choose which
The composite winner doesn't always match what matters to you. These four reader profiles weigh the axes differently — find the closest fit.
Single, salaried remote worker, 25-40, optimizing for runway + bandwidth.
Axes scored: affordability, remoteWork
Couple with school-age children, prioritizing safety, healthcare, and air quality.
Axes scored: qualityOfLife, healthcare
Fixed income, healthcare-sensitive, prefers low cost and stable infrastructure.
Axes scored: healthcare, qualityOfLife, affordability
Salary stretch matters most. Cuts everything else if it lowers the burn rate.
Axes scored: affordability
Profiles use simple axis averaging — for a deeper read with your own weights, use the per-axis breakdown above.
Going deeper
Visa landscape for both countries — and case studies that touch this corridor.
Tools that work for either choice
Some links below are affiliate links — if you sign up we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
How this page is calculated
Data sources
- Mundevo per-city dataset. Cost basket, rent index, safety, healthcare, air quality and median internet for both cities. Reference date: 2026-06-10 (Cairo) and 2026-05-28 (Edinburgh).
- FX rate. 1 GBP = 62.3309 EGP, used to normalize cost baskets.
- CityScoreCalculator. Four axes (Affordability, Quality of life, Remote work, Healthcare) computed with explicit weights and explanations. See per-axis calculation strings rendered on this page.
- ComparisonService. Per-category cost deltas (housing, food, transport, utilities, leisure, healthcare) normalized to the origin currency.
Update cadence
Data as of . Last reviewed .
Calculation
For each of the four axes we compute an independent 0–10 score using the formulas printed beside each axis. The composite is the unweighted mean of the four axes. The overall winner is the city with the higher composite, unless the margin is under 0.05 points — in which case Cairo is shown first as a tiebreaker to keep results stable.
Limitations
- Climate is not scored — we don't yet hold a maintained climate dataset, so weather-driven preferences are not modeled.
- Tax differences between cities in the same country are not modeled (Spain and Germany don't have material regional differences for this dataset).
- Indices are population-level. Personal cost varies with neighborhood, employer benefits and family status.
- Quality-of-life axis weights (safety 0.4 / healthcare 0.35 / air 0.25) are editorial defaults — readers with strong preferences should re-weight manually.
Frequently asked questions
Cairo vs Edinburgh: which is cheaper?
Cairo is roughly 328% cheaper than Edinburgh on the monthly cost basket (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare). Cairo has cost index 10 vs Edinburgh at 45 (both with New York = 100).
Which city has better quality of life?
Cairo scores 5.7/10 on the Mundevo composite versus Edinburgh at 7.0/10. The composite weights safety (40%), healthcare (35%) and air quality (25%). Edinburgh wins overall by 1.3 points.
Is Cairo or Edinburgh better for remote work?
Cairo has 40 Mbps median internet vs Edinburgh at 170 Mbps. The four-axis decision rubric on this page (affordability, quality of life, remote work, healthcare) gives a per-dimension breakdown rather than a single answer.
Is Cairo bigger than Edinburgh?
Cairo is larger — about 10.0M people versus Edinburgh's 510k, roughly 19.6× the size.
Is Cairo safer than Edinburgh?
Edinburgh scores higher on safety — 65 vs 55 / 100 on the Mundevo safety index (crime and personal-security signals).
Should I move to Cairo or Edinburgh?
It depends on what you weight. Edinburgh wins the overall Mundevo composite by 1.3 points, but Cairo is cheaper, and the two split differently across affordability, quality of life, remote work and healthcare. Use the per-axis table and the reader-profile section above to match the verdict to your own priorities.