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How could you move to Hungary?
Without an EU passport, a move to Hungary starts with a visa or residence permit. Move Me To EU, Karte Global's visa and relocation service, compares the visa routes open to Americans in Hungary and across the EU.
Have a parent or grandparent from Germany, Italy, Ireland or Poland? You may have a claim to EU citizenship by descent, which carries the right to live in Hungary. A 30-minute screening call tells you whether a closer look is worthwhile.
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Best places to live in Hungary with every factor weighted equally
The ranking at the top of this page starts with all 13 factors at the same weight. On that footing, these 15 of the 63 places score highest; the number beside each is its match score out of 100. Treat the list as a starting point, not a verdict: raise the factors you care about and the order changes. Select a place to open its full breakdown.
- 187Strongest on international community (100), healthcare (100) and long-distance trains (100). Weakest on housing cost (0). International community: 10.6% of residents were born outside Hungary (2021 census grid) (average of the places listed 7.1%).
- 272Strongest on healthcare (100), international schools (100) and airport access (96). Weakest on housing cost (0). Healthcare: 28 hospital sites within 15 km.
- 368Strongest on international community (100), restaurants and bars (100) and cultural scene (96). Weakest on international schools (29). International community: 9.3% of residents were born outside Hungary (2021 census grid) (average of the places listed 7.1%).
- 468Strongest on cultural scene (100), international schools (100) and safety (91). Weakest on housing cost (11). Cultural scene: the average resident has 23.9 museums, theatres, cinemas and galleries within 3 km.
- 566Strongest on healthcare (100), international schools (100) and international community (99). Weakest on bike friendliness (18). Healthcare: 27 hospital sites within 15 km.
- 664Strongest on long-distance trains (91), access to nature (90) and walkability (89). Weakest on international schools (0). Long-distance trains: 76 long-distance departures a day (main station Tatabánya). Budapest 44 min.
- 764Strongest on safety (91), airport access (87) and long-distance trains (86). Weakest on international schools (29). Safety: 49.4 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, 2024 (Hungarian average 79.8). Figure for Pest county: none is published for the town alone.
- 862Strongest on cultural scene (100), restaurants and bars (97) and walkability (95). Weakest on international schools (0). Cultural scene: the average resident has 22.9 museums, theatres, cinemas and galleries within 3 km.
- 961Strongest on restaurants and bars (100), safety (86) and bike friendliness (85). Weakest on international schools (0). Restaurants and bars: the average resident has 26 restaurants, cafes and bars within 1 km.
- 1060Strongest on walkability (100), cultural scene (92) and access to nature (91). Weakest on international schools (0). Walkability: the average resident can walk to 3.0 of 4 daily needs.
- 1159Strongest on healthcare (100), international schools (100) and safety (91). Weakest on housing cost (7). Healthcare: 11 hospital sites within 15 km.
- 1259Strongest on airport access (100), long-distance trains (97) and international schools (96). Weakest on public transit (12). Airport access: 14 min by public transport to Budapest Airport.
- 1357Strongest on walkability (100), restaurants and bars (87) and housing cost (79). Weakest on international schools (0). Walkability: the average resident can walk to 3.4 of 4 daily needs.
- 1457Strongest on access to nature (98), safety (91) and airport access (87). Weakest on public transit (23). Access to nature: 28.2% of the land within 1 km of homes is park, forest or open nature. Citywide: 55.1%.
- 1557Strongest on walkability (98), housing cost (81) and access to nature (79). Weakest on international community (26). Walkability: the average resident can walk to 3.0 of 4 daily needs.
Best places in Hungary by priority
Each starting point is a preset in the tool above. It raises the factors named and lowers a few others. The five highest-scoring places under each:
Family raises safety, access to nature and international schools to 5, and healthcare and walkability to 4.
- Budakeszi, Pest: 87
- Budapest: 87
- Budaörs, Pest: 86
- Szentendre, Pest: 78
- Fót, Pest: 76
Budget first raises housing cost to 5, and bike friendliness, healthcare, long-distance trains, public transit and walkability to 4.
- Budapest: 69
- Tatabánya, Komárom-Esztergom: 69
- Miskolc, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén: 67
- Szeged, Csongrád-Csanád: 66
- Székesfehérvár, Fejér: 63
Car-free raises bike friendliness, public transit and walkability to 5, and long-distance trains to 4.
- Budapest: 87
- Szeged, Csongrád-Csanád: 72
- Székesfehérvár, Fejér: 72
- Tatabánya, Komárom-Esztergom: 70
- Veszprém: 70
Frequent flyer raises long-distance trains and airport access to 5, and international community, restaurants and bars and cultural scene to 4.
- Budapest: 100
- Budaörs, Pest: 77
- Székesfehérvár, Fejér: 74
- Vecsés, Pest: 74
- Szentendre, Pest: 72
Questions about where to live in Hungary
What is the best place to live in Hungary?
It depends on what you need from a place, which is why the Hungary City Finder re-ranks as you set your priorities. With all 13 factors weighted equally, Budapest, Budaörs and Szeged score highest of the 63 places compared. Change the starting point and the answer changes: Family puts Budakeszi and Budapest level at the top, Budget first puts Budapest and Tatabánya level at the top, Car-free puts Budapest first and Frequent flyer puts Budapest first.
What are the best places to live in Hungary for families?
The Family starting point raises safety, access to nature and international schools to 5, and healthcare and walkability to 4. With it, Budakeszi, Budapest, Budaörs, Szentendre and Fót score highest.
Which places in Hungary are easiest to live in without a car?
The Car-free starting point raises bike friendliness, public transit and walkability to 5, and long-distance trains to 4. With it, Budapest, Szeged, Székesfehérvár, Tatabánya and Veszprém score highest.
Where is housing most affordable in Hungary?
On the housing cost factor, the highest scores go to Salgótarján, Ózd, Orosháza, Komló and Makó. Salgótarján: average sale price 206,000 Ft per m², second-hand homes, 2023 and 2024 average (949 sales).
Which places in Hungary score highest for safety?
On the safety factor, the highest scores go to Zalaegerszeg, Nagykanizsa, Keszthely, Hévíz and Érd. Zalaegerszeg: 47.7 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, 2024 (Hungarian average 79.8). Figure for Zala county: none is published for the town alone. The safety score is built from official crime figures. A low score means more recorded crime than other places on this list, not that a place is unsafe; How the scores work explains the measure.
Where does the data come from?
The Hungary City Finder compares 63 places on 13 factors using official statistics and open data. The figure behind every score is shown beside it, and each source is listed under How the scores work and at the foot of this page. The methodology sets out how every city finder turns figures into scores.
Does the City Finder tell me whether I can move to Hungary?
No. It is an informational research tool that compares places using general statistics. It does not assess eligibility for any visa, residence permit or citizenship, and nothing in it is legal, immigration, tax or financial advice. For visa and residence routes, see Move Me To EU.
About the Hungary City Finder
The Hungary City Finder compares 63 places across Hungary on 13 factors: housing cost, safety, bike friendliness, access to nature, international community, healthcare, long-distance trains, airport access, public transit, restaurants and bars, cultural scene, walkability and international schools. Every factor starts at the same weight. Raise the ones you care about, lower or switch off the ones you don't, and the ranking and map re-sort as you go. You can shortlist places, compare them side by side, and copy a link that reopens your exact setup. Budapest opens up into its neighborhoods.
It is built for Americans weighing a move to Hungary, whether through citizenship by descent, a visa or another route, who want to turn a long list of places into a shortlist worth visiting. Budapest, Debrecen and Szeged are on the list, and so are smaller places that rarely make the usual rankings. Scores are built from official statistics and open data, the figure behind each score is shown next to it, and the sources are listed at the foot of this page. The methodology explains how a figure becomes a score.
For visa and residence routes, see Move Me To EU, Karte Global's visa and relocation practice. Considering more than one country? Browse every city finder, or compare places across the whole EU on one scale in the EU City Finder.
How the scores work
Each figure is turned into a 0 to 100 score. Most factors are scored half by comparison and half on a fixed scale. The comparison half ranks the places against each other: the weakest twentieth score 0 and the strongest twentieth score 100. The fixed half measures each place from zero up to the level of the strongest, so a city is not marked zero merely for coming last on a list of good options. Housing cost and journey times have no natural zero and are scored by comparison only. Public transit is already a percentage of residents and is used as it stands, and cycling is scored on a fixed scale (see the table).
Cities are compared with the other cities on this list. Neighborhoods are compared only with other neighborhoods of the same city, so a neighborhood's score says how it compares within Budapest only. A score is a comparison, not a grade, and the figure behind every score is shown next to it.
Your overall match is not a flat average. Weights are squared, so a factor at 5 counts nearly three times as much as one at 3. The result is stretched so that strong matches separate from middling ones. A place that excels on something you rated 4 or 5 earns a small bonus, shown as "strong fit"; one that does badly on it takes a penalty, shown as "weak fit". Where a place has no figure for a factor, that factor is left out of its match and the others carry the weight.
Badges: Measured a published official statistic or survey result. Derived calculated by us from published data. Editorial written or judged by us: only the short notes, which never affect a score. Planned not in the score yet.
Reading the safety score. Only violent crime is counted: intentional homicide, assault and robbery, because no burglary figure is published for Hungary in the European table. Half of the score ranks the places on this list against each other. The other half uses a fixed scale on which the Hungarian average of 79.8 violent crimes per 100,000 residents scores 75. Figures are published by county, so towns in the same county score the same, and Budapest's districts are not scored for safety.
Reading the train and airport figures. Train counts and journey times come from the published timetables for one ordinary Tuesday, 17 November 2026. Engineering works and timetable changes move these figures, most of all for smaller stations. Only long-distance trains are counted: MÁV InterCity and the international trains. Stations within 2 km of a town's boundary count, so a town beside a big station shares its trains. Miskolc's city buses and trams are not in the open timetable feeds, so Miskolc has no public transit figure. Treat these factors as a snapshot of this season, and check a route you would rely on.
Neighborhood view uses Budapest's 23 districts, with their 2026 populations and 2023 to 2024 home prices. The share born outside Hungary in each district is estimated from the 2021 census grid of 1 km squares, so figures near district edges are approximate. Town boundaries are those mapped in OpenStreetMap.