Living in Odense, Hans Christian Andersen's hometown on the island of Funen

Finding your people: International Community Odense, the city's service for newcomers, helps skilled international employees of Odense companies and their families with registration, daycare, language classes and, through its First Home Service, the apartment hunt. Most of its events are free and open to anyone. Partners get a Partner Career Adviser and seasonal job cafés, and the University of Southern Denmark runs a twice-monthly spouse café with the city. For English-speaking social life outside work, people also use the SDU International Club, Odense International Toastmasters and the Internationals in Odense Facebook group.

LGBTQ+ life: The scene is smaller and quieter than Copenhagen's. Odense Pride was first held in May 2021. Lambda, the local LGBTQ association, has long been the main meeting point. Young LGBTQ+ locals interviewed that year said the city lacked the visible role models the capital has, so expect to build community through associations rather than a gay district.

Black Americans: Odense's Black community is small, and we didn't find a group for Black Americans in the city's list of international networks. A Black American living in Copenhagen told Travel Noire in 2020 that he still feels Black everywhere he goes, but being American made Danes warm up to him faster, and he credited stricter gun laws for feeling safer. The International Community calendar and university networks are the practical place to start.

Seeing a doctor: You join the public health system once you register your address and get a CPR number, and you pick your family doctor at registration. Your yellow health insurance card comes by mail, so put your name on your mailbox. Family doctor visits, emergency wards and public hospitals are free; adult dental care isn't, and prescriptions are only partly subsidized. After 4 p.m., overnight and on weekends, call the Southern Denmark out-of-hours line at 70 11 07 07. Odense University Hospital has every medical specialty on one site. Its replacement next to the university is behind schedule: as of August 2026, patients won't move in by autumn 2027 as planned, and no new date has been set.

School options: Odense International School, founded in 2011, shares a city-center site with Henriette Hørlücks School and teaches children ages 5 to 16 in English. It charges tuition. Public school is free from the year a child turns 6, and newcomers get Danish lessons in an integration class until they're ready for regular classes.

Working remotely: Internet runs about $40 a month, and Spaces and Regus both have coworking in the city. Denmark is six hours ahead of New York, so East Coast calls land in your afternoon and evening.

Limited mobility: Getting around is workable with some planning. The light rail is step-free at stops and on board, which helps with wheelchairs and walkers, and the center's pedestrian streets mean less fighting with traffic. Before you sign a lease, check the buildings and places you'll use on God Adgang, the Danish register that certifies venues for accessibility and lets you filter by wheelchair use.

Retiring here: A gentler pace, free public healthcare once you're registered, and costs well under Copenhagen's make Odense appealing to retirees. Getting a permit is the hard part. Denmark has no retirement visa and no permit for financially independent people from outside the EU, so most American retirees qualify only through a partner. See our Denmark family reunification guide, the full guide to moving to Denmark, and our retirement visa hub for countries with a retiree route.