⭐️ Total score | 2.3/5 (Rank #653) |
👍 Quality of life score | Okay |
👶 Family score | Bad |
🎒 Community score | Okay |
💵 Cost | 😙 Affordable: $1,856 / mo |
📡 Internet | 🤬 Unusably slow: 4Mbps (avg) |
😝 Fun | Okay |
⛅️ Temperature (now) | 🥶 A bit cold: 15°C58°F (feels 15°C59°F) |
💦 Humidity (now) | 💦 Damp: 76% |
💨 Air quality (now) | 🌱 Great: 50 US AQI |
💨 Air quality (annual) | 🌱 Good: 72 US AQI |
👌 Safety | Great |
🤮 Food safety* | Good |
👮♀️ Lack of crime* | Great |
🤝 Lack of racism* | Bad |
🎓 Education level* | Mediocre |
⚡️ Power grid | Great |
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change | Good |
💰 Income level* | Very low: $677 / mo |
🙊 English speaking* | Bad |
😤 People density | 🧘♀️ Low density: 4k ppl/km² (1 per 16x16m) |
🚶 Walkability | Great |
✌️ Peace (no pol. conflict) | Okay |
🚦 Traffic safety* | Bad |
🏥 Hospitals | Bad |
😄 Happiness* | Okay |
🍸 Nightlife | Okay |
📶 Free WiFi in city | Good |
🖥 Places to work from | Bad |
❄️ A/C or heating | Good |
😁 Friendly to foreigners | Okay |
🗯 Freedom of speech* | Bad |
👩 Female friendly | Good |
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly | Okay |
🎅 Startup Score | Bad |
🌍 Continent | Asia |
🚩 Country | China |
🗓️ Average trip length | 14 days |
📡 Internet speed (avg) | 4 Mbps ⚠️ Internet in Qingdao is fast averaging 32 Mbps but the Great Firewall slows down speeds to foreign websites by 8x to ~4 Mbps. |
⛅️ Weather (now) | ☀️ 15°C 58°F + 💦 Damp (76%) = feels 15°C 59°F |
💨 Air quality (now) | 👍 50 US AQI 🍃 OK |
💨 Air quality (annual avg) | 👎😷 73 US AQI |
🔌 Power | 230V50Hz |
🚕 Best taxi app* | Didi |
🚑 Travel medical insurance | Safetywing |
💸 10 CNY in USD | USD 1.38 |
🏧 Suggested ATM take out: | CNY 1,000 = USD 138 |
💸 Tipping | No |
💳 Cashless | 💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners because WeChat is very hard to set up) |
☕️ Best coffee place | Stabucks |
🚰 Tap water | 🚫 No, not drinkable |
📸 Visitors per year | 730,000 visitors |
📸 Tourists now | 13,990 tourists |
👨👩👧👦 Population | 2,700,000 people |
👨👩👧👦 GDP per capita* | $8,126 / year |
😤 Population density | 🧘♀️ not busy: 16x16m (256m²) per person |
👫 Gender ratio (population) | 👨 49% 👱♀️ 51% |
👫 Gender ratio (young adults) | 👨 56% 👱♀️ 44% |
👫 Gender ratio (nomads) | 👨 80% 👱♀️ 20% |
⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious |
🏠 Apartment listings | Sublet |
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Shandong Airlines |
✈️ Best int'l air carrier | Air China |
🏥 Best hospital | Qingdao Municipal Hospital |
💵 Cost of living for nomad | $1,856 / month |
💵 Cost of living for expat | $1,015 / month |
💵 Cost of living for family | $1,332 / month |
💵 Cost of living for local | $381 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $1,921 / month |
🏡 Airbnb (median price) | $2,400 / month |
🏠 1br studio rent in center | $315 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $90 / night |
🏠 Airbnb (median price) | $79 / night |
🏢 Coworking hot desk | $140 / month |
🍛 Dinner | $3 |
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $0 |
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L) | $1 |
☕️ Coffee in cafe | $1 |
✅ Affordable to live
✅ Very safe
✅ Good air quality on average
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ Easy to do business
✅ Very safe for women
✅ LGBTQ+ friendly
❌ No freedom of speech
❌ No democracy
❌ Very slow internet
❌ Not much to do
❌ Cold now
❌ Gets cold in the winter
❌ Very damp now
❌ Difficult to make friends
❌ Quality of education is low
❌ Hospitals are not that great
❌ Roads can be dangerous
❌ People don't speak English well
❌ Not family friendly
❌ People smoking tobacco a lot
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
Feels | 341° cold | 373° cold | 436° cold | 5211° cool | 6116° cool | 6820° mild | 7725° warm | 8127° warm | 7524° warm | 6418° cool | 5513° cool | 468° cold |
Real | 394° very cold | 415° very cold | 468° cold | 5412° cool | 6116° cool | 6720° mild | 7725° warm | 8127° warm | 7524° warm | 6418° cool | 5714° cool | 489° cold |
Humidity | too dry 29% | nice 31% | nice 35% | nice 35% | nice 38% | nice 44% | nice 45% | nice 40% | nice 39% | nice 31% | nice 31% | too dry 26% |
Most common | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear |
Rain | dry 4mm | dry 26mm | dry 31mm | rainy 53mm | dry 44mm | rainy 73mm | rainy 156mm | rainy 159mm | rainy 87mm | dry 48mm | dry 37mm | dry 1mm |
Cloud | pockets 23% | pockets 22% | pockets 33% | pockets 41% | pockets 38% | cloudy 52% | cloudy 53% | pockets 42% | pockets 40% | pockets 37% | pockets 17% | pockets 19% |
Air quality | bad 122 US AQI | bad 118 US AQI | okay 95 US AQI | okay 86 US AQI | okay 85 US AQI | okay 71 US AQI | okay 75 US AQI | okay 58 US AQI | okay 70 US AQI | okay 87 US AQI | bad 104 US AQI | bad 126 US AQI |
Sun | safe 2 UVI | seek shade 3 UVI | seek shade 5 UVI | seek shade 5 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | seek shade 5 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | seek shade 4 UVI | seek shade 3 UVI | safe 2 UVI |
Remote workers | 200 people | 0 people | 300 people | 267 people | 200 people | 0 people | 200 people | 200 people | 200 people | 200 people | 800 people | 200 people |
If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomad List's Climate Finder
Based on Qingdao's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
I lived in Beijing for almost 3 years from 2014-2017. It's an incredible city with a lot to offer. It's an imposing place and not the most welcoming, but that's because it takes time to adjust. In a nutshell: beautiful parks, very modern infrastructure , friendly people, good transportation (the subway is FAR superior to London or NYC, for example), amazing food, relatively cheap, extremely safe, loads to do, incredible history. The one major con is the air pollution—it can get really bad, so
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 24° 75° 24° 76°AQI 57😷✈️44min$2,481 / mo5Mbps×Okinawa is an amazing place to live. I sadly just recently moved from Okinawa to Texas, but I spent my past 9 years on that island. If you ever get the chance to live there, you definitely should. The beaches are so nice, and the people are quite friendly off base. They also have some amazing food you ought to try.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety greatTap to open🌧 Feels 22° 72° 22° 71°✈️2h$2,194 / mo35Mbps×Seattle is a great city, especially if you like nature, there are plenty of outdoor activities to do all year round. People are generally open-minded and friendly. The cost of living is high but it allows you to be able to afford other places on earth easily if you can find a job here. You can also find plenty of good restaurants and arts around in the city. I recommend to stay at least 3-6 months to get the feel of living a PNW life.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 18° 64° 18° 64°✈️12h$5,536 / mo108Mbps×2nd time to Tokyo in 2 years. So much to see and do and great value in the past few years due to a declining yen against the USD & Euro. Wework (not open past 6pm & only iceberg open on weekends), Airalo Esim, and Wise Visa are your friend. Check out my Youtube for some nomad guides (Chicvoyage, @digitalnomadworld). I like Roppongi area. Stay in a hotel
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked great👮 Safety greatTap to open🌧 Feels 15° 59° 15° 59°AQI 26✈️2h$2,760 / mo64Mbps×I spent 4 months working here during summertime. It's one of the best summers I have ever had in my life. The city is just amazing and offers dozens of outdoor activities. There are so many different places such as parks, lakes, hills, mountains, beaches, etc. Also, you can feel the Californication vibe on every step. I lived in Hollywood and I would avoid this place at any cost. It's just too overrated and won't meet your expectations. Hollywood (esp. West Hollywood) is a big pile of dirtiness
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 18° 64° 17° 62°AQI 46✈️14h$5,300 / mo112Mbps×So… amazing food. Great public transportation. Very clean. But very conformist. Self expression limited. The irony of seeing an exhibit on graffiti, yet no actual graffiti in the streets. And the causal racism especially if you’re brown. You could be British born but still expect to be sat far away from everyone else at cocktail bars, experience comments and have weird assumptions made.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety greatTap to open🌧 Feels 36° 97° 30° 86°🥵✈️6h$4,309 / mo52Mbps×Hong Kong is a great city with dense urban areas but also nature and hiking routes only 15 minutes away. There are restaurants for every taste and budget, from the best US fast casual chains to high end Michelin star restaurants. It's also extremely safe, despite recent political instability.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️2h$3,000 / mo84Mbps×This city is not for everyone, if you like shopping malls and big crowded cities it is for you. It may be cheap but if you want to live in a good location with swimming pool, go to nice rooftops and restaurants, use taxis then it is similar cost to western countries. In many areas there are no sidewalks, big and dangerous traffic all the time, pollution, taxis do not want to go with meter, it can get really hot. Definitely try to live by the metro. Many foreigners, mostly friendly people, cheap
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 45° 113° 36° 96°🥵AQI 70😷✈️4h$1,344 / mo86Mbps×Stay in one of these neighborhoods: Itaim Bibi, Jardim Europa, Jardim Paulista, or Pinheiros, and it will be great.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety very badTap to open☀️ Feels 32° 90° 29° 84°AQI 117😷✈️24h$1,888 / mo86Mbps×Chiang Mai has had a deep Buddhist influence running over the last 1,000 years and this can be felt in the helpfulness, patience and generosity of the Thai and long-term transplants you come across. The city has an active community scene (nomads, spiritual seekers, hikers, creatives), several mountains with hiking spots and waterfalls surrounding the city, over 20 water bodies inside the city -- many have cafes and walks around, several public parks, and over 13 national parks with campgrounds w
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked good👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 41° 106° 39° 102°🥵AQI 151😷✈️4h$950 / mo63Mbps×Shanghai is a giant city and your experience really depends on a few factors like: 1) where you live in the city 2) do you speak basic Mandarin 3) do you make nice money 4) do you have to use the internet If you can afford to live in Jing'an or the French Concession, you can live a fashionable metropolitan lifestyle like you would in New York City. There's amazing food (Asian, Western and fusion). You'll be surrounded by entrepreneurs, artists, fashion designers and models. Many of whom d
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 22° 72° 22° 72°AQI 63😷✈️44min$1,846 / mo🌇 Also went here11 people×I lived in Beijing for almost 3 years from 2014-2017. It's an incredible city with a lot to offer. It's an imposing place and not the most welcoming, but that's because it takes time to adjust. In a nutshell: beautiful parks, very modern infrastructure , friendly people, good transportation (the subway is FAR superior to London or NYC, for example), amazing food, relatively cheap, extremely safe, loads to do, incredible history. The one major con is the air pollution—it can get really bad, so
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 24° 75° 24° 76°AQI 57😷✈️44min$2,481 / mo🌇 Also went here13 people×Hong Kong is a great city with dense urban areas but also nature and hiking routes only 15 minutes away. There are restaurants for every taste and budget, from the best US fast casual chains to high end Michelin star restaurants. It's also extremely safe, despite recent political instability.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️2h$3,000 / mo🌇 Also went here11 people×2nd time to Tokyo in 2 years. So much to see and do and great value in the past few years due to a declining yen against the USD & Euro. Wework (not open past 6pm & only iceberg open on weekends), Airalo Esim, and Wise Visa are your friend. Check out my Youtube for some nomad guides (Chicvoyage, @digitalnomadworld). I like Roppongi area. Stay in a hotel
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked great👮 Safety greatTap to open🌧 Feels 15° 59° 15° 59°AQI 26✈️2h$2,760 / mo🌇 Also went here10 people×Chiang Mai has had a deep Buddhist influence running over the last 1,000 years and this can be felt in the helpfulness, patience and generosity of the Thai and long-term transplants you come across. The city has an active community scene (nomads, spiritual seekers, hikers, creatives), several mountains with hiking spots and waterfalls surrounding the city, over 20 water bodies inside the city -- many have cafes and walks around, several public parks, and over 13 national parks with campgrounds w
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked good👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 41° 106° 39° 102°🥵AQI 151😷✈️4h$950 / mo🌇 Also went here10 people×This city is not for everyone, if you like shopping malls and big crowded cities it is for you. It may be cheap but if you want to live in a good location with swimming pool, go to nice rooftops and restaurants, use taxis then it is similar cost to western countries. In many areas there are no sidewalks, big and dangerous traffic all the time, pollution, taxis do not want to go with meter, it can get really hot. Definitely try to live by the metro. Many foreigners, mostly friendly people, cheap
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 45° 113° 36° 96°🥵AQI 70😷✈️4h$1,344 / mo🌇 Also went here13 people×The other reviews are right—it's a good city with excellent value for money. The people are nice enough. The infrastructure is good. You *should* like it, but you don't—it's incredibly, incomprehensibly boring. The vibe is aggressively lukewarm. You will find more excitement in a rural Japanese village than here—I'm not joking.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 38° 100° 30° 86°🥵AQI 68😷✈️6h$1,221 / mo🌇 Also went here9 people×So… amazing food. Great public transportation. Very clean. But very conformist. Self expression limited. The irony of seeing an exhibit on graffiti, yet no actual graffiti in the streets. And the causal racism especially if you’re brown. You could be British born but still expect to be sat far away from everyone else at cocktail bars, experience comments and have weird assumptions made.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety greatTap to open🌧 Feels 36° 97° 30° 86°🥵✈️6h$4,309 / mo🌇 Also went here10 people×Lived in Prague for 8 years. It's a beautiful international European city. Never learned Czech, but was fine. Almost all cafes and restaurants have English menus. Superb food delivery apps (Wolt is the best). All the food you can imagine. Vietnamese food is world-class because of the huge Vietnamese population. If you want hipster bars and cafes, there's plenty of that. If you want old-world-charm there's plenty of that. If you want posh luxury there's some of Europes best restaurants and cockta
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 6° 43° 8° 46°AQI 62😷✈️11h$3,229 / mo🌇 Also went here9 people×I recently visited Amsterdam for the third time (and the first time since 2018). I personally think it's a little overrated, but a cool place to visit nonetheless. The architecture is beautiful, and there are lots of good places to eat. I don't like the main area of the canals in the city centre; it smells of weed and is often packed. However, the outer edges - such as the Jordaan district - are less busy and more interesting in my opinion. One thing that surprised me is how much trash was o
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 5° 41° 8° 46°AQI 33✈️11h$6,076 / mo🌇 Also went here9 people×Super expensive city, with some nice tourist attractions. Wouldn't recommend staying here for a longer time as price levels are almost Parisienne. Also, you can easily see all the good spots within 3 days or so. Pros: - nice tourist attractions (quite a couple of them) - many food options - people are open & friendly Cons: - hella expensive - limited vegan food options - you should at least understand some Dutch or French to survive here
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 5° 41° 7° 45°AQI 21✈️11h$3,736 / mo🌇 Also went here8 people×I don't understand why London has so high safety rating. Your phone could be stolen and your bicycle WILL be stolen here (or a part of it). I live here 8.5 years and I experienced the above multiple times. Police seems only cares about crime against person by whatever reason. Insure everything expensive that you own. I would also add that antisocial behaviour is quite common here and teenagers are heavily involved in crimes as police don't do anything with them because of their age. Basically th
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 6° 43° 8° 47°AQI 27✈️12h$5,499 / mo🌇 Also went here9 people×I have heard of a friend of a friend that in France it is important to bring sandpaper and to have suitable medical insurance which covers eye reconstruction surgery. “Well worth a visit, would recommend”.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 5° 41° 7° 45°AQI 58😷✈️12h$5,041 / mo🌇 Also went here11 people×How did SF get scored #98 on Nomad score? I agree with most of the reviews posted here. I generally work from home, but we recently rented a small conference room for a meeting. It was $250 per hour.. (yes Per Hour... no typos here).
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 14° 57° 14° 57°✈️13h$5,912 / mo🌇 Also went here9 people×New York is cool. I’ve visited multiple times to see my family throughout my life, and recently came back from my first post-COVID trip there. Yes, it’s very expensive — but there is no city on earth that’s more captivating in my opinion. I used to think that New Yorkers were smug by claiming that NYC was better than everywhere else, but now I totally get it lol. My personal favourite neighbourhood is the Upper East Side, which is where you’ll find the coveted Museum Mile. But I also
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 21° 70° 21° 70°✈️15h$7,298 / mo🌇 Also went here11 people×Can't login? See the FAQ
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