⭐️ Total score | 2.6/5 (Rank #789) |
👍 Quality of life score | Okay |
👶 Family score | Bad |
🎒 Community score | Okay |
💵 Cost | 😙 Affordable: $2,161 / mo |
📡 Internet | 🤬 Unusably slow: 0.00Mbps (avg) |
😝 Fun | Bad |
⛅️ Temperature (now) | 🥶 A bit cold: 17°C62°F (feels 18°C64°F) |
💦 Humidity (now) | 🌵 Too dry: 26% |
💨 Air quality (now) | 😷 Unhealthy : 157 US AQI |
💨 Air quality (annual) | 🌱 Good: 71 US AQI |
👌 Safety | Great |
👮♀️ 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 |
🚶 Walkability | Bad |
✌️ Peace (no pol. conflict) | Okay |
🚦 Traffic safety* | Bad |
🏥 Hospitals | Good |
😄 Happiness* | Okay |
🍸 Nightlife | Bad |
📶 Free WiFi in city | Bad |
🖥 Places to work from | Bad |
❄️ A/C or heating | Bad |
😁 Friendly to foreigners | Okay |
🗯 Freedom of speech* | |
👩 Female friendly | Okay |
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly | Bad |
🎅 Startup Score | Bad |
🌍 Continent | Asia |
🚩 Country | China |
⏱ Average trip length | 7 days |
⛅️ Weather (now) | ☀️ 17°C 62°F + 🌵 Too dry (26%) = feels 18°C 64°F |
💨 Air quality (now) | 👎☠️ 157 US AQI = 🚬 🚬 / day |
💨 Air quality (annual avg) | 👎😷 71 US AQI |
🔌 Power | 230V50Hz |
🚕 Best taxi app* | |
🚑 Travel medical insurance | ![]() |
💸 10 CNY in USD | USD 1.47 |
🏧 Suggested ATM take out: | CNY 1,000 = USD 147 |
💸 Tipping | No |
💳 Cashless | 💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners because WeChat is very hard to set up) |
💻 Best coworking space | Regus |
☕️ Best coffee place | Starbucks |
🚰 Tap water | 🚫 No, not drinkable |
♻️ Return rate | 👍11% of visitors return |
👨👩👧👦 Population | 3,000,000 people |
👨👩👧👦 GDP per capita* | $8,126 / year |
👫 Gender ratio (population) | 👨 56% 👱♀️ 44% |
👫 Gender ratio (young adults) | 👨 56% 👱♀️ 44% |
👫 Gender ratio (nomads) | 👨 95% 👱♀️ 5% |
⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious |
🏠 Apartment listings | Ganji |
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Hainan |
✈️ Best int'l air carrier | China Southern Airlines |
💵 Cost of living for nomad | $2,161 / month |
💵 Cost of living for expat | $1,214 / month |
💵 Cost of living for family | $3,112 / month |
💵 Cost of living for local | $889 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $2,159 / month |
🏡 Airbnb (median price) | $1,450 / month |
🏠 1br studio rent in center | $577 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $101 / night |
🏠 Airbnb (median price) | $48 / night |
🏢 Coworking hot desk | $111 / month |
🍛 Dinner | $4 |
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $1 |
🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $4 |
☕️ Coffee | $4 |
✅ Very safe
✅ Warm in the spring
✅ Good air quality usually
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ Easy to do business
✅ Good hospitals
✅ Safe for women
❌ No freedom of speech
❌ Unusably slow internet
❌ Not much to do
❌ Gets cold in the winter
❌ Very dry air now
❌ Bad air quality today
❌ Difficult to make friends
❌ Quality of education is low
❌ Roads can be dangerous
❌ People don't speak English well
❌ Not family friendly
❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+
❌ People smoking tobacco a lot
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
Feels | 5412° cool | 6317° cool | 7021° mild | 7323° mild | 7524° warm | 7323° mild | 7222° mild | 7021° mild | 7021° mild | 6418° cool | 5714° cool | 5513° cool |
Real | 5412° cool | 6116° cool | 7021° mild | 7323° mild | 7524° warm | 7323° mild | 7222° mild | 7021° mild | 7021° mild | 6317° cool | 5714° cool | 5513° cool |
Humidity | nice 70% | nice 58% | nice 35% | nice 43% | nice 55% | nice 84% | nice 89% | nice 93% | nice 84% | damp 87% | damp 78% | damp 72% |
Rain | dry 11mm | dry 18mm | dry 1mm | rainy 51mm | rainy 51mm | rainy 167mm | rainy 247mm | rainy 200mm | rainy 92mm | rainy 86mm | dry 32mm | dry 18mm |
Cloud | pockets 34% | pockets 25% | pockets 23% | pockets 40% | cloudy 60% | overcast 91% | overcast 91% | overcast 97% | cloudy 67% | cloudy 76% | cloudy 65% | cloudy 54% |
Air quality | okay 77 US AQI | bad 100 US AQI | bad 117 US AQI | bad 105 US AQI | okay 86 US AQI | okay 62 US AQI | okay 63 US AQI | okay 75 US AQI | okay 67 US AQI | okay 65 US AQI | okay 81 US AQI | okay 78 US AQI |
Sun | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 11 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | seek shade 5 UVI | seek shade 5 UVI |
Remote workers | 200 people | 200 people | 200 people | 300 people | 267 people | 200 people | 267 people | 350 people | 200 people | 200 people | 200 people | 240 people |
If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomad List's Climate Finder
Based on Kunming's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
Hanoi feels more like a "large village" than a proper city. It's also what I call "unapologetically Vietnamese" given the way most places and shops are occupied and used by locals. English penetration isn't bad, but maybe because I speak Vietnamese I never had much of a problem in Hanoi. Prices for coffee, juice, smoothies, and food are insanely affordable. I wouldn't say the locals are "friendly to a fault" and mostly have left me alone. Yes, the old town city center is dirty, garbage on the
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 23° 73° 23° 74°AQI 55✈️44min$1,181 / mo5Mbps×I lived in Chongqing for about 5 years. I mostly love this place but it's not easy for Westerners unless you can speak some Chinese. But with a smartphone you can translate anything you need to say. Chongqing is beautiful, gritty and romantic. Extremely inexpensive and lots of things to do. Beautiful women. Maybe the most unique city in China. Weather terrible in winter and summer. Winter is foggy, rainy and low light while summers are uncomfortably hot and humid. They don't speak standard Manda
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 13° 55° 13° 56°AQI 179😷✈️51min$2,831 / mo1Mbps×I lived and worked (at a law firm) in Chengdu for about 3 months. I absolutely loved the city! It's so different from east coast China, especially given the Tibetan influences in many areas. I had a company arrange my apartment and registrations, but was a seamless process. I am a white, American male who speaks a decent bit of Mandarin, and I found the locals to be incredibly hospitable. China is general is extremely affordable for a Westerner, and Chengdu offers the luxuries of any large, West
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌦 Feels 12° 54° 12° 54°AQI 171😷✈️51min$3,545 / mo×Don't go thinking it's another Chiang Mai, because it doesn`t. Instead, Chiang Rai is much smaller and simple, not so much to see and do --forget about nighlife, just relax and get the work done. Food is amazing and you can have as much khao soi you can eat. Finding a condo with pool and gym is possible, but there are not much options available. Better book something in the middle of nature -- rent a motorbike.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 27° 81° 29° 85°AQI 112😷✈️51min$1,416 / mo32Mbps×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 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 9° 48° 10° 50°AQI 161😷✈️3h$3,495 / mo1Mbps×Bangkok is a really nice city. I lived 2 weeks in Bangkok and it was a good trip ! People are very nice, smiling and the cost is affordable. Some beautifuls temple, gardens, market etc. Chinatown is a place to visit, and Bangkok is globally clean !
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun good👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 43° 109° 32° 90°🥵AQI 57✈️2h$2,163 / mo27Mbps×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 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌤 Feels 20° 68° 20° 68°AQI 30✈️2h$3,689 / mo87Mbps×I've lived in New York City - Brooklyn - for over 20 years. For visiting tourists, the best neighborhood to stay in is NOT Bushwick. Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Ft. Green or Brooklyn Heights is preferable. Plenty of good transportation in those areas - subway, buses or Uber. Easy access to beaches in Long Island and New Jersey. There's plenty to do in NYC. Great restaurants, Broadway plays (!), and in the summer you frequently can catch a free concert.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 5° 41° 6° 42°AQI 45✈️17h$6,299 / mo30Mbps×Definitely check out The Key (on near Zhong Xiao Dun Hua station) if living here for more than a month. Cafe + Gym + Bar all in one, monthly membership about $50 USD. English-friendly, no contracts. Made my 3 month stay here immensely better with fast wifi in the cafe and it's a great feeling to be able to work out immediately after working.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌦 Feels 21° 70° 21° 69°AQI 12✈️3h$3,023 / mo24Mbps×Pros: Friendly people, safe, stable government, efficient and fast public transportation, established foreigner (gaijin) population due many English teachers, many great food options, many festivals (cherry blossom fest), onsens! Cons: Expensive, work til you die at your desk mentality, drunken businessman culture, groping on packed public transit, lack of mental health services so be cautious around the destitute, over sexualization of underage females, high risk if caught with illegal substan
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 10° 50° 11° 51°AQI 68✈️4h$5,361 / mo24Mbps×Penang is really, really hot and humid. It's pretty affordable but it's relatively small. Personally, I think traveling Penang is great because you have a mix of cultures but I couldn't stay here for a longer time because it is so unbelievable hot.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 40° 104° 30° 86°🥵AQI 34✈️3h$1,068 / mo13Mbps×Definitely an underrated place for nomads - Huge city with a small town feel. Lots of different neighborhoods to appeal to different types of people: some commercial, some hipstery, some historical, some modern. Food and rent is cheap (and the food is damn good). People are very friendly as compared to other big Asian cities. You can also get easy work as a tutor and make good extra cash. I survived for five months tutoring and doing other English related work for max 12 hrs a week (leaving me
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 6° 43° 6° 42°AQI 34✈️3h$2,783 / mo1Mbps×Hanoi feels more like a "large village" than a proper city. It's also what I call "unapologetically Vietnamese" given the way most places and shops are occupied and used by locals. English penetration isn't bad, but maybe because I speak Vietnamese I never had much of a problem in Hanoi. Prices for coffee, juice, smoothies, and food are insanely affordable. I wouldn't say the locals are "friendly to a fault" and mostly have left me alone. Yes, the old town city center is dirty, garbage on the
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 23° 73° 23° 74°AQI 55✈️44min$1,181 / mo🌇 Also went here22 people×I really liked Chiang Mai but I can't put my finger on why. I'll try to remain unbiased so here goes. Chiang Mai is a dirty place with horrible pollution levels. English speaking is okay. I did really enjoy a balance of simple, risk-free living at low cost and acceptable quality of living. Many places only accept cash but plenty accept card. There's lots to do and it's fun exploring on a moped/motorbike. It feels as easy as Canggu with more modern appointments to get by as a westerner a bit easi
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 29° 84° 30° 87°🥵AQI 70✈️1h$1,348 / mo🌇 Also went here24 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 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌤 Feels 20° 68° 20° 68°AQI 30✈️2h$3,689 / mo🌇 Also went here30 people×Bangkok is a really nice city. I lived 2 weeks in Bangkok and it was a good trip ! People are very nice, smiling and the cost is affordable. Some beautifuls temple, gardens, market etc. Chinatown is a place to visit, and Bangkok is globally clean !
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun good👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 43° 109° 32° 90°🥵AQI 57✈️2h$2,163 / mo🌇 Also went here30 people×I liked Ho Chi Minh City a lot. It has all of the convivences one could expect from the city except for an MRT system which as of September 2022, they are in the middle of building one anyway. Things are affordable although I have noticed a tamer street food scene compared to other places in Vietnam like Hanoi. Seems to be making more room for higher end dining but affordability is still easy. HCMC without a doubt has some great nightlife, so party animals are going to be very happy here. I am s
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 43° 109° 32° 89°🥵AQI 50✈️2h$1,392 / mo🌇 Also went here24 people×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 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 9° 48° 10° 50°AQI 161😷✈️3h$3,495 / mo🌇 Also went here28 people×Definitely an underrated place for nomads - Huge city with a small town feel. Lots of different neighborhoods to appeal to different types of people: some commercial, some hipstery, some historical, some modern. Food and rent is cheap (and the food is damn good). People are very friendly as compared to other big Asian cities. You can also get easy work as a tutor and make good extra cash. I survived for five months tutoring and doing other English related work for max 12 hrs a week (leaving me
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 6° 43° 6° 42°AQI 34✈️3h$2,783 / mo🌇 Also went here21 people×Just arrived in KL, we are 30/35yrs+, a married couple and digital nomads, and wow.. What a city! This is the New York City of Asia. These appartments are epic. Grand views, very affordable, luxurious! You would pay 10-fold for the same deal in NYC or Tokyo or Dubai. And the food is fantastic. Indian, Malay, Indo, Chinese, American, European. The world is here!
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 41° 106° 30° 86°🥵AQI 94😷✈️3h$1,868 / mo🌇 Also went here23 people×Not gonna lie, I was pretty curious and kinda hyped before I came to Singapore. However, within 24 hours all of my curiosity turned into disappointment. Yes, Singapore is clean by any standards but especially by Asian standards. And yes, you have shopping malls, fancy skyscrapers and free toilets everywhere. But beside from that Singapore is boring and has no soul. It just seems like Singapore tries to copy interesting parts of other countries and their nature. Take Cloud Forest for example wh
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun good👮 Safety greatTap to open🌧 Feels 39° 102° 30° 86°🥵AQI 46✈️4h$5,533 / mo🌇 Also went here29 people×Seoul has many good things in every perspective. Safety! IT infra! Food! many shops until night, Super fast Delivery, Kind and fast service, Hip places opens in every minute, Kind & Educated people(Education in Seoul is crazy, almost social issue), and even nature everywhere(huge river, mountains are in the city, you can easily find mountains to climb)
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun good👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 4° 39° 5° 41°AQI 163😷✈️4h$2,920 / mo🌇 Also went here22 people×Tokyo has so much to offer and so much to do. It is easily overwhelming. Whereas I usually take my first week to explore a place Tokyo’s sights just kept on going. I remember ending up in a hidden cocktail bar, a mexican rooftop party with 1 meter margaritas, spending a whole day going only to French places(?), visiting a store that only imported 2nd hand hiphop apparel, and throughout it all the best michelin star ramen. It just seemed endless, completely unrelated and incredibly fun. Six wee
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun great👮 Safety greatTap to open🌥 Feels 9° 48° 10° 50°AQI 18✈️5h$5,070 / mo🌇 Also went here21 people×Taxis in Istanbul are a big problem even for locals. Public transport is convenient and comfortable. If you need to call a taxi, I recommend using an app. "Bitaksi" can be used. Agree with the taxi driver using google translate and negotiate in advance if necessary. Always make public transportation your first choice. There are millions of refugees in this city against a registered population of 15 million. A significant number of asylum seekers do not have any registered documents and this cre
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels -1° 30° 3° 38°AQI 21✈️9h$2,236 / mo🌇 Also went here21 people×Lived there last September and October and am coming back later this year. Yes, it is expensive, but after a while I learned about affordable places to eat and realized I could choose neighborhoods farther from city center, and it would still be nice. City feels super safe, even at nigh! Internet is crazy fast (I got 500mb on my airbnb) there are tons to do and see and I did not encounter the super rude Parisians people talk so much about, mostly everyone spoke English and were very polite. Rent
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 5° 41° 6° 42°AQI 33✈️12h$5,442 / mo🌇 Also went here21 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 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 13° 55° 13° 56°AQI 25✈️15h$6,520 / mo🌇 Also went here22 people×I've lived in New York City - Brooklyn - for over 20 years. For visiting tourists, the best neighborhood to stay in is NOT Bushwick. Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Ft. Green or Brooklyn Heights is preferable. Plenty of good transportation in those areas - subway, buses or Uber. Easy access to beaches in Long Island and New Jersey. There's plenty to do in NYC. Great restaurants, Broadway plays (!), and in the summer you frequently can catch a free concert.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🤬 Unusably slow😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 5° 41° 6° 42°AQI 45✈️17h$6,299 / mo🌇 Also went here28 people×