⭐️ Total score | 2.88/5 (Rank #343) |
👍 Quality of life score | Good |
👶 Family score | Okay |
🎒 Community score | Okay |
💵 Cost | 🧐 Pricey: $3,518 / mo |
📡 Internet | 🚀 Super fast: 53Mbps (avg) |
😝 Fun | Good |
⛅️ Temperature (now) | 🥶 Freezing : -1°C30°F (feels -6°C21°F) |
💦 Humidity (now) | 💦 Damp: 89% |
💨 Air quality (now) | 🌱 Great: 41 US AQI |
💨 Air quality (annual) | 🌱 Great: 27 US AQI |
👌 Safety | Great |
👮♀️ Lack of crime* | Good |
🤝 Lack of racism* | Good |
🎓 Education level* | High |
⚡️ Power grid | Great |
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change | Good |
💰 Income level* | Very high: $4,817 / mo |
🙊 English speaking* | Great |
🚶 Walkability | Great |
✌️ Peace (no pol. conflict) | Bad |
🚦 Traffic safety* | Okay |
🏥 Hospitals | Great |
😄 Happiness* | Good |
🍸 Nightlife | Okay |
📶 Free WiFi in city | Good |
🖥 Places to work from | Great |
❄️ A/C or heating | Okay |
😁 Friendly to foreigners | Good |
🗯 Freedom of speech* | Good |
👩 Female friendly | Good |
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly | Great |
🎅 Startup Score | Okay |
🌍 Continent | North America |
🚩 Country | United States |
⏱ Average trip length | 23 days |
📡 Internet speed (avg) | 53 Mbps |
⛅️ Weather (now) | 🌤 -1°C 30°F + 💦 Damp (89%) = feels -6°C 21°F |
💨 Air quality (now) | 👍 41 US AQI 🍃 OK |
💨 Air quality (annual avg) | 👍 27.75 US AQI |
🔌 Power | 115V60Hz |
🚕 Best taxi app* | |
🚑 Travel medical insurance | ![]() |
💸 Tipping | Yes, 15% |
💳 Cashless | 💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere |
💻 Best coworking space | Coworking Horizon |
💻 Best alt. coworking space | The Docking Station |
☕️ Best coffee place | Barriques |
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place | Tempo |
🚰 Tap water | 👌 Yes, safe to drink |
♻️ Return rate | 👍12% of visitors return |
👨👩👧👦 Population | 250,000 people |
👨👩👧👦 GDP per capita* | $57,808 / year |
👫 Gender ratio (population) | 👨 48% 👱♀️ 52% |
👫 Gender ratio (young adults) | 👨 52% 👱♀️ 48% |
👫 Gender ratio (nomads) | 👨 83% 👱♀️ 17% |
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed | Yes |
⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious |
💻 Online electronics shop | Amazon |
🏠 Apartment listings | Rent |
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Jet Blue |
✈️ Best int'l air carrier | United Airlines |
🏥 Best hospital | Lakeview |
💵 Cost of living for nomad | $3,518 / month |
💵 Cost of living for expat | $2,363 / month |
💵 Cost of living for family | $5,252 / month |
💵 Cost of living for local | $1,500 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $2,080 / month |
🏡 Airbnb (median price) | $2,525 / month |
🏠 1br studio rent in center | $1,125 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $97 / night |
🏠 Airbnb (median price) | $83 / night |
🏢 Coworking hot desk | $199 / month |
🍛 Dinner | $13 |
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $3 |
🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $6 |
☕️ Coffee | $3 |
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000 | $12,352 |
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000 | $30,278 |
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000 | $71,127 |
✅ Very safe
✅ Fast internet
✅ Lots of fun stuff to do
✅ Good air quality on average
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ Very easy to do business
✅ High quality of education
✅ Great hospitals
✅ Roads are very safe
✅ Great freedom of speech
✅ Democratic
✅ Everyone speaks English
✅ Safe for women
✅ Family friendly
✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+
✅ Not many people smoke tobacco
❌ Too expensive
❌ Cold now
❌ Gets very cold in the winter
❌ Very damp now
❌ Difficult to make friends
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
Feels | 21-6° freezing | 23-5° freezing | 415° cold | 5714° cool | 6619° mild | 8228° warm | 8630° warm | 8228° warm | 7524° warm | 6619° mild | 394° cold | 0° freezing |
Real | 27-3° freezing | 29-2° freezing | 447° cold | 5814° cool | 6519° mild | 7926° warm | 8027° warm | 7826° warm | 7524° warm | 6519° mild | 436° cold | 362° very cold |
Humidity | damp 85% | damp 74% | damp 75% | nice 69% | nice 71% | nice 70% | sweaty 79% | nice 80% | nice 73% | nice 78% | nice 68% | damp 73% |
Rain | dry 45mm | dry 37mm | rainy 51mm | rainy 53mm | rainy 85mm | rainy 128mm | rainy 74mm | rainy 106mm | dry 40mm | rainy 96mm | dry 16mm | dry 47mm |
Cloud | cloudy 81% | cloudy 56% | pockets 48% | cloudy 60% | cloudy 59% | pockets 36% | pockets 44% | pockets 35% | pockets 29% | cloudy 61% | pockets 49% | cloudy 60% |
Air quality | clean 33 US AQI | clean 30 US AQI | clean 26 US AQI | clean 27 US AQI | clean 29 US AQI | clean 34 US AQI | clean 31 US AQI | clean 32 US AQI | clean 26 US AQI | clean 23 US AQI | clean 30 US AQI | clean 36 US AQI |
Sun | safe 1 UVI | safe 2 UVI | seek shade 4 UVI | seek shade 4 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | seek shade 5 UVI | seek shade 3 UVI | safe 2 UVI | safe 1 UVI |
Remote workers | 267 people | 200 people | 200 people | 200 people | 333 people | 200 people | 300 people | 233 people | 300 people | 200 people | 200 people | 200 people |
If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomad List's Climate Finder
Based on Madison's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
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 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌦 Feels 3° 37° 5° 41°AQI 46✈️2h$6,186 / mo30Mbps×I really enjoyed my first week here, but as I got to know more locals and heard their stories, I was disturbed at the security situation. Almost everyone I met has horror stories about being robbed at gunpoint, robbed by the police, and in one case even drugged and robbed by a taxi driver. It's not even safe to walk a short distance at night (locals told me to just take Uber). Beyond the security issues, scams also abound, and the covid policy is wacky, with hand sanitizer being forced on you ev
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun good👮 Safety badTap to open☀️ Feels 19° 66° 19° 66°AQI 76😷✈️4h$1,892 / mo11Mbps×Old San Juan's architecture is lovely. Although it's as pricey as a US mainland city, the food is good and the coffee is excellent. Locals can vary in friendliness quite a bit -- although being brusque with someone from the US mainland is entirely understandable. Uber works perfectly well. The museums have very inexpensive admissions fees. All in all, a good destination for a shorter (3 weeks or less) trip. But not a place with a digital nomad community or lots of cultural activities.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 29° 84° 26° 79°🥵AQI 500😷✈️5h$4,118 / mo19Mbps×I grew up in Chicago and still return fairly often. I love the character of the different neighborhoods, the variety of architectural styles, and as others have said, the food scene is incredible. It's easy to make friends in the suburbs, perhaps not so much in the city itself. I have never witnessed racial tension here, and have been pleasantly surprised by the interracial friendliness I have observed. There are a wonderful selection of forests and parks just about everywhere, and the museu
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun bad👮 Safety goodTap to open🌨 Feels -4° 25° 0° 33°AQI 46✈️16min$4,751 / mo43Mbps×One of my favourite places to visit. Best vegetarian food in the world.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 21° 70° 21° 69°AQI 78😷✈️13h$5,396 / mo13Mbps×Overall, a pretty great place. Good restaurants and many breweries. Solid entertainment. It has all four seasons and lots of sunshine. Some homelessness issues downtown, like most cities.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌫 Feels 6° 43° 7° 44°AQI 15✈️2h$5,018 / mo46Mbps×i stayed in BA for a few months and it firmly wasn't for me. It's a beautiful city and comically cheap for the quality of food / goods / services. People are rude and accomodation is pretty bad. Plus with the inflation of the dollar to peso (3x the buying power for foreigners) it was getting dangerous when I left. (I think someone tried to kill the vice president last week) Excellent to visit, not great to live.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 29° 84° 26° 78°AQI 11✈️12h$1,871 / mo4Mbps×I really enjoyed my trip to DC for one week. I did NOT feel comfortable walking around many places alone because there are a lot of mentally ill/drugged out people. During daylight with other people I felt fine. There are soo many restaurants, interesting boutique gyms, cool libraries and more. The variety you can find in DC is closer to NYC than you can find most places. The memorials are pretty cool. There are a lot of free museums which are impressive. I liked the Lincoln Memorial/Gettysburg
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun good👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 5° 41° 6° 43°AQI 21✈️2h$4,961 / mo86Mbps×Very expensive to live in. Boring, I don't mind the weather so much but I agree with previous reviews about people here having poor social skills and making friends with the locals is VERY hard. This has been confirmed by my other expat friends from US and Europe who lived here for a bit. People overall are very serious and in a group setting things like real estate and social justice/ equality are normally main topics of the conversation. Very little culture in terms of art, museums, history et
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌤 Feels -4° 25° 0° 32°AQI 30✈️1h$4,450 / mo19Mbps×I grew up in Chicago and still return fairly often. I love the character of the different neighborhoods, the variety of architectural styles, and as others have said, the food scene is incredible. It's easy to make friends in the suburbs, perhaps not so much in the city itself. I have never witnessed racial tension here, and have been pleasantly surprised by the interracial friendliness I have observed. There are a wonderful selection of forests and parks just about everywhere, and the museu
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun bad👮 Safety goodTap to open🌨 Feels -4° 25° 0° 33°AQI 46✈️16min$4,751 / mo🌇 Also went here12 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 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌦 Feels 3° 37° 5° 41°AQI 46✈️2h$6,186 / mo🌇 Also went here18 people×I really enjoyed my first week here, but as I got to know more locals and heard their stories, I was disturbed at the security situation. Almost everyone I met has horror stories about being robbed at gunpoint, robbed by the police, and in one case even drugged and robbed by a taxi driver. It's not even safe to walk a short distance at night (locals told me to just take Uber). Beyond the security issues, scams also abound, and the covid policy is wacky, with hand sanitizer being forced on you ev
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun good👮 Safety badTap to open☀️ Feels 19° 66° 19° 66°AQI 76😷✈️4h$1,892 / mo🌇 Also went here12 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 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 12° 54° 12° 53°AQI 25✈️4h$7,169 / mo🌇 Also went here14 people×How did you guys classified Penge as rich? It is one of the worst neighbourhood I have ever been in London, the ammount of people I know that have been robbed there is appalling.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 6° 43° 6° 43°AQI 34✈️8h$5,149 / mo🌇 Also went here24 people×A top city. Everything works, beautiful greenery (hehe), cycling everywhere, happy people, great nightlife... Lots to love about. For nomads? Not a chance. Price of housing is outrageous, and the city is expensive af. They charge you 4.5-5 eur for a capuccino, completely shameless. An hour of public transport is 3 euros. I could go on and on. I'd love to live there, but it's not worth it.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun good👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 5° 41° 5° 41°AQI 24✈️9h$6,161 / mo🌇 Also went here15 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 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 2° 36° 4° 40°AQI 50✈️9h$5,676 / mo🌇 Also went here12 people×Just returned after 1mo in Madrid. From a Male 35 year old perspective, I loved it. Endless night life, techno clubs, dive bars, live music, open jam sessions if that's your thing. If you're feeling lonely hit up Meetup and you'll find plenty of international meetups/pub crawls. Retiro park is green and huge when you need a break from the city. It's dense with tons of people from all walks of life. Multi-cultural population, students, professionals, travelers, English is spoken well my most loca
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 7° 45° 8° 47°AQI 24✈️9h$4,411 / mo🌇 Also went here11 people×I've been hanging out in Berlin on and off for 30 years. It is very safe for women. It is much friendlier than it used to be. There are loads of vegan restaurants now. The nightlife and specially jazz clubs are amazing! I have an excellent apartment to rent out in Wedding - which used to have a boring reputation but now is very cool.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun great👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels -1° 30° 1° 35°AQI 26✈️9h$3,747 / mo🌇 Also went here17 people×Nomading here is tough because there are no reasonable Airbnbs and finding a short-term apt is difficult. You have to ask yourself, is it worth coming to Barcelona? It's probably the dirtiest city in Spain, and a bit sketchy. There's more beautiful and cleaner cities like Seville where you can find a reasonably priced Airbnb.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌦 Feels 7° 45° 8° 47°AQI 38✈️10h$4,857 / mo🌇 Also went here15 people×Florence is one of the most beautiful city in the world! Here you have the opportunity to taste real genuine, fresh and organic food and experience great wines (such a Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Nobile di Montepulciano, Bolgheri Sassicaia, Ornellaia and much more) ! Think that Italy is the only country in the world where each region produce a different kind of wine with different kind of local grapes. It is a real bless for palate. Italians are friendly and locals even more. Almost e
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 6° 43° 8° 46°AQI 46✈️10h$5,444 / mo🌇 Also went here12 people×Stayed for 2 weeks after almost a year n a half in LatAm. Beautiful city; great food options- especially for Asian food lovers. Plenty of authentic Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese options for about 50% of what you would pay in a Western city. Decent hostels will cost $11-$15 weekdays and between $18-$30 on weekends.... Good internet; beautiful architecture and people but it is true Hungarians can be very cold at times. Overall a good stay with many destinations just a quick and cheap flight/tr
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌤 Feels 2° 36° 3° 38°AQI 109😷✈️10h$2,324 / mo🌇 Also went here13 people×It´s difficult to make friends here. Generally speaking, lifelong friends are made in school and then there´s family. People are very nice and sociable but forget about making friends. Lots of really bad restaurants (tourist traps) so you have to be careful where you go. I´ve lived here for two years so I have gotten to know some good places. Tons of tourists and overcroweded public transport. Yes, it´s a beautiful city but quite unlivable.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌦 Feels 9° 48° 10° 49°AQI 42✈️10h$5,142 / mo🌇 Also went here19 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 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun great👮 Safety greatTap to open🌥 Feels 4° 39° 6° 43°AQI 4✈️13h$4,405 / mo🌇 Also went here13 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 🚀 Super fast😀 Fun good👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 28° 82° 28° 82°AQI 85😷✈️18h$2,209 / mo🌇 Also went here16 people×