Nomad List| 🏆 Nomad Score™ | 179 reviews |
| 💵 Cost | |
| 📡 Internet | |
| 😝 Fun | |
| ⛅️ Temperature (now) | |
| 💦 Humidity (now) | |
| 💨 Air quality (now) | |
| 👌 Safety | |
| 👍 Quality of life | |
| 😤 People density | |
| 🚶 Walkability | |
| ✌️ Peace | |
| 🚦 Traffic safety | |
| 🏥 Hospitals | |
| 😄 Happiness | |
| 🍸 Nightlife | |
| 📶 Free WiFi in city | |
| 🖥 Places to work from | |
| ❄️ A/C or heating | |
| 😁 Friendly to foreigners | |
| 🙊 English speaking | |
| 🗯 Freedom of speech | |
| 😘 Racial tolerance | |
| 👩 Female friendly | |
| 🌈 LGBT friendly | |
| 🎅 Startup Score |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🌍 Region | Asia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚩 Country | China | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⏱ Average trip duration | 4 days | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📡 Internet speed (avg) | 2 Mbps | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛅️ Weather | 🌥 32°C 90°F + 💦 Humid (69%) + 💨 9km/h = Feels like 40°C 104°F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💨 Air quality (now) | 😷 80 µg/m3 equal to 🚬 🚬 🚬 🚬 / day | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💨 Air quality (annual avg) | 👎 137 µg/m3 equal to 🚬 🚬 🚬 🚬 🚬 🚬 / day | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🔌 Power | 230V50Hz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚕 Best taxi app | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📱 Best wireless carrier | China Unicom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💸 10 CNY in USD | USD 1.41 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏧 Suggested ATM take out: CNY 1,000 | USD 141 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💸 Tipping | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💳 Cashless society | 💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners because WeChat is very hard to set up) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ☕️ Best coffee place | Maan Coffee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚰 Safe tap water | 🚫 No, contaminated | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ♻️ Return rate | 0% of visitors return | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 👨👩👧👦 Population | 3,600,000 people | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 😤 People density | 🧘♀️ not busy: 4,800 ppl/km² 14x14m (196m²) space per person | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 👫 Gender ratio | 👨 57% 👱♀️ 43% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏠 Apartment listings | Sublet | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | China Eastern | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best int'l air carrier | Air China | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏥 Best hospital | General Hospital of Nanjing Military Base | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| no-beachairportwarm nowwarmhotslow internetcheap cost of livinglow crimehigh humiditymany menfriendly peopleadult nightlife | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💵 Nomad Cost™ | $1,083 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for expat | $612 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for family | $1,264 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for local | $361 / month |
| 🏠 1br studio rent in center | $310 / month |
| 🏢 Coworking | $47 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $895 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $42 / night |
| 🍝 Dinner | $2 |
| 🍹 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $0 |
| 🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $1 |
| ☕️ Coffee | $1 |
Based on Nanjing's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
 | Web Designer @ komoot |
 | Director Of UI UX @ ThreatConnect |
 | Senior UI UX Designer @ Radformation |
 | Product Designer @ Clevertech |
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 lots of time to work on other projects). You could also easily get a full time teaching gig but that defeats the whole nomad idea i guess. My favorite area is Gulou, or the Drum Tower. Old, local style with ancient buildings and some great cafes.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 37° 99° 32° 90°😷AQI 74✈️1.1827523939394$2,176 / mo2MbpsBe wary of LIES, lies everywhere. Lies like when a local restaurant tells you it uses clean filtered water. Assume that you will drink polluted water once in a while. It does not only include bacteria but also heavy metal. Drinking bottled water ? The most popular company, Nongfu, was caught using wrong norms years ago. Too many people were boycotting so they changed the traditional red bottle... and removed the English name. Lies like when they told you the internet speed using local servers. Local internet is actually not that bad, but since you would never use Baidu, Bing or any other unblocked search engine, then your VPN will throttle much of your speed and freedom. Add to that the fact that 2-3 times a year, a political meeting happens and they totally CUT all VPN access. Lies when you try to know the air pollution and the weather agency chose not to update the air quality index to play with the averages. It's still unhealthy but it got A LOT better these last few years. Lies like when you just try to know how many people live in Shanghai. Between 25-35 million people (depending on if you include migrant worker and nearby Suzhou soon to be connected by the same subway) means you get access to lots of stuff. Delivery is one (electronics, food). Subway is ridiculously cheap and modern. Taxis (just replace Uber by Didi) is also awesome and quite cheap. Lies like when you read my review and count as many bad points as good, but you still get Chinese people asking you why you hate China so much...
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 45° 113° 32° 89°😷AQI 55✈️0.40172474605613$1,985 / mo2MbpsIt's possible to live in Hong Kong on the cheap. You've got to live far out in the New Territories, or on an outlying island. I spent a summer living happily on Lamma Island for ~$500USD/month in rent for one bedroom in a shared flat. Rent is really the only tricky part--everything else is relatively cheap.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌦 Feels 46° 115° 33° 92°😷AQI 171✈️1.5606879151972$2,941 / mo41MbpsBe wary of LIES, lies everywhere. Lies like when a local restaurant tells you it uses clean filtered water. Assume that you will drink polluted water once in a while. It does not only include bacteria but also heavy metal. Drinking bottled water ? The most popular company, Nongfu, was caught using wrong norms years ago. Too many people were boycotting so they changed the traditional red bottle... and removed the English name. Lies like when they told you the internet speed using local servers. Local internet is actually not that bad, but since you would never use Baidu, Bing or any other unblocked search engine, then your VPN will throttle much of your speed and freedom. Add to that the fact that 2-3 times a year, a political meeting happens and they totally CUT all VPN access. Lies when you try to know the air pollution and the weather agency chose not to update the air quality index to play with the averages. It's still unhealthy but it got A LOT better these last few years. Lies like when you just try to know how many people live in Shanghai. Between 25-35 million people (depending on if you include migrant worker and nearby Suzhou soon to be connected by the same subway) means you get access to lots of stuff. Delivery is one (electronics, food). Subway is ridiculously cheap and modern. Taxis (just replace Uber by Didi) is also awesome and quite cheap. Lies like when you read my review and count as many bad points as good, but you still get Chinese people asking you why you hate China so much...
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 45° 113° 32° 89°😷AQI 55✈️0.40172474605613$1,985 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peopleReally friendly and social people, laid back, easy to get around, food is good, 4g is great. Heavy clouds for the 4 days I was here in December, which was depressing as hell.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 36° 97° 29° 85°AQI 30✈️1.1143864046022$2,026 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleDefinitely 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 lots of time to work on other projects). You could also easily get a full time teaching gig but that defeats the whole nomad idea i guess. My favorite area is Gulou, or the Drum Tower. Old, local style with ancient buildings and some great cafes.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 37° 99° 32° 90°😷AQI 74✈️1.1827523939394$2,176 / mo🌇 Also went here5 peopleIt's possible to live in Hong Kong on the cheap. You've got to live far out in the New Territories, or on an outlying island. I spent a summer living happily on Lamma Island for ~$500USD/month in rent for one bedroom in a shared flat. Rent is really the only tricky part--everything else is relatively cheap.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌦 Feels 46° 115° 33° 92°😷AQI 171✈️1.5606879151972$2,941 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleI 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, Western city/metro area.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 48° 118° 35° 96°😷AQI 139✈️1.8326208961237$1,002 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleI have been told it's the vanilla of digital nomads : easy, cheap, risk free. I loved it so much I want to move there ! Great food, great places to see and awesomely polite and nice people.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 46° 115° 32° 89°AQI 21✈️3.2593430223708$1,190 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peopleCost of living over 1.000 usd? Is any of of this website went to Bangkok? You can live on a palace above 1.000 usd rent. Mine was 22.000 bahts and was in the party street, amazing building with jacuzzi, pools and even its own cinema..
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 43° 109° 33° 91°AQI 50✈️3.6491102406483$1,554 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleI think KL will be the next hub for nomads. It's affordable, safe, convenient, has decent Internet and has decent weather. (Yes it's hot during the summer but it gives you a good reason to be inside and get your work done) Mostly it's quite chill, not as hectic and messy as other major SEA cities like Bangkok, Hanoi and Jakarta. There's not that much to do, but Malaysia has wonderful nature and getaway places, accessible with cheap AirAsia tickets from KL.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 47° 117° 34° 92°✈️4.8870697722243$1,335 / mo🌇 Also went here3 peopleThe Diet Coke of Asia. Zero crime, English spoken everywhere. Reliable public transport. Some nice spots for off-the-beaten-path walking and hiking. But also clinical, authoritarian, money-minded and very costly. Companies and shopkeepers will always do what's good for them (or makes their own life easier); not what's good for the customer. People avoid eye contact and are generally overworked and miserable. After a while, crossing over to Malaysia's neighboring Johor will, warts and all, feel like a breath of fresh air ("Yes! Space! I can move! I can breathe!").
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 42° 108° 32° 90°😷AQI 57✈️5.0038760268579$2,810 / mo🌇 Also went here7 peopleI like it here better than Canggu. It's more walkable, more cheap warungs, more convenient. You could find all kinds of shop catering to different type of visitor, from cheap to luxurious. Not a party place if you're looking for it, which made it even more perfect. More female than male, great for dating.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌫 Feels 35° 95° 29° 85°😷AQI 66✈️6.0365009933041$2,078 / mo🌇 Also went here3 peopleI have been living in London for over 2 years as a student. It's ridiculously expensive. However, there are options. What I like about the city is you can find many events anytime you want. It's active all year 24/7. There are so many foreigners and tourists which make the living more vibrant and less racist. London has sub-communities which I think is a good thing. Those communities bring their cultures, ethics and foods. Public transportation and restaurants are great. I used to spend 3-4 hours in Costa or Nero cafe without interruptions. Though if it's raining or summer season it could be hard to stay long. On the negative side, the UK suffers from slow and old bureaucracies making life difficult sometimes. It's not easy to open a bank account or to rent. The government systems are slow. Also, you will feel depressed in winter when the sunset is before 4pm and the temperature is 0c. All in all, everything is great about the city except the affordability and the winter.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 32° 90° 30° 86°😷AQI 106✈️11.94554710908$3,917 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleNothing does a better job of explaining LA’s beautiful diversity and different neighborhoods than the documentary about the late Jonathan Gold, our city’s greatest amabassador and the only food critic to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. It is called, “City of Gold” and if you want to know LA, just watch this film. Trailer link: https://youtu.be/DmKTRDfz1zM
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 33° 91° 29° 85°AQI 50✈️14.088153392673$4,562 / mo🌇 Also went here4 people✅ Affordable to live
✅ Very safe
✅ Lots of fun stuff to do
✅ Warm in the spring
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ Easy to do business
✅ High quality of education
✅ Very safe for women
✅ LGBT friendly
❌ Slow internet
❌ Gets cold in the winter
❌ Too hot in the summer
❌ Humid now
❌ Bad air quality year round
❌ Not many nomads go here
❌ Difficult to make friends
❌ Roads can be dangerous
❌ Freedom of speech is weak
❌ Not very democratic
❌ People don't speak English well
❌ People smoking tobacco a lot
Nomad List Nomad List1 Month: $9.99/month
12 Months: $99/year
Save 17% per year: $8.24/month
One-Time-Purchase: $149
Save 90% forever
62 people signed up this week
Already a member? Log in
as seen in
Nomad List💖 Thank you so much for supporting Nomad List! I really appreciate it!
📬 First, please go to your email and click the confirm link first to verify your email address (check your spam folder if you can't find it).
💌 After you confirm your email I'll send you an email with more info.
👩💻 You can then start using all the Nomad List member-only features!
💭 If you have any feedback, please tweet us!
by levelsio
