⭐️ Total score | 4.17/5 (Rank #31) |
👍 Quality of life score | Good |
👶 Family score | Okay |
💵 Cost | 😙 Affordable: $1,562 / mo |
📡 Internet | 🙂 Good: 6Mbps (avg) |
😝 Fun | Great |
⛅️ Temperature (now) | 🥵 Too hot: 31°C88°F (feels 41°C106°F) |
💦 Humidity (now) | 🥵 Sweaty: 81% |
💨 Air quality (now) | 🌱 Great: 34 US AQI |
👌 Safety | Okay |
👮♀️ Lack of crime* | Bad |
🤝 Lack of racism* | Okay |
🎓 Education level* | Mediocre |
💰 Income level* | Very low: $704 / mo |
❤️ Liked by members | 👍86% liked it 👎14% disliked it |
🙊 English speaking* | Bad |
🚶 Walkability | Great |
✌️ Peace (no pol. conflict) | Bad |
🚦 Traffic safety* | Okay |
🏥 Healthcare* | Okay |
😄 Happiness* | Good |
🍸 Nightlife | Good |
📶 Free WiFi in city | Okay |
🖥 Places to work from | Great |
❄️ A/C or heating | Great |
😁 Friendly to foreigners | Great |
🗯 Freedom of speech* | Bad |
👩 Female friendly | Okay |
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly | Great |
🎅 Startup Score | Bad |
🌍 Continent | Latin America |
🚩 Country | Mexico |
⏱ Average trip length | 25 days |
📡 Internet speed (avg) | 6 Mbps |
⛅️ Weather (now) | 🌥 31°C 88°F + 🥵 Sweaty (81%) = feels 41°C 106°F |
💨 Air quality (now) | 👍 34 US AQI 🍃 OK |
🔌 Power | 115V60Hz |
🚕 Best taxi app* | |
🚑 Travel medical insurance | ![]() |
📱 Best wireless carrier | TelCel |
💸 100 MXN in USD | USD 4.97 |
🏧 Suggested ATM take out: | MXN 10,000 = USD 497 |
💸 Tipping | No |
💳 Cashless | 💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners) |
🚰 Tap water | 🚫 No, not drinkable |
♻️ Return rate | 👍15% of visitors return |
👨👩👧👦 Population | 150,000 people |
👨👩👧👦 GDP per capita* | $8,444 / year |
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed | Yes |
👫 Gender ratio (overall) | 👨 54% 👱♀️ 46% |
👫 Gender ratio (young adults) | 👨 51% 👱♀️ 49% |
⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious |
💻 Online electronics shop | Linio |
🏠 Apartment listings | Comparto Depa |
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Volaris |
✈️ Best int'l air carrier | Aeromexico |
💵 Cost of living for nomad | $1,562 / month |
💵 Cost of living for expat | $1,004 / month |
💵 Cost of living for family | $1,597 / month |
💵 Cost of living for local | $456 / month |
🏠 1br studio rent in center | $348 / month |
🏢 Coworking | $182 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $927 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $43 / night |
🏡 Airbnb (median from 1,001 listings) | $2,004 / month |
🏠 Airbnb (median price) | $66 / night |
🍛 Dinner | $3 |
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $1 |
🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $2 |
☕️ Coffee | $1 |
✅ Affordable to live
✅ Lots of fun stuff to do
✅ Warm now
✅ Warm all year round
✅ Good air quality on average
✅ Nomad List members liked going here
✅ Many Nomad List members here all year round
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ Very easy to make friends
✅ Easy to do business
✅ Roads are pretty safe
✅ Democratic
✅ Safe for women
✅ Family friendly
✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+
✅ Not many people smoke tobacco
❌ No freedom of speech
❌ Not very safe
❌ Pretty slow internet
❌ Very sweaty and humid now
❌ Quality of education is low
❌ Hospitals are bad
❌ People don't speak English well
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
Feels | 8429° warm | 9133° hot | 9032° hot | 10038° hot | 10239° hot | 10440° hot | 10943° scorching | 10842° scorching | 10943° scorching | 10239° hot | 8831° hot | 9133° hot |
Real | 7926° warm | 8228° very warm | 8228° very warm | 8630° very warm | 8630° very warm | 8630° very warm | 8831° hot | 8831° hot | 8831° hot | 8630° very warm | 8127° warm | 8228° very warm |
Humidity | nice 86% | sweaty 85% | sweaty 82% | sweaty 83% | sweaty 85% | sweaty 89% | sweaty 87% | sweaty 86% | sweaty 87% | sweaty 87% | sweaty 84% | sweaty 86% |
Rain | rainy 126mm | rainy 60mm | rainy 55mm | dry 30mm | rainy 104mm | rainy 241mm | rainy 97mm | rainy 233mm | rainy 169mm | rainy 175mm | rainy 156mm | rainy 78mm |
Cloud | cloudy 56% | pockets 34% | pockets 23% | pockets 37% | pockets 46% | cloudy 69% | pockets 46% | pockets 43% | cloudy 60% | cloudy 52% | pockets 45% | pockets 33% |
Sun | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI |
Remote workers | 2,382 people | 1,700 people | 1,840 people | 1,975 people | 1,200 people | 1,257 people | 889 people | 655 people | 1,125 people | 1,560 people | 1,964 people | 1,567 people |
If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomad List's Climate Finder
Based on Playa del Carmen's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
Everything is for American tourists. Prices are sometimes even higher than in the US. Beach is beautiful, there's nothing to do downtown. Cenotes, archaeological zone are cool, worth a visit. Covid is like it doesn't exist. Internet was cool in Selina. Cool to stay for a couple of nights of chilling, but not for living.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun good👮 Safety badTap to open🌤 Feels 41° 106° 31° 88°🥵AQI 34🚕2h$2,559 / mo7Mbps×The wifi conection on all the island maybe can be slower sometimes. i sugesto to have a 50gb plan internet by Didi simcards
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety badTap to open🌥 Feels 36° 97° 30° 86°🥵AQI 18🚕3h$2,478 / mo24Mbps×I've stayed in Merida for about 10 weeks now. It's a cute sleepy city with a good amount of restaurants and museums/history if you're into that sort of stuff. I cannot speak about the nightlife because I'm here during Covid times and the lockdown is real. The city is flat as a pancake, so if you're into cycling, this is a great city for you. The heat in this city is oppressive starting in March through the end of October. I've asked many locals why they come here and their number one respons
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety badTap to open🌥 Feels 41° 106° 31° 89°🥵AQI 11✈️21min$1,207 / mo6Mbps×I love San Pedro for the diving, fishing and street food. Great internet and have worked here remotely several times in the last year. Some of the best diving in all of the Caribbean at offshore Atolls, with incredible bio-diversity, and world class fishing. I prefer minimalist island vibe without Gucci stores, am here for the wildlife, and love driving to dinner on the beach in a lifted golf cart.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun great👮 Safety badTap to open🌥 Feels 37° 99° 30° 85°🥵AQI 34✈️25min$3,331 / mo7Mbps×There is absolutely no reason to stay in Belize City. You're just going to get ripped off by taxis and restaurants (always do the math on your bill). You come to Belize to go to the islands or ruins, not Belize City.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun bad👮 Safety badTap to open🌧 Feels 37° 99° 30° 85°🥵AQI 34✈️29min$2,493 / mo7Mbps×Roatan is a beautiful island and has become a worthwhile spot for digital nomads. I've been impressed with the high band internet speeds and over all reliability of all services! If you want to scuba dive, this is one of the best places on the planet to do that as well
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun bad👮 Safety very badTap to open🌧 Feels 35° 95° 29° 84°🥵AQI 82😷✈️39min$2,174 / mo4Mbps×Havana is great for a vacation, not for remote work. One of the best thing here is the atmosphere - it means people, music, fun, nightlife. BUT the situation with food is very complicated, is hard to find literally anything, there are queues everywhere. The internet is expensive (2.5 GB of LTE for 8 dollars) and very unstable. If you don't need so much internet to your work and if you are patient enough, you can enjoy Havana as it is really interesting and unique city.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌤 Feels 38° 100° 30° 86°🥵AQI 13✈️46min$1,550 / mo5Mbps×Everything is for American tourists. Prices are sometimes even higher than in the US. Beach is beautiful, there's nothing to do downtown. Cenotes, archaeological zone are cool, worth a visit. Covid is like it doesn't exist. Internet was cool in Selina. Cool to stay for a couple of nights of chilling, but not for living.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun good👮 Safety badTap to open🌤 Feels 41° 106° 31° 88°🥵AQI 34🚕2h$2,559 / mo7Mbps×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 🙂 Good😀 Fun good👮 Safety badTap to open🌧 Feels 21° 70° 21° 70°AQI 97😷✈️2h$1,544 / mo11Mbps×I've stayed in Merida for about 10 weeks now. It's a cute sleepy city with a good amount of restaurants and museums/history if you're into that sort of stuff. I cannot speak about the nightlife because I'm here during Covid times and the lockdown is real. The city is flat as a pancake, so if you're into cycling, this is a great city for you. The heat in this city is oppressive starting in March through the end of October. I've asked many locals why they come here and their number one respons
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety badTap to open🌥 Feels 41° 106° 31° 89°🥵AQI 11✈️21min$1,207 / mo6Mbps×The wifi conection on all the island maybe can be slower sometimes. i sugesto to have a 50gb plan internet by Didi simcards
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety badTap to open🌥 Feels 36° 97° 30° 86°🥵AQI 18🚕3h$2,478 / mo24Mbps×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 🙂 Good😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌦 Feels 27° 81° 26° 79°AQI 25✈️3h$5,660 / mo34Mbps×It's a safe area of Mexico, and also even the people who try to sell you crap, 'vendors' is less aggressive here. I have done about 2.5 months total in PV (two separate trips). Airbnbs are plentiful near the centro and december 5, more expensive in the romantic zone and even more expensive in Sayulita. But central PV is pretty cheap, even inland from Hotel Zone is nice and cheap. Roads and walkways are narrow and horrible. Internet is OK. If you stay in PV central, the beach isn't so great for s
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 36° 97° 29° 85°🥵AQI 73✈️3h$2,099 / mo14Mbps×Loved this city! It is not big although has great nightlife, coworkings, amazing streetart and is quite cheap. Although, when I visited in December 2021 they had problems with garbage removal.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 23° 73° 23° 73°AQI 11✈️1h$1,369 / mo7Mbps×Lived here for about 3 months as a female. The climate is amazing as it is the City of Eternal Spring. Very reasonable prices everywhere. I stayed in Poblado, but about a 25 minute walk from all the action of Poblado. Walking on the main roads during the day was fine. The local people are amazingly nice. However, once night falls, you have to be careful here. Do not walk on quiet streets. Leave your valuables at home and do not ever show your mobile phone outside on the street. Use an Uber at ni
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun good👮 Safety badTap to open🌧 Feels 22° 72° 22° 72°AQI 36✈️3h$1,059 / mo5Mbps×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 🙂 Good😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 18° 64° 17° 63°AQI 46✈️11h$5,136 / mo14Mbps×Everything is for American tourists. Prices are sometimes even higher than in the US. Beach is beautiful, there's nothing to do downtown. Cenotes, archaeological zone are cool, worth a visit. Covid is like it doesn't exist. Internet was cool in Selina. Cool to stay for a couple of nights of chilling, but not for living.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun good👮 Safety badTap to open🌤 Feels 41° 106° 31° 88°🥵AQI 34🚕2h$2,559 / mo🌇 Also went here248 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 🙂 Good😀 Fun good👮 Safety badTap to open🌧 Feels 21° 70° 21° 70°AQI 97😷✈️2h$1,544 / mo🌇 Also went here424 people×Lived here for about 3 months as a female. The climate is amazing as it is the City of Eternal Spring. Very reasonable prices everywhere. I stayed in Poblado, but about a 25 minute walk from all the action of Poblado. Walking on the main roads during the day was fine. The local people are amazingly nice. However, once night falls, you have to be careful here. Do not walk on quiet streets. Leave your valuables at home and do not ever show your mobile phone outside on the street. Use an Uber at ni
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun good👮 Safety badTap to open🌧 Feels 22° 72° 22° 72°AQI 36✈️3h$1,059 / mo🌇 Also went here290 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 🙂 Good😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌦 Feels 27° 81° 26° 79°AQI 25✈️3h$5,660 / mo🌇 Also went here293 people×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 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 29° 84° 27° 80°AQI 65✈️5h$4,849 / mo🌇 Also went here205 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 🙂 Good😀 Fun bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 15° 59° 15° 58°AQI 25✈️5h$7,075 / mo🌇 Also went here222 people×Good: - Great local food - Portuguese people are amazingly friendly - Vibrant DN community. It's like the city has been overtaken by remote workers. You will see everyone working on their laptop everywhere you go. - Amazing views whenever you want; you can just get a beer and climb to one of the viewpoints to see the sunset. Easy and magical. - Super cheap Ubers, easy subway Bad: - Housing prices. I'm not kidding, it's the worst I've ever seen. Ultra overpriced. I guess that's the problem when
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 22° 72° 22° 71°AQI 26✈️10h$2,367 / mo🌇 Also went here296 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 🙂 Good😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 18° 64° 17° 63°AQI 46✈️11h$5,136 / mo🌇 Also went here320 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 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 19° 66° 18° 64°AQI 38✈️11h$4,555 / mo🌇 Also went here231 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 🙂 Good😀 Fun good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 22° 72° 22° 71°AQI 27✈️11h$5,889 / mo🌇 Also went here216 people×Best city in Spain. Weather is great even in December and the clubbing scene is fun. There's lots to do and it's a beautiful city overall. You have to watch out for pickpockets but as long as you aren't leaving things unattended or obviously in your pockets you'll be fine. If you're into hostels, Hostel One Paralelo is BY FAR the best hostel in the area, worth every penny. Will definitely be back, and I never say that.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 29° 84° 27° 81°AQI 31✈️11h$3,587 / mo🌇 Also went here293 people×Berlin is overall a great city to be. Food is cheap and everywhere, easy to go out and have fun/meet for business. Rent has crept up but still far better value than where I came from. Internet: 36 EUR/month get me 450/40 mbps (cable -> DOCSIS 3.0) Public transport is 2.70 EUR/ticket. No woman I know has said they felt unsafe. Some really odd, xenophobic sounding comments on here. Biggest downsides IMO: service quality at restaurants - not that people are rude, but they don't seem to particular
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌤 Feels 30° 86° 27° 80°AQI 50✈️12h$3,885 / mo🌇 Also went here227 people×Chiang Mai used to be N.1 for the digital nomad life. It is still great and you can find really cheap apartments (300-400$) and restaurants (2-3$ for a main). Wouldn't recommend staying there during the burning season. The best area is Nimman, but it's also the most expensive. You can stay in the old city that's very nice but that gets noisy during the weekend for the night markets. Last but not least, very safe city. All in all would go back in a heartbeat.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun good👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 35° 95° 29° 85°🥵AQI 38✈️21h$946 / mo🌇 Also went here219 people×I cannot help but agree with the review from the person before me. I'm finishing my 3 weeks trip here, and something feels off. Like that person put it rightly, everything is for sale, and nothing has value. There is no soul to this city and its people, locals or otherwise. Something is wrong here.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good😀 Fun good👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 43° 109° 33° 92°🥵AQI 46✈️21h$1,270 / mo🌇 Also went here272 people×