⭐️ Total score | 3.25/5 (Rank #330) |
❤️ Liked by members | 👍100% liked it 👎0% disliked it |
👍 Quality of life score | Good |
👶 Family score | Good |
🎒 Community score | Okay |
💵 Cost | 😳 Way too expensive: $5,563 / mo |
📡 Internet | 🚀 Super fast: 110Mbps (avg) |
😝 Fun | Good |
⛅️ Temperature (now) | 🌞 Perfect: 22°C72°F (feels 22°C72°F) |
💦 Humidity (now) | 😊 Comfy: 81% |
💨 Air quality (annual) | 🌱 Great: 27 US AQI |
👌 Safety | Good |
🤮 Food safety* | Great |
👮♀️ Lack of crime* | Good |
🤝 Lack of racism* | Okay |
🎓 Education level* | High |
⚡️ Power grid | Great |
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change | Good |
💰 Income level* | Very high: $4,817 / mo |
🙊 English speaking* | Great |
🚶 Walkability | Bad |
🚦 Traffic safety* | Okay |
✈️ Airline scores* | Okay |
🧳 Lost luggage* | Bad |
🏥 Hospitals | Great |
😄 Happiness* | Bad |
🍸 Nightlife | Good |
📶 Free WiFi in city | Good |
🖥 Places to work from | Great |
❄️ A/C or heating | Good |
😁 Friendly to foreigners | Okay |
🗯 Freedom of speech* | Good |
👩 Female friendly | Bad |
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly | Great |
🎅 Startup Score | Okay |
🌍 Continent | North America |
🚩 Country | United States |
🗓️ Average trip length | 4 days |
📡 Internet speed (avg) | 110 Mbps |
⛅️ Weather (now) | ☀️ 22°C 72°F + 😊 Comfy (81%) = feels 22°C 72°F |
💨 Air quality (annual avg) | 👍 27 US AQI |
🔌 Power | 115V60Hz |
🚕 Best taxi app* | |
🚑 Travel medical insurance | ![]() |
💸 Tipping | Yes, 15% |
💳 Cashless | 💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere |
☕️ Best coffee place | Starbucks |
☕️ Best alt. coffee place | Denny's |
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place | The SandBox |
🚰 Tap water | 👌 Yes, safe to drink |
♻️ Return rate | 👍10% of visitors return |
👨👩👧👦 Population | 91,000 people |
👨👩👧👦 GDP per capita* | $57,808 / year |
👫 Gender ratio (nomads) | 👨 83% 👱♀️ 17% |
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed | Yes |
⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious |
💻 Online electronics shop | Amazon |
🏠 Apartment listings | Airbnb |
✈️ Best int'l air carrier | American Airlines |
🏥 Best hospital | Issels Medical Center |
💵 Cost of living for nomad | $5,563 / month |
💵 Cost of living for expat | $4,076 / month |
💵 Cost of living for family | $9,675 / month |
💵 Cost of living for local | $2,764 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $3,053 / month |
🏡 Airbnb (median price) | $4,504 / month |
🏠 1br studio rent in center | $2,500 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $143 / night |
🏠 Airbnb (median price) | $148 / night |
🏢 Coworking hot desk | $499 / month |
🍛 Dinner | $19 |
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $2 |
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L) | $6 |
☕️ Coffee in cafe | $5 |
👩🏫 International school | $43,750 / year |
📱 Mobile data (~10GB) | $17 / month |
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi) | $11 / trip |
✅ Pretty safe
✅ Fast internet
✅ Lots of fun stuff to do
✅ Warm now
✅ Good air quality on average
✅ Nomad List members liked going here a lot
✅ 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
✅ Family friendly
✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+
✅ Not many people smoke tobacco
✅ (Medical) marijuana MAY be legal, unenforced or decriminalized (always double check this)
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
Feels | 5714° cool | 5211° cool | 5714° cool | 6116° cool | 6317° cool | 6619° mild | 7021° mild | 7021° mild | 6820° mild | 6619° mild | 5513° cool | 5513° cool |
Real | 5714° cool | 5211° cool | 5714° cool | 6016° cool | 6217° cool | 6619° mild | 7021° mild | 7021° mild | 6820° mild | 6519° mild | 5513° cool | 5513° cool |
Humidity | too dry 24% | nice 30% | nice 33% | nice 37% | nice 41% | nice 42% | nice 43% | nice 41% | nice 43% | nice 30% | nice 40% | nice 40% |
Most common | ||||||||||||
Rain | rainy 95mm | rainy 58mm | rainy 69mm | dry 3mm | dry 7mm | dry 1mm | dry 1mm | dry 1mm | dry 0mm | dry 9mm | dry 9mm | dry 32mm |
Cloud | pockets 13% | clear 9% | clear 7% | clear 9% | pockets 11% | pockets 11% | clear 9% | clear 9% | clear 10% | clear 5% | pockets 12% | pockets 19% |
Air quality | clean 19 US AQI | clean 18 US AQI | clean 20 US AQI | clean 33 US AQI | clean 27 US AQI | clean 30 US AQI | clean 27 US AQI | clean 30 US AQI | clean 27 US AQI | clean 29 US AQI | clean 24 US AQI | clean 21 US AQI |
Sun | seek shade 3 UVI | seek shade 5 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | seek shade 5 UVI | seek shade 4 UVI | seek shade 3 UVI |
Remote workers | 229 people | 286 people | 200 people | 356 people | 244 people | 280 people | 250 people | 333 people | 250 people | 200 people | 280 people | 400 people |
If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomad List's Climate Finder
Based on Santa Barbara's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
I don't know where the other people stayed in Bakersfield but it is not walkable by any means. Everything is very spread out and separated by very wide streets. Sidewalks (if they exist) are tiny. There is a downtown, but that is not bigger than a few blocks and hardy describes the rest of the town accurately.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 37° 99° 36° 97°🥵🚕3h$4,492 / mo52Mbps×It's obscenely expensive for low quality service with kinda mean people. Not nice. The regulations and taxes here are insane too. You pay a neighbourhood tax, district tax, city tax, county tax and then state tax on every payment you make! The traffic here is insane too. And just getting from place to place is difficult because city is so gigantic. We talked to our hotel's manager here and he struggles a lot with the insane amount of rules California tells him to follow. It makes it hard to st
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 32° 90° 29° 83°AQI 60😷✈️12min$5,280 / mo118Mbps×It's obscenely expensive for low quality service with kinda mean people. Not nice. The regulations and taxes here are insane too. You pay a neighbourhood tax, district tax, city tax, county tax and then state tax on every payment you make! The traffic here is insane too. And just getting from place to place is difficult because city is so gigantic. We talked to our hotel's manager here and he struggles a lot with the insane amount of rules California tells him to follow. It makes it hard to st
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 32° 90° 29° 83°AQI 60😷✈️12min$5,280 / mo118Mbps×I just came back after 12 years, last time I lived in SF for 3 months in 2012. Back then it was a walkable and clean and fun, pretty safe city. The only place back then that you'd avoid was the Tenderloin. There was homeless but they actually weren't aggressive. There wasn't much robberies either. San Francisco in 2024 is very different, as you've probably seen from social media. The homeless problem has grown a lot since then, and they're not just clustered in the Tenderloin, they're all over
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 20° 68° 19° 66°✈️35min$6,318 / mo105Mbps×Unfortunately just a hard place to Nomad. Maybe ~10 years ago. Needless to say; accommodation is super high and you don't get much. Lots of driving culture. Surprisingly few gyms; most of which expensive and/or super crowded. Not very easy to meet people per sprawl/driving culture. The locals keep pretty insulated amongst each other. WiFi/Internet great. Food OK if you like Mexican and/or tex-mex. Beaches are great and surfing is pretty good, but it gets very crowded in desirable months with lot
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️25min$5,534 / mo105Mbps×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👍 Liked great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 23° 73° 23° 74°AQI 25✈️4h$4,908 / mo81Mbps×Playa has been really good to me. The digital nomad community (at least over my winter stay) has been INCREDIBLE. Join the Facebook groups, find the WhatsApp groups - it’s so easy to meet others. The beach is ok, seaweed isn’t as bad in winter but it’s very visible and does smell. It rarely kills my beach day. The city has so many conveinces and is very walkable - it’s perfect for someone looking to work and enjoy themselves. Internet has been stable and fast. I get it’s not authentic,
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🙂 Okay📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety badTap to open☀️ Feels 38° 100° 30° 86°🥵✈️5h$2,701 / mo49Mbps×It's a fantastic spot for kitesurfing nomads within the season: you can kitesurf on the windy side of the island or go to the White Beach where the wind doesn't reach and chill on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It's a small island, so expect to start bumping into people you know after a couple of days, but it's got enough to offer to keep you entertained for a couple of weeks, and if you kitesurf even longer. There are some apartment with internet speed allowing you to work fr
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 34° 93° 29° 84°✈️16h$2,242 / mo12Mbps×Hello i am agreed with previous comment . I was very passionate about Portugal pend here two and half years even more just living living here , not travel abroad . So my opinion its very beautiful country people are also very nice . Ideally if you working abroad . British and French expats are here . Nepal people hard workers and afro colonies people who came from Mozambique . Its totally fine no racism and totally solidarity . But , if you searching housing , and move in city of course , it wi
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 28° 82° 26° 80°AQI 29✈️12h$3,872 / mo110Mbps×Porto Alegre (POA) is a city brimming with beautiful Nature. Trees and birds galore. Unfortunately, there is much wasted potential where historical architecture and intelligent zoning are concerned. I've traveled throughout Brazil and lived in Sao Paulo, and I can attest that POA has the best food hands down. Customer service is top notch, and the shopping is good. Love the vintage stores and antique shops too. Sunsets on the lake are a treasure. Gauchos are the most "talkative" people I've ev
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety very badTap to open☀️ Feels 23° 73° 23° 73°✈️14h$1,532 / mo18Mbps×Dirty. Hospital system is atrocious. Its like having a bunch of shiny glossy hospitals with poorly educated doctors everywhere. Most people end up going to 'Quickcare ER' places that are plastered all over town. Lets put it this way... The school system fast tracks people to become teachers in almost no time at all & they still quit in droves all the time because kids are out of control. Las Vegas desperately tries to buy status & sophistication but its always cartoony and not organic. Its a tow
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 43° 109° 42° 107°🥵✈️37min$4,095 / mo81Mbps×It's obscenely expensive for low quality service with kinda mean people. Not nice. The regulations and taxes here are insane too. You pay a neighbourhood tax, district tax, city tax, county tax and then state tax on every payment you make! The traffic here is insane too. And just getting from place to place is difficult because city is so gigantic. We talked to our hotel's manager here and he struggles a lot with the insane amount of rules California tells him to follow. It makes it hard to st
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 32° 90° 29° 83°AQI 60😷✈️12min$5,280 / mo🌇 Also went here48 people×Unfortunately just a hard place to Nomad. Maybe ~10 years ago. Needless to say; accommodation is super high and you don't get much. Lots of driving culture. Surprisingly few gyms; most of which expensive and/or super crowded. Not very easy to meet people per sprawl/driving culture. The locals keep pretty insulated amongst each other. WiFi/Internet great. Food OK if you like Mexican and/or tex-mex. Beaches are great and surfing is pretty good, but it gets very crowded in desirable months with lot
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️25min$5,534 / mo🌇 Also went here30 people×I just came back after 12 years, last time I lived in SF for 3 months in 2012. Back then it was a walkable and clean and fun, pretty safe city. The only place back then that you'd avoid was the Tenderloin. There was homeless but they actually weren't aggressive. There wasn't much robberies either. San Francisco in 2024 is very different, as you've probably seen from social media. The homeless problem has grown a lot since then, and they're not just clustered in the Tenderloin, they're all over
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 20° 68° 19° 66°✈️35min$6,318 / mo🌇 Also went here48 people×Dirty. Hospital system is atrocious. Its like having a bunch of shiny glossy hospitals with poorly educated doctors everywhere. Most people end up going to 'Quickcare ER' places that are plastered all over town. Lets put it this way... The school system fast tracks people to become teachers in almost no time at all & they still quit in droves all the time because kids are out of control. Las Vegas desperately tries to buy status & sophistication but its always cartoony and not organic. Its a tow
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 43° 109° 42° 107°🥵✈️37min$4,095 / mo🌇 Also went here35 people×Love it! Don't expect them to speak English, that is NOT their native language. If you're going to go, learn some Spanish and respect their culture. No gentrification in Mexico, please.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked good👮 Safety badTap to open🌧 Feels 22° 72° 22° 71°✈️4h$1,950 / mo🌇 Also went here28 people×I guess if you're a nomad this doesn't matter much, but the long-term job pickings here are slim and among the most underpaid for a US city. There seems to be a tacit rent floor that means you won't find a good deal on housing. A lot of people don't seem very invested in their interpersonal relationships here since their ties to the area are often transient.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open☀️ Feels 40° 104° 31° 87°🥵✈️5h$5,212 / mo🌇 Also went here27 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 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️5h$6,831 / mo🌇 Also went here42 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 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 21° 70° 21° 69°AQI 25✈️12h$5,697 / mo🌇 Also went here35 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 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 21° 70° 20° 67°AQI 27✈️12h$5,666 / mo🌇 Also went here33 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 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 22° 72° 22° 72°AQI 55😷✈️12h$5,439 / mo🌇 Also went here46 people×Hello i am agreed with previous comment . I was very passionate about Portugal pend here two and half years even more just living living here , not travel abroad . So my opinion its very beautiful country people are also very nice . Ideally if you working abroad . British and French expats are here . Nepal people hard workers and afro colonies people who came from Mozambique . Its totally fine no racism and totally solidarity . But , if you searching housing , and move in city of course , it wi
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 28° 82° 26° 80°AQI 29✈️12h$3,872 / mo🌇 Also went here34 people×Berlin used to be nomad base in Europe... but it's not the same anymore. The 'pandemic' changed many things -- the cost of course, but also the culture -- the freedom and liberty have been contained. The police presence and size of the state have grown -- definitely doesn't feel so relaxed anymore. It's also important to note here -- there is limited ambition. Most are looking for an easy, fun and peaceful life -- which is great, but if you are building something or running a business it can fee
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 23° 73° 23° 74°AQI 46✈️12h$3,831 / mo🌇 Also went here28 people×Difficult to find places to work in the evenings if you work for a western company. Hard to find a good quality restaurant, Google reviews are very inflated here.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 30° 86° 29° 85°AQI 34✈️13h$4,598 / mo🌇 Also went here39 people×A walking stereotype. Overcrowded, messy, expensive. Literally nothing works. There are more USA people than in Lisbon, which I thought was impossible. Yes, Italians are awesome and food is great.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 35° 95° 32° 89°🥵✈️14h$4,886 / mo🌇 Also went here27 people×(It seems my paragraph formatting is being removed due to the length of my comment, so sorry you'll have to deal with the wall of text if you want to read this, haha) Have been in Bangkok for the past 6 months. I've been nomadic for the past 4 years across Europe & the US, and as someone who is used to walking everywhere and greenery, I found it quite difficult living here. I spent my first 5 months living in Airbnbs, which were fine for around $6-800/m, and for the last month decided to live in
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 31° 88° 27° 81°🥵AQI 60😷✈️18h$1,358 / mo🌇 Also went here28 people×Can't login? See the FAQ
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