| # | City | Monthly | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Da Nang | $750/mo | 7.6/10 |
| 02 | Chiang Mai | $800/mo | 8.0/10 |
| 03 | Tbilisi | $900/mo | 7.6/10 |
| 04 | Ho Chi Minh City | $900/mo | 7.5/10 |
| 05 | Bangkok | $1,000/mo | 7.8/10 |
| 06 | Bali | $1,100/mo | 7.7/10 |
| 07 | Buenos Aires | $1,100/mo | 7.7/10 |
| 08 | Kuala Lumpur | $1,100/mo | 7.6/10 |
| 09 | Bucharest | $1,100/mo | 7.3/10 |
| 10 | Medellín | $1,200/mo | 7.9/10 |
| 11 | Budapest | $1,200/mo | 7.8/10 |
| 12 | Cape Town | $1,200/mo | 7.2/10 |
| 13 | Prague | $1,300/mo | 8.2/10 |
| 14 | Taipei | $1,300/mo | 8.0/10 |
| 15 | Warsaw | $1,350/mo | 7.6/10 |
RANKING · METHOD ON FILE
Cheapest cities for digital nomads
Why this table exists
METHODThis is the table for the spreadsheet question: which of the 33 dossiers gives a single remote worker the lowest cost base? It answers 'how little do I actually need to live well here' — the comfortable tier, not the survival floor — so the numbers are the ones you can plan a move around rather than the ones you flex about online.
How to read it
METHODThe cost is our comfortable single-person monthly estimate in USD — housing, food, transport, utilities and internet, entertainment, and health insurance — reviewed in the September 2026 pass. Two things to notice before using it: the figure assumes local, settled living, so the first month (deposits, flights, visa fees) will run higher than the table; and cheapest is not the same as best — Chiang Mai sits lower than all but one city on cost yet scores 8.0/10 overall, while several sub-$1,100 cities score below 7.5. Read the two columns together.
Top of the table, explained
NOTESDa Nang ($750/month) and Chiang Mai ($800/month) repeat as the two cheapest streets in the dataset, and they reach it through completely different routes: Da Nang is a beach city whose cost structure never inflated, Chiang Mai is a mid-size Thai city with an established remote-work scene and a food budget that barely registers. Tbilisi at $900 is the cheapest 'proper city' — real infrastructure, a metro, mountains an hour away — which is why it keeps appearing near the top of so many of our clients' own lists. Below $1,100 the ranking is tightly grouped, which is the table's honest message: below a $1,000-ish base, the differences between cities matter less than your visa and tax reality in any of them.
Common questions
FAQDoes the cheap tier mean giving up a good lifestyle?
No — it reflects identical methodology applied to cheaper cities, not a downgraded basket. The same lines (1BR, food, transport, insurance) cost less in Ho Chi Minh City than in Lisbon; what changes is what a dollar buys, not what we count. The real trade-off to check is the country file — visa income floors and tax treatment vary more between these cheap cities than the rent does.
Are these budgets enough for a comfortable life, or survivable?
Comfortable, by our definition: a 1BR of your own, eating out regularly, entertainment, and private or bridging health cover. Living cheaper than this is possible almost anywhere, but the table is deliberately not that game — it is the 'you won't feel poor' number.
Why do a few sub-$1,000 cities score below 7.5 on the overall score?
Because the composite score also weights infrastructure and liveability. A city can be cheap and still be hard to operate from; the gap between a city's cost rank and score rank is exactly the number to interrogate before deciding.
Reviewed by Mgr. Nicolas Griss · ExpatTools advisory team · 6 September 2026.
Affiliate
Straddling two currencies? Wise holds 40+ currencies and converts at the real mid-market rate with low fees.
Open a Wise accountAffiliate
SafetyWing — nomad health cover in 180+ countries from about $45/month, month to month, cancel anytime.
Check SafetyWingBuild your own numbers: cost-of-living calculator · nomad runway planner