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Best Cities for Remote Workers in 2021/2022: Save Money…

I had the idea of working on a list of the best cities for remote workers after seeing content creators that make over $2000 per month saying that they will abandon their projects and return to a 9-to-5 job because the money is not enough to pay for their expenses.

That surprises me for 2 reasons:

1st — I live in a city where $2000 is more than enough for a comfortable life. Only what Medium pays me would be enough. And it is in a safe, comfortable country bordering Germany.

2nd — When I check where those ranting content creators live, I see cities like London, Chicago, or Melbourne. Yes, it is complicated to pay the bills with $2000/monthly in any of these places.

But why do they live there?

One of the greatest benefits of content creation is that you can do your thing anywhere in the world, as long as you have a laptop, a good internet connection, and, at least in my case, decent coffee and a cup warmer.

If you are a content creator — like me — or planning to be a remote entrepreneur, this list of the best cities for remote workers is for you. I selected the best cities in the world for people like us to live in and spend little.

To move from a business center like London or San Francisco to one of these places is the difference between living in a shared apartment in a crime-ridden district or in a spacious villa in a green neighborhood.

Below I give you the options — 4 cities in Europe, 3 in South America and 1 in Asia. The choice is up to you.

The Criteria

Instead of just rewording some existing lists, I made this one of the best cities for remote workers from criteria carefully selected for Millennial/Gen X/Gen Z expatriates and remote workers. If you are already thinking about retirement, I prepared another list of the best countries to retire.

Good Communication Infrastructure (A.K.A Fast Internet)

High-speed internet is crucial for content creators.
If you don’t have a connection, you can’t upload your content. If your connection is slow, it will demand much of your time — try to use cloud-hosted video editing tools with slow internet and tell me later how it feels.

Slow internet makes it hard to even watch other people’s content, let alone create it. Your most important tool is a reliable, fast, and affordable connection.

In developed countries, high-speed internet is nearly everywhere, but this is not true in the rest of the world. More than once I saw remote entrepreneurs frustrated because they could develop nothing in the idyllic town they choose to live in Southeast Asia.

The indicator for this criteria is the average Internet speed — not the maximum speed — as assessed by engines like Speedtest.

Low Living Costs (Less than $1500 per month)

If the average living costs for an expatriate, as assessed by Nomadlist, is higher than $1500, I do not consider the city for this list.

More than criteria, this was a filter. In all cities mentioned below, an income of $1500 per month (sometimes, less than half of that) will be enough for a comfortable home, plenty of entertainment, and even to build some savings.

The indicator for this criteria is the living cost assessed by NomadList, a portal where almost 30 thousand remote professionals describe their experiences.

Ease to do Business

As a content creator, often you will need to incorporate a company to issue invoices and receive payments. But even if this is not the case, still you will need to deal with government bureaucracy wherever you live. It is unavoidable, but the less, the better.

This is why I counted among the criteria the presence in the Ease to do Business ranking, measured by The World Bank (almost) every year.

To calculate the easiness of doing business, the World Bank considers factors like:

• Dealing with permits
• Getting utilities like electricity
• Registering property
• Getting credit
• Trading across borders — this is especially important for remote workers dealing with clients abroad.
• Enforcing contracts, among others.

The position considered is of the country where the city is located, since the Ease to do Business is on a national level.

My Own Experience

I write from experience.

I only added places I had been personally. This still allowed me to select it from a large pool: during the last 10 years, I went to hundreds of cities in over 50 countries in every continent except Antarctica.

Therefore, I am not writing something based on random articles from the Internet. The data here is from reliable, proven sources, and the subjective opinions are personally witnessed by me and hundreds of expatriates.

For every city, based on my observations and of my peers, I gave a grade from 0 to 10. To understand the score, read the description below each city.

Best Cities for Remote Workers in Europe

Krakow, Poland

• Average Internet speed: 43Mbps
• Average living cost for a single expatriate: $1,122 / month (A studio rent in the city center is on average $565 per month)
• Position in the Ease to do Business ranking:40th.
• My own experience (from 0 to 10): 8

Krakow is the second-largest city in Poland, only behind Warsaw (where I live). Its metropolitan area has almost 1.5 million people, and the city has all services that an expatriate needs, like a high-speed railway connection to the capital and to the largest national airport.

One could ask why I listed Krakow instead of Warsaw. The answer is simple and relies on 2 things: 1st — Krakow didn’t suffer as much as Warsaw during the II World War and has a well-conserved old town that is among the most beautiful I ever saw. 2nd — Warsaw is 10% more expensive than Krakow.

The city has a considerable international community, but I would rather recommend any expatriate to mingle with the locals: the well-educated Cracovians frequently speak English.

Lisbon, Portugal

• Average Internet speed: 26Mbps
• Average living cost for a single expatriate: $1,477 / month (A studio rent in the city center is on average $753 per month)
• Position in the Ease to do Business ranking: 39
• My own experience (from 0 to 10): 8

Lisbon is perfect for remote workers and digital nomads because the cost of living is low for western European standards, and it’s well connected by air, land, or sea.

The average daily cost of living in Lisbon is ~$50. To put it into perspective, compare that with the average cost of living in Madrid ($100) or Paris ($134).

Another plus is that the Portuguese capital has a vast community of digital nomads and the Mediterranean climate guarantees pleasant weather almost year-round.

Tbilisi, Georgia

• Average Internet speed: 13Mbps
• Average living cost for a single expatriate: $760 / month (A studio rent in the city center is on average $192 per month)
• Position in the Ease to do Business ranking: 7th.
• My own experience (from 0 to 10): 7.5

Georgia is one of the easiest countries in the world to do business — thanks to consecutive reforms that turned them into the most business-friendly of the former Soviet Union members.

Tbilisi is also an inexpensive capital to live in. You can find a nice studio in the business district for less than $200. Add the exquisite food and you have the recipe for a fine spot for someone earning in foreign currency.

There are, however, downsides. The share of the population that speaks English is tiny, and there is a considerable amount of scams targeting foreigners.

Brasov, Romania

• Average Internet speed: 34Mbps
• Average living cost for a single expatriate:$1,074 / month (A studio rent in the city center is on average $518 per month)
• Position in the Ease to do Business ranking: 55th
• My own experience (from 0 to 10): 7

Brasov has a spotless old town, surrounded by medieval walls. It is a fairy tale scenario that attracts crowds of tourists every year. Many of them fall in love and decide to stay for longer. Much longer.

The tourist vocation results in a large share of the population speaking English. Internet is fast; roads are good and the costs are low considering European Union standards. The biggest downside of Brasov (and anywhere else in Romania) is the post-communist bureaucracy.

Best Cities for Remote Workers in South America and Asia

Florianopolis, Brazil

• Average Internet speed: 14Mbps
• Average living cost for a single expatriate: $631 / month (A studio rent in the city center is on average $229 per month)
• Position in the Ease to do Business ranking: 124
• My own experience (from 0 to 10): 8

Florianopolis is the capital of the state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil and has a population of about 1.3 million.

It is a “planned city”, meaning that rather than being built from scratch, it was laid out according to a plan that used modern ideas about what city development would be. The city is built around several parks, including one with a large lake, and there are several beaches.

The climate is mild, and people spend time doing activities outdoors. Locals (IMHO) are among the most healthy and good-shaped people in entire Brazil — and that is not a small thing.

But Florianopolis is not just a place to live. It is also a good place to work.
Today, Florianopolis is often called the “Silicon Valley of Latin America.” The epicenter is an area called PJ, for Pontal do Jaraguá, a bay just south of the city center.

The expatriate community soared in the last years — one could even say that Floripa, as it is also known, is nowadays the best city in the world for Digital Nomads. Still, it is good to notice that Brazil has some pretty bizarre laws.

Bangkok, Thailand

• Average Internet speed: 33Mbps
• Average living cost for a single expatriate: $1,068 / month (A studio rent in the city center is on average $619 per month)
• Position in the Ease to do Business ranking: 21
• My own experience (from 0 to 10): 8

I had been to Thailand a few times, and in all of them, Bangkok dazzled me.

The Thai capital is the hub of Southeast Asia. Thailand had until a few years ago many social tensions, but Bangkok itself is in a relatively safe area populated by wealthy and well-educated people.

It is easy to get around. Most of the population speaks English, and foreigners find a curious mix of friendliness and caution. It is a cosmopolitan city, with people from everywhere.

The city is clean and safe, and traffic is generally light. The cost of living is low. A nice studio with internet and cable is about $600 a month. Coffee is about $.30. Beer is around $.50. You can find restaurants with full meals for less than $10.

The country is well connected with the world thanks to the enormous Suvarnabhumi Airport. Roads, however, are still dangerous. Another potential downside is the sweaty, humid climate year-round.

Santiago, Chile

• Average Internet speed: 12Mbps
• Average living cost for a single expatriate: $773 / month (A studio rent in the city center is on average $241 per month)
• Position in the Ease to do Business ranking: 59
• My own experience (from 0 to 10): 8

Santiago is the first city I lived in after moving out of Brazil. To understand the Chilean capital, you should know first that it is the most unequal capital in Latin America. My homeland (Brazil) has high-inequality, but still Santiago surprised me on this point.

You can divide the city into 2 parts: West and East. The eastern part has living standards of a very developed country and a well-organized urban plan. Meanwhile, the western portion is like other chaotic Latin-American large urban zones.

With almost 6 million residents, Santiago sometimes feels overcrowded, and not many people speak good English — which can lead to moments where you get lost unless you understand some Spanish.

Despite all those cons, the city has a lovely climate, good entertainment options, excellent transport infrastructure, and many business opportunities. It is also safe (for Latin-American standards) and affordable — Santiago’s Uber prices are among the lowest in the world.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Average Internet speed: 26Mbps
• Average living cost for a single expatriate: $385 / month (A studio rent in the city center is on average $86 per month)
• Position in the Ease to do Business ranking: 126
• My own experience (from 0 to 10): 7.5

Most people familiar with the economical turmoils in Argentina would think that lost my reason to include Buenos Aires on this list of the best cities for remote workers.

Indeed, if you are looking for a city to work and earn in the local currency, I would not recommend you to go there. However, this article is for creators with income in foreign currency. If this is your case, the Argentinian capital is an attractive destination due to 1 single factor.

The exchange rate.

There is a scene in the movie Eurotrip where the main character ends in East Europe and with a few dollars he stays in a 5-star hotel and feasts with all his friends. In Argentina you could try something (almost) alike — and Buenos Aires is full of good restaurants and entertainment options.

Eight years ago, 1 dollar bought 5 Argentinian Pesos. Now, one dollar buys almost 100 pesos. This drastic currency devaluation is the reason you can rent a good studio in a nice district for less than a hundred dollars, and have a comfortable life with less than four hundred USD.

Conclusion

I made this list of the best cities for remote workers also with entrepreneurs in mind, meaning anyone who does not need to commute into an office, and instead works from a location of their choosing.

If you can work from anywhere, why live in an expensive city and burn your income when you could be in a nicer and inexpensive area? These are among the questions that all types of expatriates should answer.

Yes, there are reasons people move to large metropolises. Before, for example, I made a list of the best places in the world to start a new career with no money, and for this purpose, larger cities are the best option. But if you are a remote entrepreneur or professional, you don’t need to tolerate astronomical prices or hours in traffic. The list of the best cities for remote workers above is for you.

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Levi Borba is CEO of expatriateconsultancy.com, creator of the channel Small Business Hacks, and best-selling author. You can check his books here, his other articles here, or his Linkedin here.

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