The World’s Most Affordable Cities For Expats

Are you considering expat life? There’s much to consider. The cost of living must be a consideration since so many of us go abroad for a cheaper lifestyle. Personal safety and city buzz are likely also factors.

Expat tax services provider Greenback analyzed Trading Economics and Expatistan data to evaluate the cost of living in 184 countries and 43 major cities to determine where’s affordable to live. They calculated individual and family living costs and the results are in.

Cape Town, South Africa’s beautiful capital, is the world’s most affordable expat city. The average monthly cost of living for an individual is $1,447 (£1,140, €1,333) and for a family is $2,694 (£2,123, €2,482).

Denpasar, Bali’s provincial capital, finished second. For a family, this is the cheapest place to live, at $2,678 (£2,110, €2,468) per month and $1,516 (£1,995, €1,397) per person.

Interestingly, San Francisco, Singapore, and London were the least cheap expat destinations, according to the report.

These are the cities with the lowest cost of living for expats, according to Greenback:

1. Cape Town, South Africa

2. Denpasar, Indonesia

3. Athens, Greece

4. Mexico City, Mexico

5. Bangkok, Thailand

6. Glasgow, UK

7. Istanbul, Türkiye

8. Lisbon, Portugal

9. Barcelona, Spain

10. Birmingham, UK

For additional information on living overseas as an expat, check out this list of the cheapest (and most costly) European cities for remote workers, as well as these lists of the greatest (and worst) places for expats.