Cost of Living for Digital Nomads
One of the many advantages of being a digital nomad is that your cost of living will probably be much lower than your home country. During our travels between 2018 and 2020, we tracked all of our costs and it was very interesting to see how the destinations stack up against each other. Of course, everyone has a different lifestyle so our spending could be much different than yours, but we hope our cost breakdown will give you a good idea of which destinations give you the best bang for your buck.
If you’re more of a backpacker on a budget who only stays in hostels and eats street food, our costs are going to be much higher than yours. We consider ourselves flashpackers since we are still budget-conscious but are willing to spend the extra money when needed. For example, we always try to stay in Airbnbs that have a good workspace, wifi, kitchen, and air conditioning. For food, we shop at western-style grocery stores when available and eat at restaurants more than we eat street food. And being in our 40s, we typically don’t go out partying but do drink so our food and drink costs include alcohol. For transportation, we will fly when it’s not too expensive or if the other options take much longer. Otherwise, we’ll take buses and on the rare occasion when renting a car is the only good option, we’ll do that. And we always try to use Uber/Grab for taxis to minimize language barrier issues. The one thing we don’t really budget is our activities. What’s the point of going to these amazing destinations and not exploring what they have to offer?
The two main regions for digital nomads are Southeast Asia and South America. So far, we’ve been to thirteen destinations in those regions as well as three in South Asia. Not surprisingly, on average, Southeast Asia is the cheapest but we did have some destinations in South America that ended up being cheaper than some in Southeast Asia. There are several factors that make a destination’s overall cost of living cheaper or more expensive than others. At some destinations, we stayed in the same Airbnb for more than a month so it made our accommodations much cheaper with long-stay discounts. In others, we had to rent a car to get around which made our transportation costs more expensive. And some destinations didn’t require any domestic flights where others needed several of them to get to all of the different areas. And thanks to COVID-19, civil unrest, and my scooter accident, there were long stretches where we didn’t do much at all. So in the end, it might not be fair to compare the destinations but it should still help you plan your next adventure.
As you go over our costs, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- All costs are per person.
- Cost of living includes accommodations, food and drink, transportation, visas, travel insurance, necessities, and SIM cards.
- Transporation includes flights, buses, taxis, rental cars, scooter rentals, etc. Our round-trip international flights from the US are allocated across all destinations.
- Our travel insurance cost is allocated across all destinations since we purchased six-month policies at a time.
- Necessities include medicine, toiletries, etc.
Regions
1. Southeast Asia
Days: 311
Cost of Living: $50.30/day
Accommodations: $13.10/day
Food & Drink: $18.90/day
Transportation: $12.48/day
Travel Insurance: $2.88/day
Visas: $172.88
SIM Cards: $0.68/day
Necessities: $1.71/day
Activities: $16.98/day
Diving: $32.78/dive (55 dives)
2. South Asia
Days: 80
Cost of Living: $56.03/day
Accommodations: $14.65/day
Food & Drink: $17.23/day
Transportation: $16.87/day
Travel Insurance: $2.89/day
Visas: $102.50
SIM Cards: $0.89/day
Necessities: $2.23/day
Activities: $22.65/day
Diving: $44.75/dive (20 dives)
3. South America
Days: 336
Cost of Living: $62.03/day
Accommodations: $18.00/day
Food & Drink: $17.41/day
Transportation: $18.15/day
Travel Insurance: $4.85/day
Visas: $160.00
SIM Cards: $0.40/day
Necessities: $2.73/day
Activities: $19.89/day
Diving: $32.82/dive (2 dives)
Destinations
- Indonesia - $39.46/day
- Sri Lanka - $42.10/day
- Laos - $46.35/day
- Philippines - $46.91/day
- Bolivia - $49.36/day
- Thailand - $49.56/day
- Peru - $49.58/day
- Vietnam - $49.90/day
- India - $51.58/day
- Brazil - $52.22/day
- Cambodia - $52.55/day
- Malaysia - $54.46/day
- Singapore - $73.72/day
- Argentina - $78.97/day
- Maldives - $86.80/day
- Chile - $94.99/day
1. Indonesia
Dates Visited:
- Sep 4, 2018
- Oct 10, 2018
Days: 60
Cost of Living: $39.46/day
Accommodations: $9.85/day
Food & Drink: $12.84/day
Transportation: $9.35/day
Travel Insurance: $2.79/day
Visa: $35.00
SIM Cards: $0.70/day
Necessities: $3.34/day
Activities: $7.47/day
Diving: $31.46/dive (4 dives)
Notes:
No domestic flights
Brian was recovering from surgery during our 9/11/18 - 10/10/18 stay
2. Sri Lanka
Dates Visited:
- Feb 3, 2019
Days: 29
Cost of Living: $42.10/day
Accommodations: $10.28/day
Food & Drink: $14.89/day
Transportation: $12.70/day
Travel Insurance: $2.79/day
Visa: $0.00
SIM Cards: $0.64/day
Necessities: $0.80/day
Activities: $12.11/day
Diving: $30.00/dive (2 dives)
Notes:
No domestic flights
3. Laos
Dates Visited:
- Dec 23, 2018
Days: 23
Cost of Living: $46.35/day
Accommodations: $12.96/day
Food & Drink: $19.45/day
Transportation: $7.94/day
Travel Insurance: $2.76/day
Visa: $36.00
SIM Cards: $0.48/day
Necessities: $1.18/day
Activities: $20.77/day
Notes:
No domestic flights
4. Philippines
Dates Visited:
- Mar 30, 2018
Days: 29
Cost of Living: $46.91/day
Accommodations: $8.53/day
Food & Drink: $17.02/day
Transportation: $14.52/day
Travel Insurance: $2.80/day
Visa: $0.00
SIM Cards: $0.69/day
Necessities: $3.35/day
Activities: $34.34/day
Diving: $33.86/dive (18 dives)
5. Bolivia
Dates Visited:
- Oct 30, 2019
- Feb 18, 2020
Days: 41
Cost of Living: $49.36/day
Accommodations: $14.51/day
Food & Drink: $15.21/day
Transportation: $9.50/day
Travel Insurance: $4.61/day
Visa: $160.00
SIM Cards: $0.26/day
Necessities: $1.37/day
Activities: $25.39/day
Notes:
Most of our 10/11/19 -10/30/19 stay was during civil unrest
6. Thailand
Dates Visited:
- Jun 27, 2018
- Dec 1, 2018
- Jan 6, 2019
Days: 100
Cost of Living: $49.56/day
Accommodations: $10.75/day
Food & Drink: $22.29/day
Transportation: $11.76/day
Travel Insurance: $2.82/day
Visa: $40.00
SIM Cards: $0.68/day
Necessities: $0.88/day
Activities: $13.97/day
Diving: $29.25/dive (17 dives)
Notes:
Food & Drink was surprisingly high due to groceries and alcohol
7. Peru
Dates Visited:
- Oct 11, 2019
Days: 88
Cost of Living: $49.58/day
Accommodations: $11.18/day
Food & Drink: $16.08/day
Transportation: $13.98/day
Travel Insurance: $4.79/day
Visa: $0.00
SIM Cards: $0.71/day
Necessities: $2.83/day
Activities: $32.39/day
8. Vietnam
Dates Visited:
- Apr 29, 2018
Days: 31
Cost of Living: $49.90/day
Accommodations: $13.06/day
Food & Drink: $19.30/day
Transportation: $12.99/day
Travel Insurance: $2.79/day
Visa: $25.88
SIM Cards: $0.63/day
Necessities: $0.30/day
Activities: $17.85/day
9. India
Dates Visited:
- Mar 26, 2019
Days: 38
Cost of Living: $51.58/day
Accommodations: $12.59/day
Food & Drink: $15.15/day
Transportation: $15.73/day
Travel Insurance: $2.89/day
Visa: $102.50
SIM Cards: $0.59/day
Necessities: $1.93/day
Activities: $13.54/day
10. Brazil
Dates Visited:
- Jun 15, 2020
Days: 119
Cost of Living: $52.22/day
Accommodations: $19.83/day
Food & Drink: $15.22/day
Transportation: $10.85/day
Travel Insurance: $4.85/day
Visa: $0.00
SIM Cards: $0.34/day
Necessities: $1.12/day
Activities: $4.58/day
Diving: $32.82/dive (2 dives)
Notes:
Most of trip was during COVID-19
11. Cambodia
Dates Visited:
- Nov 7, 2018
Days: 29
Cost of Living: $52.55/day
Accommodations: $11.19/day
Food & Drink: $19.44/day
Transportation: $16.78/day
Travel Insurance: $2.79/day
Visa: $36.00
SIM Cards: $0.52/day
Necessities: $0.60/day
Activities: $9.27/day
12. Malaysia
Dates Visited:
- Aug 6, 2018
Days: 41
Cost of Living: $54.46/day
Accommodations: $22.78/day
Food & Drink: $14.11/day
Transportation: $11.92/day
Travel Insurance: $2.82/day
Visa: $0.00
SIM Cards: $0.58/day
Necessities: $2.25/day
Activities: $27.37/day
Diving: $35.66/dive (16 dives)
13. Singapore
Dates Visited:
- Sep 11, 2018
Days: 8
Cost of Living: $73.72/day
Accommodations: $24.78/day
Food & Drink: $24.50/day
Transportation: $20.35/day
Travel Insurance: $2.53/day
Visa: $0.00
SIM Cards: $1.56/day
Activities: $2.32/day
Notes:
Brian was recovering from surgery
14. Argentina
Dates Visited:
- Dec 5, 2019
Days: 37
Cost of Living: $78.97/day
Accommodations: $17.67/day
Food & Drink: $21.60/day
Transportation: $30.91/day
Travel Insurance: $4.72/day
Visa: $0.00
SIM Cards: $0.26/day
Necessities: $3.82/day
Activities: $19.82/day
15. Maldives
Dates Visited:
- Feb 17, 2019
Days: 15
Cost of Living: $86.80/day
Accommodations: $26.33/day
Food & Drink: $24.70/day
Transportation: $25.57/day
Travel Insurance: $2.70/day
Visa: $0.00
SIM Cards: $2.02/day
Necessities: $5.48/day
Activities: $63.09/day
Diving: $46.39/dive (18 dives)
Notes:
We stayed on local islands instead of resort islands
16. Chile
Dates Visited:
- Jan 29, 2020
Days: 56
Cost of Living: $94.99/day
Accommodations: $26.01/day
Food & Drink: $21.46/day
Transportation: $36.48/day
Travel Insurance: $4.76/day
Visa: $0.00
SIM Cards: $0.22/day
Necessities: $6.05/day
Activities: $27.01/day
Notes:
Transportation was high due to multiple long-term rental cars (Patagonia, Pucon, and San Pedro de Atacama)