Best cities for freelancers making $10k+/month 🌍
DREAM TIER (you live like a king, every single day is good)
🇹🇭 Bangkok · 🇹🇭 Chiang Mai · 🇦🇷 Buenos Aires · 🇪🇸 Valencia · 🇻🇳 Da Nang
GOLD TIER (great life, one trade-off you learn to live with)
🇦🇪 Dubai · 🇨🇴 Medellín · 🇵🇹 Lisbon · 🇧🇷 Florianópolis · 🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur · 🇵🇾 Asunción
SOLID (good, but something keeps it from being great)
🇮🇩 Bali · 🇲🇽 Mexico City · 🇬🇪 Tbilisi · 🇵🇦 Panama City · 🇧🇬 Sofia
OVERRATED (looks amazing on Instagram, the math doesn’t work anymore)
🇪🇸 Barcelona · 🇵🇹 Porto · 🇹🇷 Istanbul · 🇨🇷 San José · 🇲🇽 Tulum
YOU’LL REGRET IT ($10k is a normal salary here, not freedom)
🇺🇸 Miami · 🇬🇧 London · 🇳🇱 Amsterdam · 🇦🇺 Sydney · 🇨🇦 Toronto
DON’T ($10k gets you a studio and a bus pass)
🇸🇬 Singapore · 🇨🇭 Zurich · 🇺🇸 San Francisco · 🇭🇰 Hong Kong
Which one did I get wrong?
Prices in Osaka and Bangkok are ~same despite 4x wage difference.
I knew Japan was cheap these days but WOW.
And Japan has all the standard First World attributes like drinkable tap water, clean air, safe roads.
Explains why everyone and their dog are going to Japan in 2026.