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Ask HN: What're some great cities to live for $2k USD per month?

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Re: Ask HN: What're some great cities to live for $2k USD per month?

#61

Post by huevosabio »

whitepoplar wrote: post #57
huevosabio wrote: post #56

Mexico City is absolutely fantastic, lots of greenery, amazing food, unique culture, welcoming people, lively nightlife, truly a megalopolis. $2k is not a lot but should be enough for a good life. An apartment can rent for about $600 USD a month (surely you can find cheaper or much more expensive). If you can, I recommend living in Condesa. Finally, if you are employed elsewhere i.e. not in Mexico, you can live indef…

I loved CDMX when I visited! I stayed in Roma Norte and had a very fun time. How's the safety situation as a long-term resident? Also, that last sentence is very intriguing! How does that work in practice? Does the government simply not monitor this very closely?

Re: Safety I go to CDMX very often and not once have I felt unsafe. Moreover, it is getting increasingly popular among foreigners to move to CDMX permanently or temporarily.

I do have friends that feel like the safety is not good enough for raising kids, so there is that.

I think as long as you stick to safe areas, you should be fine.

Re: visa You can find the requirements here [0] (I don't know why it is in Canadian dollars).

I have a handful of Spanish friends that are under this visa. They technically work in the US or Spain but are "temporary residents" in Mexico. Mexico only requires you to pay taxes on income gained in Mexico. So if your employer (or your clients if you are a freelancer) are abroad and the proceeds are deposited to a foreign account, then Mexico does not tax that income.

[0] https://consulmex.sre.gob.mx/leamington/index.php/non-mexica...

Re: Ask HN: What're some great cities to live for $2k USD per month?

#62

Post by notdang »

huevosabio wrote: post #56

Mexico City is absolutely fantastic, lots of greenery, amazing food, unique culture, welcoming people, lively nightlife, truly a megalopolis. $2k is not a lot but should be enough for a good life. An apartment can rent for about $600 USD a month (surely you can find cheaper or much more expensive). If you can, I recommend living in Condesa. Finally, if you are employed elsewhere i.e. not in Mexico, you can live indef…

What about public transportation? OP doesn't want to drive.

Re: Ask HN: What're some great cities to live for $2k USD per month?

#63

Post by randomluck040 »

whitepoplar wrote: post #55
countmora wrote: post #53

Vienna. A great public transport system, fast-ish internet and classical culture. The budget would totally fit the lifestyle but not as cheap as Bucharest and Bratislava.

I really enjoyed Vienna last time I visited. I got the impression that fluent German would be necessary in order to live there. I'm totally into learning new languages, but fear that I wouldn't be able to learn German quick enough to settle in. What's your take on this?

What does quick enough mean? How much of the language do you want to learn? As a native speaker I can’t comment on how hard it is to learn the language but working with people that are new to Germany here and there, some of them are amazingly fast at learning the language. Others don’t care too much so they need more time. From the outside it seems doable.

Re: Ask HN: What're some great cities to live for $2k USD per month?

#64

Post by jborichevskiy »

notdang wrote: post #62
huevosabio wrote: post #56

Mexico City is absolutely fantastic, lots of greenery, amazing food, unique culture, welcoming people, lively nightlife, truly a megalopolis. $2k is not a lot but should be enough for a good life. An apartment can rent for about $600 USD a month (surely you can find cheaper or much more expensive). If you can, I recommend living in Condesa. Finally, if you are employed elsewhere i.e. not in Mexico, you can live indef…

What about public transportation? OP doesn't want to drive.

Biking is an option, Condesa/Roma/surrounding areas are very walkable. Ubers are on the order of $3-6 USD. And there are busses.

Re: Ask HN: What're some great cities to live for $2k USD per month?

#65

Post by jborichevskiy »

tdfx wrote: post #59
whitepoplar wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I visited several years ago and enjoyed staying in Roma Norte. I can see why the prices are skyrocketing. Which neighborhoods would you suggest I look at?

I would recommend visiting and getting a short term accommodation near Roma Norte. There's a few peripheral areas around there that haven't had as much price inflation, but you'll want to identify them by physically being there as there's other closeby areas that you don't want to be in (Doctores). If you're willing to go a bit further south in the city (45-60 minutes from Condesa, depending on traffic), Coyoacan is…

> go east outside the city to a colonial style town like Valle de Bravo

I didn't realize there are longer-term stays here. Would this be found via Aribnb or elsewhere? Also, how near would it be to food/coffee/groceries/etc?

Re: Ask HN: What're some great cities to live for $2k USD per month?

#66

Post by whitepoplar »

randomluck040 wrote: post #63
whitepoplar wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really enjoyed Vienna last time I visited. I got the impression that fluent German would be necessary in order to live there. I'm totally into learning new languages, but fear that I wouldn't be able to learn German quick enough to settle in. What's your take on this?

What does quick enough mean? How much of the language do you want to learn? As a native speaker I can’t comment on how hard it is to learn the language but working with people that are new to Germany here and there, some of them are amazingly fast at learning the language. Others don’t care too much so they need more time. From the outside it seems doable.

My thought is that if I only spend 1-2 years in a place, if it takes me a year or more to learn the language, I may be ready to leave by the time I've gotten a handle on it.

Re: Ask HN: What're some great cities to live for $2k USD per month?

#67

Post by presentation »

marc__1 wrote: post #14

If you are really looking at this life changing experience, i'd suggest taking a look at expat rankings for additional data points such as Mercer's 2021 Cost of Living city ranking (1). They are a good starting point, but you should also look at taxes, community, language barrier, safety and security, among many other important aspects that are not in the description https://www.mercer.com/our-thinking/career/cost-of…

This list really goes against my lived experience - I don’t understand how one can consider Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, nor Singapore more expensive than New York or San Francisco - it’s crazy in this list those ones haven’t even cracked the top 10.

I think it’s referring to a really specific kind of lifestyle - you’re trying to live in a luxury American-sized home in the exact center of a central business district, and eat nothing but fois gras and steaks all day everyday. Maybe then Shanghai or even Tokyo is imaginably more expensive than NYC, but what I’ve found is that you can still get meals under $1-2 in Shanghai and apartments for less than $400/mo in Tokyo - really doubt you can pull that off in SF.

Re: Ask HN: What're some great cities to live for $2k USD per month?

#68

Post by hackerfromthefu »

jeeeb wrote: post #28
ggm wrote: post #2

Montevideo. Some options a bit limited there but good internet and handy access to B.A. along with a congenial climate. For much of NZ/AU, this is too low for rent unless you can find a share house. Assuming you did, Melbourne, Brisbane, Wellington might work. That said, a LOT of money goes on rent. Turkey and Greece aside, I don't think the core EU economies will work out. If you go to the more recent entrants on th…

FWIW. You could rent a studio apartment in the Melbourne CBD for ~200AUD a week (search postcode 3000 on domain.com.au for some listings) That’s about 700USD per month which leaves plenty for other expenses.

Might be the size of a shoebox though

Re: Ask HN: What're some great cities to live for $2k USD per month?

#69

Post by whitepoplar »

hackerfromthefu wrote: post #68
jeeeb wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW. You could rent a studio apartment in the Melbourne CBD for ~200AUD a week (search postcode 3000 on domain.com.au for some listings) That’s about 700USD per month which leaves plenty for other expenses.

Might be the size of a shoebox though

That's okay!

Re: Ask HN: What're some great cities to live for $2k USD per month?

#70

Post by mcntsh »

atatatat wrote: post #48
mcntsh wrote: post #42

All of these comments miss such a critical detail: visas and resident permits. You can't just go and live somewhere cause you feel like it.

Most of the people's comments you're reading will stay and/or overstay a tourist visa without blinking... ..and the odds are usually in their favor, regarding enforcement.

If you're moving to a very poor country, maybe, but many comments are suggesting rich countries in Europe, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, and so on.
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