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Comment by FabHK | Hacker News Reader

Just for the record, I don't think that South Korea is particularly cheap. As OP demonstrates, one can live there for USD 1000/month, but that really holds for most countries. While the US is in the top 5% in terms of nominal GDP per capita, South Korea is in the top 15%. For cheap, yet comfortable and safe, I'd aim around the median, eg Indonesia or Georgia.

ETA: Nomadlist suggests €1,925/mo for Seoul, €1,530/mo for Jeju Island, South Korea; €1,047/mo for Tbilisi, Georgia; €627/mo for Bandung, Indonesia.

ETA: Nomadlist has a list of places below USD 1000/mo: https://nomadlist.com/places-on-a-budget

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You don't have to live in the capital of Georgia (or Korea for that matter). Just a little outside the capital is already much more reasonable. You also don't have to maintain 100% "western" standard of living either, seeing that you aren't in the West. Very few people in Georgia make 1000+ euro, and they're doing OK with less. In rural Georgia you'd be living like royalty with that kind of monthly spend. It's also beautiful, and people are real nice. The only thing to watch out for is, of course, the internet.

If you're ok with Georgia, you should check out Batumi. It's a bustling coastal city that's seen impressive growth since independence. It's also pretty close to Turkey, so there are land routes to Trabzon (and flights from there to Istanbul).

Batumi is also known as Colchis, the destination for the Argonauts in Greek Mythology, so plenty of history & culture and great food.

The Grand Tour did a special driving through Georgia to Azerbaijan if you want to get a feel for what the region looks like:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6068920/

Nomadlist is often way off on their estimates. I'd suggest using it for inspiration only and then see prices on Numbeo

Off in one direction or just randomly?

In my experience of living in Shanghai, Nomadlist and Numbeo estimates are way too high. That's not to say that rich expats aren't actually paying those prices (someone must've entered them, right?) but if you're willing to shop around and learn the local language so you don't get ripped off like an ignorant foreigner, you should be able to get things much cheaper.

> but if you're willing to

Isn't this just capturing the difference between short(ish term vs long term relocation? Places like Nomadist are aimed at the first category, not "what's the cheapest you can live in city X", no?

I’m sure the numbers are skewed highly by expats who’s employers pay for them to live there. I still remember my parent’s rent when they lived in HK- 13k USD/mo.

What in the world? That's incredibly high!!

Not the poster you’re replying to, but it’s not atypical for expats being sent there by their company to live in luxury housing with staff etc. I think this is partly done to entice the expat to move his whole life and family for the company but also to hook the expat up with living way above the standard they could normally afford and so they’re more docile and less likely to quit or make waves.

Where do I send my CV to get that benefit?

I’m talking about multinationals sending people around the world, and at the manager level and up (not middle management)

If that’s your position, then I’d think any multinational sending you on a multi year stint abroad would offer that kind of package.

> so you don't get ripped off like an ignorant foreigner

Interesting framing

Too high. For example, for my home city there is a figure that would be the 90th percentile net salary

I always thought that's by design - that's the cost of a nomad living there for a short period of time

No one number can quantify a city. You can probably live for $1000 a month in Mnahattan if you are willing to live in a total dump.

But still the numbers are useful and mostly accurate within a range

This is a common misconception of nomadlist. The cost of living that it presents is factoring 2-3 month stays and you being a nomad tourist.

Since you seem to be informed here, how would one look for places like this that are explicitly not hot & humid, or nearly tropical locations? Effectively a climate and geography filter on this site with "has winters, mountains, summer highs typically < 90 degrees"

Expat here. Reality is that there aren't a lot of "cheap" places, easily accessible to foreigners, that meet this criteria.

Both Korea and Georgia would fit the bill here, except maybe the midsummer months, which are pretty hot & sweaty in Seoul. You may be able to take the edge off by living at higher altitude or by the sea.

Seoul is great but it has huge variatuon in weather. It's like the east coast of the US where you get a nice month and a half of spring and a nice month and a half of fall and everything else is far to one extreme

Guanajuato city, Mexico. I lived there for a while, <$1k no problem. Not humid, perfect climate. Adorable place. I ended up there because I did some analysis of climate data for all of Mexico and it came out on top.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanajuato_City

Edit: I lived there 5 years ago and USD$1k per month would have been plenty, but a nomad website I just looked up lists it at $1250. I'm surprised by that, I think you would be fine. In fact I know people who live there who don't earn anything near $15k USD per year.

No way the estimate is real for Tbilisi. For €1047/mo you'd be living like a king there. Especially with post-Covid prices.

Seoul & Jeju are probably the most expensive you could find.

If you want a big city you can still do Busan, daegu, ulsan etc

Are foreigners really going to live on Jeju? Jeju in the winter isn't much fun...I can't imagine living on jeju. Sokcho is super underrated imo.

I had a blast in Sokcho -- could definitely spend a couple years there. To be blunt, I was bored with Jeju by day 2.

The next time I move to Korea (which I do every couple years), I'm gonna try Busan. I've visited a few times, but haven't ever lived there.

Give Busan some consideration.

Just avoid the taking the train there. [1]

[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5700672/

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