Digital Nomad City Checklist Before You Move
A pre-move checklist for remote workers to de-risk location choices before committing to a long stay.
What you will get from this guide
- Use a checklist with hard gates: internet minimum, safety threshold, healthcare baseline, and monthly budget cap.
- Then validate practical constraints: visa duration, coworking quality, and payment friction for international cards.
- A two-week trial stay with normal work hours is often enough to detect major mismatch risks.
Use a checklist with hard gates: internet minimum, safety threshold, healthcare baseline, and monthly budget cap.
Then validate practical constraints: visa duration, coworking quality, and payment friction for international cards.
A two-week trial stay with normal work hours is often enough to detect major mismatch risks.
Document your findings and score each city consistently so emotions do not override evidence.
Include operations checks: SIM setup time, local banking onboarding, and apartment contract terms for foreigners.
Run one full workweek as if you already live there: meetings, deep-work sessions, errands, and transport during peak hours.
If a city fails two or more non-negotiables, remove it quickly. Decision speed is a competitive advantage in relocation planning.
Trust & methodology
Written by the Citiory Research Team. This guide is reviewed every 30 days.
Next review date: 2026-03-27 ·Read our methodology
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FAQ
How should I use this digital nomad city checklist guide?
Start with the framework in the article, shortlist 2 to 3 city options, and then validate neighborhood-level costs and daily workflow fit before making a final decision.
How often should this information be rechecked?
Review core assumptions monthly because rents, transport costs, and local conditions can change quickly, especially in fast-moving city markets.
What is the biggest mistake people make while choosing cities?
Most people optimize for one metric only, such as rent, and ignore reliability factors like healthcare, safety, or internet stability that strongly affect long-term quality of life.
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