2.48/5
381 reviews
Photo by Eric Weber via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Cologne

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club

top

hospitals

medical

surely

carnival

friends

bar

Although I would not praise Cologne as the top destination for digital nomads I have certain doubts about some negative aspects listed here.

Hospitals: How can hospitals be pretty bad if Germany has one of the best medical systems in the world? This judgments compares it with remote 3rd world cities which is by definition not logical. Germany, and therefore also Cologne, has most likely the best emergency system in the world (ambulance must arrive within max. 12 minutes - independent of traffic) and no one will ask "who pays" when you have a serious illness/accident. Doctors have a high education as well (you have to be part of the top 5% of high school to enter a medical study).

Cold in winter: Well, it is not a tropical country. However, snow is rarely. Temperature during days drops below zero on maximum 20 days a year. Surely it is not the most sunny place on earth, but "very cold" is definitely elsewhere.

Friends: Cologne is the city of carnival. From November to February you will find parties every day and meet people. Surely, friends are made elsewhere, but at least you will not be alone drinking your Kölsch at the bar. "Bar talks" with strangers are common. Share your number and see what happens. Besides this, Cologne has a tradition of clubs (football club, tennis club, carnival club...). If you want to find friends, you must integrate and do such things as well. Then you find plenty of cool people. Just break the ice.

6 years ago

✅ Very safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Warm now

✅ Perfect humidity now

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Great freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ People can speak basic English

✅ Very safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

❌ Extremely expensive

❌ Not much to do

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Very difficult to make friends

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ High alcohol consumption

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

1°C / 34°F cold

8°C / 46°F cold

7°C / 45°F cold

10°C / 50°F cold

14°C / 57°F cool

22°C / 72°F mild

21°C / 70°F mild

19°C / 66°F mild

21°C / 70°F mild

12°C / 54°F cool

6°C / 43°F cold

3°C / 37°F cold

Real (median)

3°C / 37°F
very cold

10°C / 49°F
cold

8°C / 46°F
cold

10°C / 50°F
cold

14°C / 57°F
cool

22°C / 72°F
mild

21°C / 70°F
mild

19°C / 65°F
mild

20°C / 67°F
mild

13°C / 55°F
cool

7°C / 44°F
cold

5°C / 41°F
very cold

Humidity

damp
83%

damp
76%

nice
69%

nice
68%

damp
75%

nice
76%

nice
83%

nice
81%

nice
77%

damp
78%

damp
83%

damp
84%

Most common

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

Rain

rainy
104mm

rainy
55mm

rainy
56mm

rainy
55mm

rainy
67mm

rainy
66mm

rainy
86mm

rainy
79mm

dry
40mm

dry
48mm

rainy
51mm

rainy
71mm

Cloud

cloudy
58%

pockets
41%

pockets
50%

pockets
46%

cloudy
54%

cloudy
56%

cloudy
51%

pockets
44%

cloudy
51%

pockets
50%

cloudy
57%

Sun

safe
1 UVI

safe
2 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

safe
2 UVI

safe
1 UVI

Remote workers

682 people

573 people

815 people

850 people

723 people

838 people

1,000 people

988 people

906 people

815 people

671 people

1,000 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Cologne's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Senior Data Analytics Engineer @ Fullscript
	Smart Contract Engineer @ Risk Labs
	Senior Front End Engineer @ Maxflow BV / CrazyGames
	Technical Documentation Engineer @ Tether Operations Limited
	Software Engineer III @ Nextech
	Senior Software Engineer @ Nava
	Member of Technical Staff Transpare... @ Anchorage Digital
	Backend Software Engineer @ Firework
	QA Engineer @ Contra
	Software Engineer Android @ Ontic
	Fullstack Software Engineer @ BlackCloak

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Dusseldorf

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 22° 72° 22° 72° AQI 38

🚕1h

$3,680 / mo

23 Mbps

Hagen

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 19° 66° 19° 66°

🚕2h

$3,282 / mo

28 Mbps

Aachen

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked great

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 19° 66° 19° 67°

🚕2h

$4,119 / mo

27 Mbps

Dortmund

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 21° 70° 21° 71° AQI 47

🚕2h

$4,029 / mo

27 Mbps

Eindhoven

Netherlands

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 21° 70° 21° 71° AQI 60 😷

🚕4h

$4,801 / mo

45 Mbps

Nijmegen

Netherlands

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 21° 70° 21° 70° AQI 30

✈️10min

$5,062 / mo

33 Mbps

Trier

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 18° 64° 18° 65°

✈️11min

$4,626 / mo

39 Mbps

Arnhem

Netherlands

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 21° 70° 20° 67°

✈️11min

$4,066 / mo

41 Mbps

Tilburg

Netherlands

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 21° 70° 21° 71° AQI 60 😷

✈️12min

$4,465 / mo

38 Mbps

Frankfurt

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 21° 70° 20° 69°

✈️12min

$3,450 / mo

20 Mbps

Bielefeld

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 18° 64° 18° 65°

✈️13min

$3,587 / mo

27 Mbps

Luxembourg

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 18° 64° 18° 65°

✈️13min

$5,062 / mo

64 Mbps

Brussels

Belgium

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 21° 70° 21° 70° AQI 32

✈️15min

$4,174 / mo

🌇 Also went here130 people

Amsterdam

Netherlands

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 19° 66° 19° 67° AQI 33

✈️17min

$6,000 / mo

🌇 Also went here206 people

Paris

France

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 21° 70° 21° 69° AQI 52 😷

✈️32min

$5,345 / mo

🌇 Also went here184 people

Berlin

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 14° 57° 14° 57° AQI 27

✈️38min

$4,499 / mo

🌇 Also went here212 people

London

United Kingdom

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 21° 70° 21° 70° AQI 57 😷

✈️40min

$5,956 / mo

🌇 Also went here189 people

Prague

Czechia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 13° 55° 14° 56° AQI 64 😷

✈️43min

$3,153 / mo

🌇 Also went here153 people

Milan

Italy

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 20° 68° 20° 69° AQI 12

✈️50min

$4,896 / mo

🌇 Also went here116 people

Vienna

Austria

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 14° 57° 14° 57° AQI 42

✈️59min

$3,800 / mo

🌇 Also went here145 people

Budapest

Hungary

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🙂 Okay

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 13° 55° 12° 54° AQI 53 😷

✈️1h

$2,563 / mo

🌇 Also went here145 people

Rome

Italy

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 21° 70° 20° 69°

✈️1h

$5,719 / mo

🌇 Also went here126 people

Barcelona

Spain

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 21° 70° 20° 69° AQI 42

✈️1h

$5,327 / mo

🌇 Also went here188 people

Lisbon

Portugal

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 18° 64° 18° 64° AQI 38

✈️2h

$3,943 / mo

🌇 Also went here168 people

Istanbul

Turkey

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 16° 61° 16° 61° AQI 59 😷

✈️3h

$1,960 / mo

🌇 Also went here132 people

New York City, NY

United States

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 19° 66° 19° 66°

✈️8h

$7,114 / mo

🌇 Also went here141 people

Bangkok

Thailand

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 41° 106° 32° 90° 🥵 AQI 52 😷

✈️12h

$1,529 / mo

🌇 Also went here174 people

200 remote workers in Cologne now, of which 1+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.48/5 (Rank #428) 381 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍4 liked it 👎1 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Good
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	🧐 Very expensive: $4,263 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 27Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Bad
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🌞 Perfect: 21°C70°F (feels 21°C70°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 52%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Great: 25 US AQI
👌 Safety	Great
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Great
🤝 Lack of racism*	Good
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Okay
💰 Income level*	Very high: $3,538 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Okay
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Sprawling: 2k ppl/km² (1 per 20x20m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Good
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Bad
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Okay
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Okay
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Great
👩 Female friendly	Great
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Great
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Europe
🚩 Country	Germany
🗓️ Average trip length	5 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	27 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	☀️ 21°C 70°F + 😊 Comfy (52%) = feels 21°C 70°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 25 US AQI 🍃 OK
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	Neustadt/Süd
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	Mülheim
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	EUR 100 = USD 112
💸 Tipping	Yes, 7.50%
💳 Cashless	💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners)
💻 Best coworking space	Startplatz
💻 Best alt. coworking space	Coworking Cologne
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	👍11% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	1,000,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$42,456 / year
😤 Population density	🧘‍♀️ empty: 20x20m (400m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 86% 👱‍♀️ 14%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Amazon
🏠 Apartment listings	WG Gesucht
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Germanwings
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Lufthansa

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$4,263 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$2,671 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$4,430 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$1,266 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$2,565 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$4,223 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$986 / month
🏠 Median home price	$583,169
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$120 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$138 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$327 / month
🍛 Dinner	$16
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$4
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$13,022 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$13 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$8 / trip
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000	$11,133
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000	$34,508
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000	$100,974