3.22/5
418 reviews
Photo by Kazuo ota via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Doha

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decent

expat

dohas

modern

experiences

dubai

travel

desperate

money

safe

stay

nice

food

quality

bad

dust

Doha is a very clean and safe city with strong infrastructure, modern buildings, and fast internet connections. It impresses visitors with a sleek city skyline and a high standard of living in terms of safety and cleanliness. The majority of the population consists of expats from various countries. Day-to-day amenities and activities, like good-quality food and adventure sports, are readily available. The airport is modern and efficient, and the city runs well overall. However, it tends to be more expensive compared to other digital nomad hubs, and affordable housing can be hard to find without thorough searching.

On the downside, air quality is frequently poor, possibly due to dust storms. Nightlife is quite limited and usually confined to hotel bars with heavy security. Some reviews point to a questionable social atmosphere due to stark income disparities between wealthy expats and low-paid workers. Also, one female traveler described uncomfortable personal experiences that made her feel unsafe, suggesting that social norms may differ in ways that affect comfort, particularly for women. While Doha has many modern city conveniences, it may not be ideal for everyone depending on lifestyle and values.

AI-generated summary of reviews
1 year ago

Doha's skyline is undeniably impressive, a collection of gleaming skyscrapers that showcase the city's modern side. However, as a female traveler, I encountered situations that made me feel unsafe. The nature of unwanted attention I received was unsettling, and differed from my experiences in Dubai. This feeling of unease was further amplified by witnessing several public arguments escalate quickly, even over seemingly trivial matters. One particularly disturbing incident involved two men who went from arguing to one punching the other, knocking him unconscious. It's important to acknowledge that travel experiences are subjective, and I encourage others to research Doha's diverse neighborhoods to determine if it aligns with their comfort level and travel style.

3 years ago

How TF is this on Nomadlist? No one in their right mind should live there. In fact, everyone living there is either: Qatari, a desperate immigrant being paid peanuts for a shitty job, or a wealthy expat looking to pay 0% tax. The vibe is strange, like everyone knows everyone else is there for money. I've met some super desperate immigrants who told me horror stories. Please, don't support this place, spend your time and money elsewhere.

3 years ago

Doha is livable for sure, pricier than other nomad destinations. Kind of need to really look to find decent places to live at decent prices. But I'll hand it to Doha, very safe city even at night. For the most part Doha is an expat city, hardly any actual Qatari citizens. As with being well developed, wifi speeds are nothing to complain about but it also can depend on your host. Maybe not stay at the Pearl Island if you want to find a decent place to stay at a decent price.

Nightlife here absolutely sucks though, very limited options that often are inside a hotel that requires a metal detector. Seems more like the go-to nightlife activity is to smoke Hookah rather than drink.

3 years ago

I had a lot of preconceptions about Doha when I arrived but everything was great. It's clean, safe, almost everyone was nice and helpful. 90% of people working here aren't Qatari but are from Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. People aren't judgemental here but just minding their own own business, even if you're not muslim etc. The food quality is good. Even at a random museum you get fresh food. The only bad thing I can think of was the air quality, but we didn't really notice it except for it showing on the AQI apps that it was bad. Maybe it's just dust from the dust storms? Not sure. Airport is amazing and very new too. All buildings are very new and modern. Lots of activities like desert buggy driving, jetski'ing on water. I do wonder long term if you could live here as the expat scene might not be as big as Dubai. Anyway very nice altogeher.

4 years ago

✅ Very safe

✅ Very clean

✅ Fast internet

✅ Modern city

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Perfect humidity now

✅ Good air quality usually

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are pretty safe

✅ Freedom of speech

✅ Very safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

✅ Not a lot of alcohol abuse

❌ Poor air quality

❌ Limited nightlife

❌ Expensive

❌ Unequal working conditions

❌ Uncomfortable for some women

❌ No democracy

❌ Very expensive

❌ Extremely hot in the summer

❌ Nomads.com members really didn't like going here

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Very difficult to make friends

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

2373°
mild

2272°
mild

2984°
warm

3391°
hot

39102°
hot

44111°
scorching

54129°
scorching

52126°
scorching

45113°
scorching

39102°
hot

3086°
warm

2577°
warm

Real (median)

2373°
mild

2272°
mild

2882°
very warm

3289°
hot

3697°
hot

39101°
hot

40103°
hot

39102°
hot

3798°
hot

3492°
hot

2983°
very warm

2576°
warm

Humidity

nice
64%

nice
63%

nice
51%

nice
43%

nice
37%

nice
38%

nice
51%

nice
50%

nice
55%

nice
58%

nice
65%

Most common

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
1mm

dry
0mm

dry
2mm

dry
0mm

dry
1mm

Cloud

pockets
11%

pockets
12%

clear
8%

pockets
12%

pockets
27%

pockets
13%

pockets
14%

pockets
12%

clear
9%

pockets
45%

Air quality

clean
37 US AQI

clean
40 US AQI

clean
49 US AQI

okay
55 US AQI

clean
46 US AQI

clean
47 US AQI

clean
42 US AQI

clean
44 US AQI

clean
39 US AQI

clean
47 US AQI

clean
33 US AQI

clean
37 US AQI

Sun

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
6 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
10 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

Remote workers

2,400 people

2,585 people

2,486 people

2,200 people

1,846 people

2,280 people

1,600 people

2,200 people

2,077 people

2,460 people

3,300 people

2,564 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

Current weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0)

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

Help pick the best photos for Doha and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

227pts

84pts

52pts

34pts

23pts

8pts

7pts

6pts

5pts

4pts

3pts

2pts

118pts

64pts

52pts

32pts

10pts

8pts

7pts

6pts

5pts

4pts

3pts

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88pts

62pts

35pts

28pts

9pts

7pts

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38 Mbps

Dubai

United Arab Emirates

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 40° 104° 33° 91° Has AC AQI 304 😷

✈️30min

$7,457 / mo

15 Mbps

Berlin

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 2° 36° 5° 40° AQI 57 😷

✈️6h

$5,045 / mo

31 Mbps

United Arab Emirates

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 40° 104° 33° 91° Has AC AQI 304 😷

✈️30min

$7,457 / mo

🌇 Also went here224 people

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌫 Feels 35° 95° 28° 83° Has AC AQI 79 😷

✈️8h

$4,115 / mo

🌇 Also went here202 people

Tokyo

Japan

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 21° 70° 21° 70° AQI 40

✈️11h

$4,165 / mo

🌇 Also went here181 people

New York City, NY

United States

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 20° 68° 20° 68° AQI 40

✈️14h

$8,874 / mo

🌇 Also went here187 people

600 remote workers in Doha 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.

🎒 Nomad Score™	3.22/5 (Rank #384) 418 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍3 liked it 👎3 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
🤯 Overcrowding score	0% is nomad here
💵 Cost	🧐 Pricey: $3,843 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 12 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Good
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Too hot: 34°C92°F (feels 40°C104°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 57%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	😍 Very high: 99%
💨 Air quality (now)	😐 Moderate: 88 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 41 US AQI
👌 Safety	Great
👩 Safe for women	Good
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Bad
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Great
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Resilience to climate change	Okay
💰 Income level*	Very rich: $6,044 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
🚶 Walkability	Okay
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Good
🍸 Nightlife	Okay
📶 Free WiFi in city	Good
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Great
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Good
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Middle East
🚩 Country	Qatar
🗓️ Average trip length	2 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	12 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	☀️ 34°C 92°F + 😊 Comfy (57%) = feels 40°C 104°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👎😷 88 US AQI = 🚬 / day
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 41 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 10 QAR in USD	USD 2.73
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	QAR 1,000 = USD 273
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
☕️ Best coffee place	Sugar And Spice
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
🦷 Fluoride added	🚫 No fluoride added
♻️ Return rate	👍13% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	3,016,600 visitors
📸 Tourists now	57,813 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	2,200,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$72,525 / year
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 141% 👱‍♀️ -41%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 132% 👱‍♀️ -32%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 84% 👱‍♀️ 16%
⛪️ Religious government	Religious
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Qatar Airways
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Qatar Airways
🏥 Best hospital	Al Emadi Hospital

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$3,843 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$3,736 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$8,343 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$2,384 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,754 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$1,891 / month
🏠 Median home price	$574,298
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$82 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$339 / month
🍛 Dinner	$10
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$12
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$6
👩‍🏫 International school	$9,572 / year
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$7 / trip

Cost of Living in Doha

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

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

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