2.21/5
231 reviews
Photo by Amani Nation via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Nairobi

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safari

great

vegan

worse

prices

friendly

2019

excellent

super

cheap

uber

stayed

December 2022: Nairobi is a city less walkable than Bangkok, worse infrastructure than the Eastern European province, a non-service culture that would rival Germany, WiFi & 3G/4G like in rural Kyrgyzstan (the kind of where you walk with your phone in your stretched out hand)….
All of that you get for almost US-level prices.

Nah, I didn’t have a good time. It feels utterly derelict and careless. Zero things to do except paying through your nose for Safari stuff. Although the people are very friendly (if you sift through the ones that want your wallet).

2 years ago

Lived in Nairobi off and on since 2019. I think it's an excellent place to live. Weather is phenomenal, between 20-27C most of the time. People are super friendly and it's very cosmopolitan (attracts people from all over Kenya, Africa and the world). For Africa it's relatively progressive and I'm not sure why it gets a "not safe for women" (IME it's not perfect but no worse than many other countries around the world and much less regressive than Middle East, South Asia, etc.) It's an excellent jumping off point for the rest of Kenya which is very diverse (beaches/mountains/savannahs/deserts) - a bit like SF in that the city itself is great but a lot of the appeal is surrounding nature. Tech and nightlife scenes are vibrant.
Main cons: it's not THAT cheap, it's not an amazing food city, mainly car-based for getting around (Uber is cheap though).

3 years ago

I visited Nairobi twice - in 2017 and then again in 2019. On my second visit, I stayed in a comfortable 2 bdrm apartment with friends. It was super easy to move around - just call Uber. I visited a few nice shopping malls where I shopped and ate lunch. Prices were reasonable for me (an American). I'm also vegan and there were vegan options at all of the restaurants I visited as well as a great vegan restaurant (Indian cuisine). The best part of the trip for us was going on safari. It's a long drive to safari country (Amboselli NP, Maasai Mara NP) but the experience is well worth it. I also visited Mombasa which, while not as big a city as Nairobi, had lovely beaches and the hotel where we stayed was great.

4 years ago

Nairobi is one of he best place to be a Nomad in Africa. Very low cost of living especially if you know where to look.

5 years ago

✅ Low cost of living

✅ Friendly people

✅ Good weather (20-27C)

✅ Vibrant tech and nightlife scenes

✅ Diverse surroundings (beaches, mountains, savannahs, deserts)

✅ Vegan-friendly options

✅ Affordable to live

✅ Fast internet

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality usually

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Easy to make friends

✅ Easy to do business

✅ Freedom of speech

✅ Everyone speaks English

✅ LGBTQ+ friendly

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

✅ Not a lot of alcohol abuse

❌ Not very walkable

❌ Poor infrastructure

❌ WiFi not reliable

❌ Car-based transportation

❌ Relatively high prices

❌ Not very democratic

❌ Not very safe

❌ Not much to do

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

❌ Feels crowded

❌ Quality of education is low

❌ Roads are very dangerous

❌ Not safe for women

❌ Not family friendly

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels

75 24°
warm

77 25°
warm

75 24°
warm

73 23°
mild

70 21°
mild

73 23°
mild

75 24°
warm

73 23°
mild

Real

75 24°
warm

76 25°
warm

78 26°
warm

74 24°
warm

73 23°
mild

70 21°
mild

73 23°
mild

75 24°
warm

73 23°
mild

Humidity

nice
37%

nice
34%

nice
31%

nice
41%

nice
44%

nice
40%

nice
38%

nice
37%

nice
36%

nice
34%

nice
35%

nice
44%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
39mm

dry
17mm

dry
39mm

rainy
125mm

rainy
102mm

dry
24mm

dry
23mm

dry
28mm

dry
24mm

dry
28mm

rainy
83mm

rainy
54mm

Cloud

pockets
42%

pockets
47%

pockets
34%

pockets
46%

pockets
49%

pockets
48%

pockets
50%

pockets
49%

pockets
45%

pockets
43%

pockets
45%

Air quality

clean
39 US AQI

clean
35 US AQI

clean
32 US AQI

clean
19 US AQI

clean
15 US AQI

clean
45 US AQI

clean
39 US AQI

clean
29 US AQI

clean
28 US AQI

clean
19 US AQI

clean
25 US AQI

clean
35 US AQI

Sun

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
10 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

Remote workers

460 people

600 people

400 people

425 people

291 people

450 people

655 people

463 people

660 people

550 people

547 people

700 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. Not all nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

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

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

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✈️2h

$1,721 / mo

3 Mbps

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 30° 86° 27° 81°

✈️10h

$4,570 / mo

🌇 Also went here67 people

Tokyo

Japan

⭐️ OverallAll

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. Not all 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	2.21/5 (Rank #705) 231 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍3 liked it 👎2 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Good
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,681 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 10Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Okay
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🌞 Perfect: 23°C74°F (feels 23°C73°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 69%
💨 Air quality (now)	😐 Moderate: 97 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 28 US AQI
👌 Safety	Okay
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Okay
🎓 Education level*	Low
⚡️ Power grid	Good
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very low: $121 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Good
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Low density: 9k ppl/km² (1 per 11x11m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Bad
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Good
🏥 Hospitals	Okay
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Good
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Okay
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Okay
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Bad
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Okay
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Africa
🚩 Country	Kenya
🗓️ Average trip length	16 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	10 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 23°C 74°F + 😊 Comfy (69%) = feels 23°C 73°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👎😷 97 US AQI = 🚬 / day
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 29 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 1,000 KES in USD	USD 7.74
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	KES 10,000 = USD 77
💳 Cashless	💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners)
💻 Best coworking space	88mph
💻 Best alt. coworking space	iHub
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👍14% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	3,100,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$1,455 / year
😤 Population density	🤨 busy: 11x11m (121m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 52% 👱‍♀️ 48%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 50% 👱‍♀️ 50%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 76% 👱‍♀️ 24%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Religious
🏠 Apartment listings	Airbnb
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Ethiopian Airlines
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Emirates

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$1,681 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$916 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$1,880 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$537 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$914 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,329 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$347 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$43 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$44 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$311 / month
🍛 Dinner	$5
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$0
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$2
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$8,087 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$3 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$4 / trip