2.82/5
512 reviews
Photo by Abraham De La Cruz via Unsplash

Oaxaca

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culture

cheap

arts

great

charming

full

food

center

underrated

stayed

neighborhood

staying

town

walkable

gorgeous

vibe

relaxed

family

Oaxaca is often described as a charming and underrated city in Mexico, with digital nomads and travelers praising its affordability, strong food scene, and vibrant arts and culture. It's considered highly livable thanks to its walkability, cozy neighborhoods like Jalatlaco, and abundance of cafes suitable for remote work. The reliable, fast internet is a strong plus for those working online. The city feels safe, and events like salsa classes and local markets enhance its charm.

Food is a major highlight, with Oaxaca being widely recognized for having some of the best cuisine in Mexico, particularly its variety of moles and mezcal options. The city lacks large malls, but this adds to its small-town feel, supplemented by art, creativity, and street life.

On the downside, some reviews mention occasional garbage removal problems and frequent political protests that can disrupt traffic outside of the historic center. Despite these minor issues, many reviewers note they would gladly return or even consider staying long-term. Oaxaca offers a balanced experience with modern conveniences in a culturally rich and creative setting.

AI-generated summary of reviews
2 months ago

Loved this city! It is not big although has great nightlife, coworkings, amazing streetart and is quite cheap. Although, when I visited in December 2021 they had problems with garbage removal.

3 years ago

Oaxaca is a charming little city full of history and culture. The internet here is strong and reliable and there is a cafe for work from seemingly on every street in El Centro. The food is by far the best in all of Mexico; be sure to try all seven different moles and find your favorite. The only minor downside is that there is are frequent political protests which often block the traffic outside the historical center. However, I never once felt unsafe there. Oaxaca is also the mezcal center of Mexico try "pechuga" which is distilled across a turkey imparting a distinctive umami flavor. I will definitely return to Oaxaca!

4 years ago

Oaxaca is probably the most underrated city for digital nomads in all of Mexico, or maybe I just stayed in the right neighborhood. I stayed in Jalatlaco, a foodie district and I can say that I am blown away by the experience staying in Oaxaca. Oaxaca is full or arts, artisans and creatives. It still has the small town feel but everywhere you look, theres art everywhere and these little piece of details brings a great touch of what could have been a regular town. It doesnt have any malls, but this place is highly livable and walkable. At night, there are salsa dance class in the neighborhood, coffee culture and did i say arts? Oaxaca is the most charming underrated city I have ever been in Mexico! I can easily see myself staying for 6 months in this place each year.

4 years ago

Oaxaca is one of a kind. It's a gorgeous city, incredible culture and the best mexican food around. It's cheap, clean, walkable and has quick wifi. I fell in love with this city. In my opinion, it has a Chiang Mai vibe except smaller and cleaner.

5 years ago

Oaxaca is magical! Tons of cute cafes, rooftop restaurants with gorgeous views of mountains and cathedrals, cheap, beautiful.

5 years ago

Oaxaca is a city of arts, in its style, vibe and people it attracts. It has a wonderfully peaceful and relaxed atmosphere. I was here for a few months and really enjoyed it. I am more a business type of guy but if I'd be more relaxed I could image spending a few years here.

5 years ago

I disagree greatly with Oaxaca not being family friendly in the pros and cons - it's extremely family friendly! There's a free children's Museum, a children's library, plenty of indoor play spaces, lovely playgrounds and the culture itself loves kids.

5 years ago

✅ Very affordable

✅ Fast internet

✅ Clean

✅ Good food

✅ Walkable

✅ Strong arts and culture scene

✅ Affordable to live

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here a lot

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very easy to make friends

✅ Easy to do business

✅ Roads are pretty safe

✅ Democratic

✅ Safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

✅ (Medical) marijuana MAY be legal, unenforced or decriminalized (always double check this)

❌ Occasional garbage issues

❌ Frequent political protests affecting traffic

❌ Freedom of speech is weak

❌ Not very safe

❌ Not much to do

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Quality of education is low

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ People don't speak English well

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

23°C / 73°F mild

24°C / 75°F warm

27°C / 81°F warm

28°C / 82°F warm

25°C / 77°F warm

23°C / 73°F mild

22°C / 72°F mild

21°C / 70°F mild

Real (median)

23°C / 73°F
mild

24°C / 74°F
warm

26°C / 79°F
warm

27°C / 81°F
warm

25°C / 77°F
warm

23°C / 73°F
mild

22°C / 72°F
mild

21°C / 70°F
mild

Humidity

nice
64%

nice
55%

nice
54%

nice
55%

nice
72%

nice
84%

nice
76%

nice
83%

nice
86%

nice
75%

nice
62%

nice
59%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
2mm

dry
5mm

dry
16mm

dry
30mm

dry
38mm

rainy
170mm

rainy
110mm

rainy
131mm

rainy
167mm

rainy
76mm

dry
11mm

dry
2mm

Cloud

pockets
29%

pockets
11%

pockets
13%

pockets
25%

pockets
40%

cloudy
55%

pockets
44%

pockets
47%

cloudy
53%

pockets
39%

pockets
23%

pockets
15%

Air quality

clean
43 US AQI

okay
59 US AQI

okay
61 US AQI

okay
66 US AQI

okay
70 US AQI

clean
33 US AQI

clean
44 US AQI

clean
30 US AQI

clean
28 US AQI

clean
27 US AQI

clean
41 US AQI

clean
48 US AQI

Sun

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
11 UVI

avoid sun
13 UVI

avoid sun
12 UVI

avoid sun
11 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

Remote workers

1,273 people

1,160 people

1,055 people

860 people

911 people

886 people

500 people

900 people

733 people

1,933 people

1,031 people

1,080 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 Oaxaca's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Engineering Lead @ Aragon
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	Manager Site Reliability & DevO... @ Endpoint Clinical
	Senior Staff DevOps Engineer @ Manifest
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✈️58min

$2,249 / mo

11 Mbps

Mexico

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety bad

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 33° 91° 29° 83°

✈️11min

$2,030 / mo

🌇 Also went here169 people

Mexico City

Mexico

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety bad

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 21° 70° 21° 70° AQI 103 😷

✈️29min

$1,916 / mo

🌇 Also went here387 people

Playa del Carmen

Mexico

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌤 Feels 22° 72° 22° 71° AQI 45

✈️12h

$4,852 / mo

🌇 Also went here163 people

Amsterdam

Netherlands

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 29° 84° 27° 80° AQI 72 😷

✈️15h

$1,685 / mo

🌇 Also went here136 people

Chiang Mai

Thailand

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 38° 100° 30° 86° 🥵 AQI 25

✈️21h

$1,104 / mo

🌇 Also went here147 people

Bangkok

Thailand

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 40° 104° 33° 91° 🥵 AQI 56 😷

✈️21h

$1,513 / mo

🌇 Also went here190 people

400 remote workers in Oaxaca now, of which 2+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

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	2.82/5 (Rank #130) 512 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍17 liked it 👎1 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,866 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 13 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Okay
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🌞 Perfect: 21°C70°F (feels 21°C70°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 73%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	🥵 Very low: 16%
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 38 US AQI
👌 Safety	Okay
👩 Safe for women	Okay
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Great
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Very bad
🤝 Lack of racism*	Okay
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Great
💰 Income level*	Very low: $704 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Good
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Okay
📶 Free WiFi in city
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Bad
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Okay
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Latin America
🚩 Country	Mexico
🗓️ Average trip length	14 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	13 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌧 21°C 70°F + 😊 Comfy (73%) = feels 21°C 70°F
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 38 US AQI
🔌 Power	115V 60Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 100 MXN in USD	USD 5.36
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	MXN 10,000 = USD 536
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners)
💻 Best coworking space	Hub Oaxaca
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👍12% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	260,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$8,444 / year
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 43% 👱‍♀️ 57%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 51% 👱‍♀️ 49%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 69% 👱‍♀️ 31%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Linio
🏠 Apartment listings	Comparto Depa
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Volaris
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Aero Mexico

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$1,866 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,085 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$2,071 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$592 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,341 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,637 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$469 / month
🏠 Median home price	$123,288
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$63 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$54 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$227 / month
🍛 Dinner	$5
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$2
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$1