2.66/5
270 reviews
Photo by Zixi Zhou via Unsplash

San Juan

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island

good

restaurants

mainland

beautiful

rest

San Juan offers a mix of beautiful views, solid infrastructure, and safety, especially compared to other Latin American hubs. Neighborhoods offer different experiences—Old San Juan has European-style charm while Condado gives a livelier, beach-centered vibe. Access to natural attractions like the rainforest is easy and quick. The city is well-suited for short-to-mid-length stays, especially for people seeking a safe, scenic environment with good food and coffee options. Uber works reliably and museum visits are affordable.

However, the cost of living is relatively high, on par with cities in the mainland US. While the locals are generally friendly, interactions can vary. Those expecting a strong digital nomad or expat scene may be disappointed, and the island outside the main city lacks architectural charm, often consisting of plain concrete buildings. There aren’t many restaurants right on the water, and the overall cultural activity level is moderate at best. It’s a great place to enjoy for a few weeks, but possibly not the best fit for long-term nomadic living.

AI-generated summary of reviews

Old San Juan's architecture is lovely. Although it's as pricey as a US mainland city, the food is good and the coffee is excellent. Locals can vary in friendliness quite a bit -- although being brusque with someone from the US mainland is entirely understandable. Uber works perfectly well. The museums have very inexpensive admissions fees. All in all, a good destination for a shorter (3 weeks or less) trip. But not a place with a digital nomad community or lots of cultural activities.

3 years ago

San Juan is amazing. Tons of beautiful views and restaurants everywhere. If you like Latin America, you'll like San Juan. It is more expensive than other LatAm hubs, but it has better infrastructure and is safer.

There are many different vibes you can get on the island. Old San Juan is like Europe but more colorful. Condado is closer to Miami but with a better beach. There is the only rainforest in America just 20 minutes away, not to mention all the other beautiful parts of the island.

I would live here even without the tax benefits.

Ignore the negative comments you might see online about 'tourists' and 'gringos.' 99% of Puerto Ricans are super friendly towards outsiders.

The main cons I would say is that there aren't too many restaurants here on the water. Also, don't expect the vibe on the rest of the island to be like Bali, Thailand, or Tulum. Restaurants in San Juan have a pretty good ambience but the buildings on the rest of the island are mostly just concrete boxes with bright hospital lights.

4 years ago

✅ Very safe

✅ Good infrastructure

✅ Beautiful scenery

✅ Friendly people

✅ Excellent food and coffee

✅ Fast internet

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality usually

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here a lot

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Easy to do business

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Everyone speaks English

✅ Safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

❌ Expensive

❌ Few beachfront restaurants

❌ Limited digital nomad community

❌ Underwhelming architecture outside main city

❌ Extremely expensive

❌ Not very safe

❌ Not much to do

❌ Very sweaty and humid now

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

29°C / 84°F warm

30°C / 86°F warm

31°C / 88°F hot

32°C / 90°F hot

35°C / 95°F hot

38°C / 100°F hot

35°C / 95°F hot

32°C / 90°F hot

31°C / 88°F hot

Real (median)

26°C / 79°F
warm

27°C / 80°F
warm

27°C / 81°F
warm

28°C / 82°F
very warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

30°C / 86°F
very warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

28°C / 82°F
very warm

27°C / 81°F
warm

Humidity

nice
83%

sweaty
81%

sweaty
79%

sweaty
80%

sweaty
81%

sweaty
84%

sweaty
83%

sweaty
81%

sweaty
80%

sweaty
81%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

Rain

dry
50mm

dry
40mm

rainy
57mm

rainy
73mm

rainy
111mm

rainy
79mm

rainy
110mm

rainy
114mm

rainy
147mm

rainy
138mm

rainy
113mm

rainy
61mm

Cloud

pockets
28%

pockets
23%

pockets
22%

pockets
29%

pockets
45%

pockets
33%

pockets
32%

pockets
29%

pockets
28%

pockets
26%

pockets
28%

Air quality

okay
52 US AQI

clean
13 US AQI

clean
20 US AQI

clean
30 US AQI

clean
40 US AQI

clean
47 US AQI

okay
76 US AQI

clean
46 US AQI

okay
59 US AQI

clean
35 US AQI

clean
33 US AQI

clean
43 US AQI

Sun

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

Remote workers

757 people

1,040 people

743 people

369 people

507 people

400 people

491 people

520 people

433 people

333 people

615 people

663 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 San Juan's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

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	Frontend Software Engineer @ Bitwise Asset Management

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$2,288 / mo

2 Mbps

No members are here right now. If you are, add it as a trip and you'll show up here!

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	2.66/5 (Rank #272) 270 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍3 liked it 👎0 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Good
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	🧐 Very expensive: $4,382 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 16Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Okay
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Hot: 28°C83°F (feels 31°C88°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 72%
💨 Air quality (now)	😐 Moderate: 93 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 49 US AQI
👌 Safety	Okay
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Bad
🤝 Lack of racism*	Good
⚡️ Power grid	Great
💰 Income level*	High: $2,386 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Great
🚶 Walkability	Okay
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
🏥 Hospitals	Bad
😄 Happiness*
🍸 Nightlife	Bad
📶 Free WiFi in city	Okay
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Great
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
👩 Female friendly	Okay
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Good
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Latin America
🚩 Country	Puerto Rico
🗓️ Average trip length	10 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	16 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌦 28°C 83°F + 🥵 Sweaty (72%) = feels 31°C 88°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👎😷 93 US AQI = 🚬 / day
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 49 US AQI
🔌 Power	115V 60Hz
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💻 Best coworking space	Piloto151
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👍12% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	360,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$28,636 / year
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 42% 👱‍♀️ 58%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 52% 👱‍♀️ 48%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 76% 👱‍♀️ 24%
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
🏠 Apartment listings	Clasificados
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	JetBlue
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	American

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$4,382 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$2,955 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$5,604 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$1,601 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$2,349 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$4,242 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$1,330 / month
🏠 Median home price	$308,000
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$110 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$139 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$360 / month
🍛 Dinner	$16
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$4
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$3
👩‍🏫 International school	$10,750 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$12 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$7 / trip
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000	$12,352
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000	$30,278
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000	$71,127