2.68/5
85 reviews
Photo by Jim Witkowski via Unsplash

Tucson, AZ

To increase honesty, reviews are anonymous. You can only add one review per city or it replaces/edits your old one. Reviews with URLs or emails are removed. If you're writing about data being wrong, please don't do it here as it'll be removed here.

great

downtown

hiking

activities

summer

cost

outdoors

fun

outdoor

hot

good

nomad

nomads

car

mexico

food

bike

tons

imo

Tucson is an excellent place for digital nomads who prefer an affordable, outdoor-focused lifestyle. The cost of living is low, especially compared to other U.S. cities, even if you choose to live downtown. Internet connectivity is fast, and there are now multiple coworking spaces, making it a solid option for remote workers. Public transport and bike-sharing options are decent for those without a car.

The city has a vibrant nightlife and plenty of cultural and outdoor activities, particularly hiking, biking, and rock climbing. However, the summer months (mid-May to September) are intensely hot, which can make outdoor activities challenging. If you have a car, Tucson is well-placed for road trips to nearby attractions like the Grand Canyon, New Mexico, or even California.

One thing to watch out for is that the city outside of downtown can feel like urban sprawl, lacking charm and activity. But if you stick to downtown or the west side near the mountains, you’ll find a much more enjoyable environment. Overall, Tucson offers a great balance of cost, quality of life, and outdoor adventure, but those who can’t handle extreme heat should avoid it in the summer months.

AI-generated summary of reviews

I agree with one of the previous reviews. Tucson is a great place for outdoor activities, hiking, rock climbing, etc. Yes it's hot in the summer, but monsoon rains are magnificent when they come. The cost of living is lower than a lot of other areas in the country, and as a woman I've never felt particularly unsafe.

3 years ago

I’m not sure about how accurate nomadslist really is. When I search for locations in the USA with good hiking what comes up first? Atlanta. Second is NYC. Huh?
I think Tucson is a great city for the nomad who likes a bit of quiet. It’s small enough to be cozy but big enough that you can find everything you need. Want to party non stop and socialize with other nomads? Probably not your number one choice. Want good weather most of the year and lower cost of living? Love hiking, nature and being outdoors? This is a great location. Summer is HOT. Avoid. Otherwise it’s mostly sunny and dry. If you have a car and like road trips on your time off you can go north to the Grand Canyon and on to Utah or east to New Mexico. California and Mexico are short drives away too.
There’s some great food especially Mexican food and a few really fun breweries. There are bike paths around town and tons of trails for hiking.
Actually ignore all I said. I like having Tucson to myself! Lots of silver haired snowbirds know about it but the younger nomads haven’t really figured it out yet.

4 years ago

IMO Tucson is a great nomad city! Cost of living is insanely low even to live downtown, so assuming you're being paid by a company based elsewhere your money will go a lot further in Tucson. Recently three new coworking spaces opened downtown, which has been cool to see, as it feels like the city is starting to become supportive of all the remote workers living here. Plus it's an outdoors paradise so there's that!

6 years ago

I'm not sure where all the low ratings on "fun" and "nightlife" are coming from: there is tons to do here wrt outdoors AND cultural activities, and it's much easier to get to it than in a larger city.

If you are carfree, public transit is available and reliable, as are bikeshares. Cabs are pricey, and I don't have a clue about Uber because I don't use it.

Stay on the west side if you can, near the mountains.

6 years ago

Unless you are here in summer (mid-May through end of Sep) when temps are 100F/38C, this city is one of the best in the US IMO. It is easy to get around without a car if you live near the downtown (and there is a cheap bike share available). Internet is fast, nightlife is great and outdoor activities (hiking in mountains, road/mountain biking) are abundant. Living outside of downtown (outside of the neighborhoods labeled as South Tucson and Bario Viejo on the map) can turn into dull urban sprawl but the housing is cheaper there. The Scores indicate bad scores for fun & nightlife--the only way this is true if you are outside of downtown.

6 years ago

Tucson is great! That is all.

7 years ago

✅ Fast internet

✅ Great nightlife

✅ Lots of outdoor activities

✅ Very affordable

✅ Good public transit options

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm in the spring

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here a lot

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Great freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Everyone speaks English

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

❌ Extremely hot summers

❌ Dull urban sprawl outside downtown

❌ Very expensive

❌ Not much to do

❌ Very hot in the summer

❌ Very dry air now

❌ Not many Nomads.com members go here

❌ Difficult to make friends

❌ Not safe for women

❌ High alcohol consumption

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels

6317°
cool

6820°
mild

6418°
cool

7524°
warm

7926°
warm

8630°
warm

8831°
hot

9133°
hot

8630°
warm

7524°
warm

6619°
mild

Real

6116°
cool

6619°
mild

6418°
cool

8127°
warm

8630°
very warm

9334°
hot

9133°
hot

9435°
hot

9032°
hot

7926°
warm

7524°
warm

6519°
mild

Humidity

too dry
13%

too dry
12%

too dry
11%

too dry
7%

too dry
6%

too dry
7%

too dry
26%

too dry
23%

too dry
15%

too dry
12%

too dry
22%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
30mm

dry
9mm

dry
20mm

dry
6mm

dry
2mm

dry
4mm

dry
18mm

dry
36mm

dry
26mm

dry
8mm

dry
1mm

dry
29mm

Cloud

pockets
11%

clear
7%

clear
4%

pockets
11%

pockets
30%

pockets
24%

pockets
15%

clear
8%

pockets
11%

pockets
17%

Air quality

clean
28 US AQI

clean
23 US AQI

clean
21 US AQI

clean
23 US AQI

clean
25 US AQI

clean
23 US AQI

clean
22 US AQI

clean
21 US AQI

clean
20 US AQI

clean
30 US AQI

clean
28 US AQI

Sun

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
10 UVI

avoid sun
11 UVI

avoid sun
10 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

Remote workers

289 people

320 people

375 people

200 people

314 people

240 people

200 people

300 people

200 people

400 people

425 people

433 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 Tucson's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Senior Data Engineer @ AllTrails
	Sales Engineer @ Tameson
	Research Intern @ Scanline VFX
	Tech Lead Flow Wallet @ Flow Foundation
	Staff Cloud Security Engineer @ Ro
	Senior Backend Engineer @ Rarible
	Web UI Engineer HFT Crypto Options ... @ Auros
	Senior Software Implementation Engi... @ Lumin Digital
	Machine Learning Implementation Eng... @ OfferFit
	Research Engineer AI for Sustainabi... @ DeepMind
	Senior DevOps Engineer @ Prompt

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

54pts

10pts

9pts

8pts

7pts

6pts

5pts

4pts

3pts

2pts

1pts

0pts

39pts

10pts

9pts

8pts

7pts

6pts

5pts

4pts

3pts

2pts

1pts

0pts

12pts

10pts

9pts

8pts

7pts

6pts

5pts

4pts

3pts

2pts

1pts

🌇 Also went here22 people

Members here right now

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. 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	2.68/5 (Rank #247) 85 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍8 liked it 👎0 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Good
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	🧐 Pricey: $3,825 / mo
📡 Internet	🚀 Super fast: 116Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Bad
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🌞 Perfect: 23°C74°F (feels 23°C73°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🌵 Too dry: 23%
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 22 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Good
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very high: $4,817 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Great
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Bad
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Bad
📶 Free WiFi in city	Good
🖥 Places to work from	Okay
❄️ A/C or heating	Great
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Bad
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Great
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	North America
🚩 Country	United States
🗓️ Average trip length	14 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	116 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	☀️ 23°C 74°F + 🌵 Too dry (23%) = feels 23°C 73°F
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 22 US AQI
🔌 Power	115V 60Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	Las Vistas
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	Palo Verde
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 Tipping	Yes, 15%
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	Connect
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	👍11% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	530,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$57,808 / year
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 48% 👱‍♀️ 52%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 52% 👱‍♀️ 48%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 76% 👱‍♀️ 24%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Amazon
🏠 Apartment listings	Craigslist
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	United
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	United

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$3,825 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$2,309 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$5,028 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$1,437 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$2,071 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$2,054 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$920 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$97 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$67 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$193 / month
🍛 Dinner	$19
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$6
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$5
👩‍🏫 International school	$11,667 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$18 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$5 / trip
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000	$12,352
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000	$30,278
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000	$71,127