Best Cities to Live and Work Remotely; Dubai 184th

The number of remote workers will witness a big increase over the next half a decade, according to a new study by London Business School. More that 30% of the companies participating in the survey indicated that they were planning to introduce remote working policies for more than 50% of their employees by 2020. The reason for this tendency is not only the advancing technology, but also the rising rent cost in many cities all over the world.

But while remote workers enjoy a more flexible schedule or the luxury to work from their home, they are also faced with some challenges. For instance, they need to have reliable and fast-speed internet or a nice home where they can spend a lot of time without getting sick of it and yet pay an affordable rent.

• Read more: How to work from home and look good doing it 

A new ranking by NomadList maps out the top cities to live and work remotely by considering factors like cost of living, internet speed, transportation, density of Wi-Fi connected cafes and many more. The big leader on the list is Asia and more specifically, Thailand.  Dubai is also on the ranking, but not in a favourable position.

Chiang Mai in Thailand is currently the best place for living and working remotely, according to NomadList. Researchers have found that this city offers many advantages to remote workers, like low cost of living, great choice of shared working spaces and warm climate. In addition to that, Chiang Mai has a well-developed coffee culture. The city is abundant of cafes that offer visitors free Wi-Fi connection.

Apart from Chaing Mai, there are three other cities in Thailand that have made it to the top 10 of the ranking – Bangkok (2), Phuket (3) and Pai (5). Rents in all of them, with the exception of Bangkok, are affordable. In addition, Thailand cities are well equipped with free Wi-Fi hotspots, which seems to make up for the rather average internet speeds in the county.

European cities also have a strong presence on the list. Cities like Prague (4), Budapest (7), A Coruna (9) and Sofia (10) all fare well on the list mainly because locals are friendly to foreigners. Also, web speeds are beyond the average rate and rents are acceptable.

Best cities to live and work remotely:

• Chiang Mai
• Bangkok
• Phuket
• Prague
• Pai
• Taipei
• Budapest
• Penang
• A Coruna
• Sofia

Dubai is also featured on the list. Unfortunately, it is almost at the bottom of the ranking, at the 184th position. According to NomadList, renting an apartment or a coworking space in the city is very pricey. The high cost of living also affects Dubai’s performance on the list. It is estimated that the cost to live and work remotely in the city is about $3,233 per month. That is nearly $3,000 more compared to that in Chiang Mai, Thailand.