Most European freelancers already knew, but there is absolutely no need to go all the way to Thailand or Indonesia to flourish as a digital nomad. According to extensive research done by Hoofdkraan.nl Prague is the best place to live as a freelancer in 2018 and 7 out of 10 of the best cities for freelancers are located in Europe.
Prague at the top of the freelance list
Prague: home to the best beer in the world and a destination with many hidden gems. You have to be around for a little while to discover them all, so why not stay? Work a little, wander a little, experience the friendliness, whatever gender you are or prefer, and pick one of the many flexible work spaces or cafes the city has to offer. There’s more than a few reasons Prague is at the top of our list and our research was thorough. We included 117 cities and looked at 23 factors that are generally important for freelancers. Prague ranks highest when it comes to value for money, beer prizes, fast internet and nightlife. Life and work doesn’t get much better.
Hard to beat the Mediterranean
When we look at our top 10 Spain and Portugal stand out. With Sevilla, Las Palmas, Porto and Lisbon amongst the best cities for freelancers there’s no other conclusion possible: we like some warm weather with our freelance freedom. It also doesn’t hurt beer is cheap (except for the steep island prices in Las Palmas) and quality of life is valued high. Besides that, Portugal and Spain are safe countries with good resources and facilities. The only stress we can imagine comes from deadlines (yes we were still talking about the best places to wórk).
Asian cities fall outside top 10
Only three cities in our top 10 are outside Europe. With Vancouver, New Orleans and Miami located in North America, there’s a big continent missing from the top of our rankings: Asia. Well-respected digital nomad destinations like Bangkok (20), Chiang Mai (53) and Bali (Ubud, 68) rank lower in our research because of low scores on cleanliness, safety, freedom of speech and quality of coffee.
Cities to avoid as a freelancer
You might want to steer off the beaten path a little bit, but there are a few places you should most definitely avoid at all times. Lagos, Nigeria for example ranks lowest on our list. You were perhaps not thinking of Nigeria in the first place because of pirates, Boko Haram or the other violence you read about in the newspapers, but there are no facilities for freelancers altogether. The majority of the bottom 10 cities, including Dhaka (Bangladesh), La Paz (Bolivia), Manila (Philippines), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Jakarta (Indonesia), Beijing (China), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Nairobi (Kenya) and Kathmandu (Nepal) are cheap to live, but unsafe and dirty, the internet is slow and the electricity unreliable. Freedom of speech and an open mind towards females or gays are problematic as well.
Fun facts on Columbia and Thailand
Medellin, the second largest city in Colombia is still dangling down the bottom of our list this year (103), but could possibly be a lot higher next year. The city was recently named ‘World’s most innovative city’ and internet speed and work spaces are improving rapidly. They also do have good coffee in Thailand. With € 425 per pound The Black Ivory Coffee Company is just a little expensive. They give Arabia Beans to elephants and the elephant dung is then roasted and processed into coffee.
Interested? Or already on your way to an excellent cheap beer in Prague?
The 10 best cities for freelancers in 2018
117 researched cities 2018
