A digital nomad is essentially anyone who earns their living remotely while travelling or living abroad, rather than being tied to a single office or country.
Thanks to laptops, decent Wi-Fi, and a growing number of jobs that no longer require a fixed location, more and more people are choosing to work from wherever suits them best, whether that’s a beach town, a bustling city, or somewhere entirely unexpected. It’s a lifestyle that’s grown massively in recent years, and plenty of destinations have started actively competing for this crowd.
The digital nomad trend shows absolutely no sign of slowing down, and a new ranking of the world’s best cities for remote work reveals exactly where the smart money is heading. Japan has come out on top overall, claiming three spots in the global top ten, while Spain manages to be the only European country to break into that elite group.
What makes a city good for remote work?
Choosing where to base yourself as a digital nomad involves far more than just checking whether the Wi-Fi is fast enough. Cost of living, things to do outside of work hours, proper infrastructure for working remotely, and general quality of life all play a part in whether a longer stay actually works out. To figure out which cities strike that balance best, an independent VPN review platform assessed over a hundred of the world’s biggest cities, narrowing down from an initial pool of 150 major population centres.
The study looked at how densely packed each city was with places to actually sit down and work, along with the number of going-out options and cultural venues available. National internet speeds, local price levels, and what the researchers called “comfortable working days”, days when the temperature sits between 15 °C and 28 °C with minimal rainfall, also factored into the rankings. Every city received an overall score out of 100 based on these combined factors.
Seoul takes the top spot.
Despite Japan’s strong overall showing, it’s actually Seoul that claimed first place, with an overall score of 73.60. The South Korean capital offers an impressive density of workspaces, alongside a huge number of going-out options and cultural venues packed into each square kilometre. It also boasts the fastest internet download speeds of any city in the entire top ten. On affordability, measured against a US baseline, Seoul came in roughly 36% cheaper than that benchmark.
Tokyo follows close behind.
Just behind Seoul sits Tokyo, scoring 72.61. The Japanese capital has slightly fewer workspaces per square kilometre than Seoul and comes with a marginally higher cost of living, but it more than makes up for that once the working day ends. Tokyo boasts by far the highest concentration of going-out venues of any city in the top ten, more than double Seoul’s figure, alongside an impressive spread of cultural venues too.
Hanoi and Taipei round out the top four.
Hanoi claimed third place with a score of 71.86, standing out for having the highest concentration of workspaces of any city in the top ten, alongside prices that come in at nearly 71% below the US benchmark. It also offers considerably more comfortable working days across the year than either Seoul or Tokyo, though its national internet download speeds lag well behind the leaders.
Taipei followed in fourth with a score of 70.98, offering a solid density of workspaces alongside one of the strongest showings for going-out venues in the entire ranking. Prices here sit around 57% below the US benchmark, and the city also delivers a healthy spread of cultural venues.
Osaka completes Japan’s strong top-five showing.
Rounding out the top five is Osaka, Japan’s third-largest city by population, with a score of 70.15. It offers the second-highest concentration of going-out venues among the leading destinations, trailing only Tokyo, alongside a solid number of workspaces per square kilometre.
Barcelona leads Spain’s charge into the top ten.
Barcelona claims sixth place overall and stands as the highest-ranked European city on the entire list, with a score of 68.11. While it can’t match the density of workspaces found in the leading Asian cities, Spain boasts the fastest national upload speed of any country in the top fifteen. Barcelona also delivers plenty to do outside of working hours, along with a high number of comfortable working days across the year.
Madrid follows close behind in seventh place, also scoring highly. Since both Spanish cities share identical national internet and pricing scores, the gap between them comes down to local factors, with Barcelona edging ahead thanks to slightly more workspaces, more going-out options, more cultural venues, and considerably more comfortable working days than the Spanish capital.
The rest of the top ten
São Paulo takes eighth place, standing out for having the highest number of comfortable working days of any city in the entire top ten, alongside prices roughly 53% below the US benchmark. Nagoya brings Japan’s tally in the top ten up to three cities, benefiting from the country’s consistently strong internet infrastructure, though it suffers from the fewest comfortable working days of any city in the top fifteen.
Rounding out the top ten is Ho Chi Minh City, giving Vietnam two entries in the leading group alongside Hanoi. The city offers a workspace density that nearly matches Seoul’s, combined with prices that sit around 70% below the US benchmark, making it one of the most affordable options on the entire list.
