Ten remote-work bases, cheapest to dearest, as one person's total monthly cost including rent, on crowdsourced June 2026 data in US dollars: Denpasar $490, Da Nang $700, Chiang Mai $750, Bangkok $1,000, Fukuoka $1,020, Tbilisi $1,050, Medellin $1,160, Mexico City $1,480, Split $1,600, Lisbon $1,970.
Worth knowing:
- Fukuoka surprises. A one-bedroom is about $405, less than Chiang Mai's, but Japan's permit runs six months and wants 10 million yen a year, per Japan's tourism board.
- Croatia's permit is the most demanding of the ten to prove: means of two and a half times the average net salary paid to Croatian employees the previous year.
- Thailand wants six months' proven residence before the visa, so the apartment comes first.
- Skip northern Thailand February to April, haze season.
What moves your budget most is not the country but renting through a local agent, not a platform.
