Survey: Bangkok Is Second Best City for Expats for Personal Finance

Bangkok is the sixth best city to live in for expats and second for personal finance, according to the Expat City Ranking 2022 survey conducted by global expat network InterNations.

The organization polled 11,970 expats, including 117 nationalities across 181 countries and territories worldwide. The results ranked 50 cities from best to worst to live in for expats, which are categorised under different indexes according to quality of life and personal finance to working abroad, ease of settling in, and expat essentials. The rankings also included subcategories like housing, digital life, language, and admin topics.

Bangkok landed on the 10th spot for health and well-being and sat on the 12th for leisure options. The kingdom plummeted to the 45th and 48th spots for safety and security and environment and climate categories, respectively. For travel and transit, Bangkok ranked 37th while it landed on the 39th for quality of life.

Under the ease of settling index, Mexico bagged the top position while Bangkok ranked seventh. It also ranked third for both local friendliness and finding new friends. The working abroad index, meanwhile, ranked Bangkok on the 16th for work and leisure, 41st for salary and job security and career prospects, and 46th for work culture and satisfaction.

In the personal finance index, Bangkok grabbed the second spot, with 69% of expats highly satisfied because of the affordable cost of living. One out of three expats (34%) in the Thai capital earns an annual gross income of US$100,000 versus one in five (21%) worldwide. Bangkok ranked highly for expat necessities like finding an affordable home (70% happy vs. 39% globally) and finding a place to live in (85% vs. 54% globally)

The 10 best cities for expats are Valencia, Dubai, Mexico City, Lisbon, Madrid, Bangkok, Basel, Melbourne, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. The worst expat destinations, on the contrary, include Rome, Tokyo, Vancouver, Milan, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Paris, Frankfurt am Main, and Johannesburg. View the complete report here.