San Miguel de Allende: bring a phrasebook, mid-range on rent, a bit edgy

Homicide rate: 24.9 per 100,000 (UNODC). World average is 5.8, so San Miguel de Allende is worth doing your homework on. Learn the neighborhoods before signing a lease — every city has blocks you'll love and blocks you won't.

A 1-bed in the centre runs about $1106/month (Numbeo). Day-to-day: a cheap restaurant meal: $17.18, monthly transit pass: $7. All in — rent, food, getting around, keeping the lights on — budget $1506–$1906/month depending on whether you cook or eat out. That's the settler number, not the tourist number.

San Miguel de Allende: Summers reach around 26°C with about 13.4 hours of daylight in Jun, winters drop to around 8°C and 10.9 hours of daylight in Dec. Comfortable summers — the kind where you argue about whether to open the window or not.

Very Low English proficiency (EF EPI). But that one word hides two very different realities: office English 30/100 (can you work in English?) and street English 20/100 (can you argue with your landlord in English?). The office is usually easier. The landlord is the real test.

Mexico scores 5.3/10 on the EIU Democracy Index. Functional enough, but keep an eye on the political weather. Some expats find the bureaucracy more autocratic than the government. Rent from $1106/month.

Unemployment: 2.7%. Translation: jobs exist and companies are actually hiring — a rarity worth noting. If you're planning to job-hunt locally, research your industry before booking a one-way ticket. If you work remotely, this number matters less — but your visa type might not let you.

Depends what kind of expat you are. Key facts: rent from $1106/month. The numbers above — livability score, safety, cost of living — tell you whether the city works on paper. Whether it works for you depends on what you're optimizing for. Take the quiz if you want a more honest answer than "it's great for expats."