---
title: "Living in Ahmedabad as a digital nomad: cost, safety, visa, internet"
url: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/ahmedabad
description: "Gujarat's commercial capital with a UNESCO old city and no alcohol"
dataset: 2026.10.7 (2026-10-13)
license: CC BY 4.0
---

# Ahmedabad, India

Ahmedabad scores 47.3/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 917 of 1000 cities. Expect about $750 per month (country-level estimate), no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 28.1 Mbps.

Ahmedabad is Gujarat's biggest city and India's first UNESCO World Heritage city, with a walled old town of carved wooden houses, a long riverfront park and a famously good vegetarian food scene. It is cheap, safe and well connected, with a BRT and a young metro, but Gujarat is a dry state (foreigners can apply for a liquor permit), summers top 45 °C and the nomad community is tiny.

Known for: UNESCO walled city, Sabarmati riverfront, Street food and thalis, Dry state, 45 °C summers.

## Scores (balanced weights, 0–100)

| Factor | Score |
| --- | --- |
| Overall | 47.3 |
| Cost of living | 71 |
| Safety | 55 |
| Healthcare | 56 |
| Internet | 63 |
| Visa ease | 32 |
| Getting there & around | 51 |
| Climate | 50 |
| Air quality | 9 |
| Quality of life | 39 |

## The numbers behind the scores

| Metric | Value | Level | As of | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly cost, one person | $750 | country | 2026-09 | [^2] |
| Central 1-bedroom rent | — | city | 2026-09 | [^3] |
| Outskirts 1-bedroom rent (basis of the monthly total) | — | city | 2026-09 | [^3] |
| Homicide rate (per 100k) | 2.72 | country | 2023 | [^4] |
| Political stability (0–100) | 55 | country | 2025 | [^5] |
| UHC service coverage (0–100) | 69 | country | 2023 | [^6] |
| Life expectancy (years) | 67.3 | country | 2021 | [^7] |
| Median download (Mbps) | 28.1 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Median upload (Mbps) | 8.4 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Starlink residential service | Coming soon (Pending regulatory approval) | country | 2026-10 | [^9] |
| Nomad visa | none listed | country | 2026-07 | [^10] |
| Entry for US / EU / UK passports | e-visa required / e-visa required / e-visa required | country | 2026-02 | [^11] |
| Non-stop destinations (AMD) | 36 | city | 2026-10 | [^12] |
| Restaurants within 3 km of the centre (OpenStreetMap) | 36 | city | 2026-10 | [^16] |
| Walkability / transit (1–5) | 2 / 3 | editorial | 2026-09 | [^13] |
| Comfortable months | 6 of 12 | city | 2001–2020 | [^14] |
| Annual mean PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 46 | city | 2021 | [^15] |
| Human Development Index | 0.685 | country | 2023 | [^17] |
| English proficiency band | low | country | 2024 | [^18] |

## Climate (2001–2020 normals)

| Month | Mean °C | Rain mm | Humidity % | Comfortable |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jan | 19.9 | 1 | 31 | yes |
| Feb | 23.3 | 1 | 26 | yes |
| Mar | 28.1 | 5 | 24 | no |
| Apr | 32.6 | 3 | 27 | no |
| May | 35.1 | 4 | 36 | no |
| Jun | 33.6 | 96 | 54 | no |
| Jul | 29.8 | 267 | 74 | no |
| Aug | 28 | 256 | 83 | no |
| Sep | 28 | 122 | 79 | yes |
| Oct | 27.2 | 10 | 60 | yes |
| Nov | 24.2 | 4 | 46 | yes |
| Dec | 20.9 | 1 | 38 | yes |

## Airports and nonstop flights

| Airport | IATA | Nonstop destinations | International | From US airports |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Ahmedabad Airport | AMD | 36 | 14 | 0 |

Unique destinations across all airports: 36, of which 14 international (Wikipedia, 2026-10).

## Similar cities

- [Pune](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/pune) (47.2) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/ahmedabad-vs-pune)
- [Indore](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/indore) (47) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/ahmedabad-vs-indore)
- [Lucknow](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/lucknow) (43.9) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/ahmedabad-vs-lucknow)
- [Jaipur](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/jaipur) (44.1) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/ahmedabad-vs-jaipur)
- [Agra](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/agra) (45.7) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/agra-vs-ahmedabad)

## FAQ

### How much does it cost to live in Ahmedabad as a digital nomad?

A single person typically spends about $750 per month in Ahmedabad (a country-level estimate for India). That is a 71/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.

### Is Ahmedabad safe for digital nomads?

Ahmedabad scores 55/100 on safety. India records 2.72 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2023) and a political-stability score of 55/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.

### Does India have a digital nomad visa?

No dedicated digital nomad visa was listed for India as of 2026-07. Visitors from the US need an e-visa, applied for online.

### How fast is the internet in Ahmedabad?

Measured median download speed in Ahmedabad was 28.1 Mbps (upload 8.4 Mbps) across 925,385 M-Lab tests in 2024. Measured speeds run below advertised plan speeds everywhere, so compare cities rather than reading the number as a plan.

### Is Starlink available in Ahmedabad?

Not yet. Starlink's availability map lists India as coming soon (Pending regulatory approval) as of 2026-10. Roaming plans may work for short stays, but local rules on using them vary.

### Which airports serve Ahmedabad and how many nonstop flights are there?

Ahmedabad is served by Ahmedabad Airport (AMD) with 36 nonstop destinations, of which 14 are international. 0 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-10.

### When is the best time of year to be in Ahmedabad?

The most comfortable months are Jan, Feb, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec. Mean temperatures range from 68°F (20°C) in Jan to 95°F (35°C) in May (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

### Ahmedabad or Pune: which is better for digital nomads?

Pune is the city with the closest factor profile to Ahmedabad in this dataset. Which one wins depends on your weights; the comparison page puts every factor side by side with the numbers behind them.

## Plan a trip

[Where to stay in Ahmedabad](https://navoy.io/hotels/india/ahmedabad) on Navoy, the AI travel planner behind Nostos.

## Sources

[^1]: City population (latest census or official estimate), Wikipedia (citing national statistics offices). CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/ (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^2]: 2026 Cost of Living Index (country level), WhereNext. CC BY 4.0. https://getwherenext.com/data/cost-of-living-2026 (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^3]: Cost of Living Global 2026 (city rows), WhereToEmigrate. CC BY 4.0. https://github.com/0brien18/global-emigration-dataset (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^4]: Victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population (national data, latest year), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, dataUNODC. UNODC data, free to reuse with attribution. https://data.unodc.org/datareport/hom-victim (retrieved 2026-10-12)
[^5]: Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100), World Bank. CC BY 4.0. https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^6]: UHC service coverage index, World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO data policy). https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/uhc-index-of-service-coverage (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^7]: Life expectancy at birth (years), both sexes, World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO data policy). https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/life-expectancy-at-birth-(years) (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^8]: M-Lab NDT statistics (city aggregates, 2024), Measurement Lab. CC0 1.0. https://statistics.measurementlab.net/ (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^9]: Starlink availability map, SpaceX (Starlink). Factual status cited from starlink.com. https://www.starlink.com/map (retrieved 2026-10-07)
[^10]: Digital Nomad Visas 2026, WhereToEmigrate. CC BY 4.0. https://github.com/0brien18/global-emigration-dataset (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^11]: Passport Index dataset (visa requirements, 199 passports × 199 destinations), Ilya Ilyankou (compiled from passportindex.org). MIT. https://github.com/ilyankou/passport-index-dataset (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^12]: Airport destinations (Wikipedia airline and destination tables), Wikipedia contributors; countries via Wikidata. CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/ (retrieved 2026-09-24)
[^13]: Walkability and transit ratings (editorial), Navoy. CC BY 4.0. https://nostos.navoy.io/methodology (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^14]: NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means), NASA Langley Research Center. Public domain (US Government). https://power.larc.nasa.gov/ (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^15]: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database, June 2026 update (V8), World Health Organization. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO data policy). https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/who-ambient-air-quality-database-(update-jun-2026) (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^16]: OpenStreetMap restaurants (Overpass API), OpenStreetMap contributors. ODbL 1.0. https://overpass-api.de/ (retrieved 2026-10-02)
[^17]: Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023), United Nations Development Programme. CC BY 3.0 IGO. https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/documentation-and-downloads (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^18]: EF English Proficiency Index 2024 (band), EF Education First. Proprietary; band cited as a fact with attribution. https://www.ef.com/epi/ (retrieved 2026-09-22)

HTML page: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/ahmedabad