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

A single person typically spends about $1,350 per month in Arequipa (a country-level estimate for Peru). That is a 60/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.

Is Arequipa safe for digital nomads?

Arequipa scores 44/100 on safety. Peru records 8.6 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2021) and a political-stability score of 56.9/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.

Does Peru have a digital nomad visa?

No dedicated digital nomad visa was listed for Peru as of 2026-10-13. Visitors from the US can stay 180 days visa-free. The long-stay routes that do exist are in the Peru visa guide: https://nostos.navoy.io/visas/peru

How fast is the internet in Arequipa?

Measured median download speed in Arequipa was 20.1 Mbps (upload 12.8 Mbps) across 29,131 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 Arequipa?

Yes. Starlink's availability map lists residential service as available in Peru (checked 2026-10), so a dish can serve as a backup line in Arequipa. Check the exact address on starlink.com before ordering, since capacity varies by area.

Which airports serve Arequipa and how many nonstop flights are there?

Arequipa is served by Rodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP) with 2 nonstop destinations, of which 0 are international. 0 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-10.

When is the best time of year to be in Arequipa?

No month meets our comfort rule (59–82°F / 15–28 °C mean, at most 5.9 in / 150 mm rain, at most 85% humidity). Mean temperatures range from 49°F (9°C) in Jul to 54°F (12°C) in Nov (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

Arequipa or Puno: which is better for digital nomads?

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

Photo: Draceane · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Arequipa

Peru · Latin America · 1,080,635 people · America/Lima · PEN

Arequipa scores 52.3/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 1146 of 1501 cities. Expect about $1,350 per month (country-level estimate), no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 20.1 Mbps.

Arequipa is Peru's second city, built of white volcanic stone under the cone of El Misti, with sun almost every day and the Colca canyon nearby. It is calmer and lower than Cusco and cheaper than Lima.

UNESCO white city
Colca canyon
Sunny and dry
Low costs

Balanced score

out of 100

Vibe check

Cost6.6
Safety4.9
Health8.1
Internet6.6
Visa8.4
Mobility2.3
Climate0.0
Air9.1
QoL6.3

Rank 1,146 of 1,501 · its cost is a national estimate, so Top 10 lists rank it after cities with a local price

Rank with your own weights →Plan a trip to Arequipa →

Monthly cost$1,350country estimate
Nomad visaNone listedUS passport: 180 days
Internet20.1 Mbpsmeasured median
Comfortable months0 of 1259–82°F (15–28 °C), dry, not humid

For US nomads

US passport entry
180 days visa-free
no visa needed for a visit
Time vs New York
same time as New York
9h of a 9–6 day overlap with Eastern time
Time vs Los Angeles
3 hours ahead of Los Angeles
6h of a 9–6 day overlap with Pacific time
Non-stop from the US
0 US airports
Wikipedia, 2026-10

Prices are in US dollars. US citizens are taxed on worldwide income; the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and state residency rules are worth a look before a long stay.

Eating out

OpenStreetMap, 2026-11¹⁶

439restaurants within 3 km

Mapped around the centre of Arequipa: plenty of choice within walking distance. A count of what is on the map, not a rating, and it does not affect the score.

How Arequipa scores, factor by factor

Superscripts link to the source list at the bottom. Country-level figures apply to all of Peru.

Cost of living

Monthly cost for one person (log-scaled, cheaper is better).

Monthly cost, one person: $1,350² · country-level, 2026-09
Central one-bedroom rent: no data³ · city-level, 2026-09 — no city-level rent row in the WhereToEmigrate dataset

Safety

Homicide rate and political stability (country-level).

Homicide rate: 8.6 per 100k⁴ · country-level, 2021
Political stability: 56.9/100⁵ · country-level, 2025

Healthcare

WHO universal-health-coverage index and life expectancy (country-level).

UHC service coverage: 68/100⁶ · country-level, 2023
Life expectancy: 78.4 years⁷ · country-level, 2023

Internet

Median measured download and upload speed (M-Lab, city-level; the province or country aggregate where the city has too few tests).

Median download: 20.1 Mbps⁸ · city-level, 2024
Median upload: 12.8 Mbps⁸ · city-level, 2024
Tests measured: 29,131⁸ · city-level, 2024
Starlink: Available⁹ · country-level, 2026-10, not scored

Visa ease

How easily your passport gets in and stays: visa-free days, eTA, visa on arrival, e-visa or consular visa, plus a nomad visa and how affordable its income threshold is. Averages US, EU and UK passports until you pick yours.

Nomad visa: none listed¹⁰
Entry, US passport: 180 days¹¹ · country-level, 2026-02
Entry, EU passport: 90 days¹¹ · country-level, 2026-02
Entry, UK passport: 180 days¹¹ · country-level, 2026-02

Getting there & around

Non-stop airport destinations (hub size) plus editorial walkability and transit ratings.

Non-stop destinations from AQP: 2¹² · city-level, 2026-10
Walkability: 4/5¹³ · editorial, 2026-09
Public transit: 2/5¹³ · editorial, 2026-09

Climate

Share of months that are comfortable: 59–82°F (15–28 °C) mean, at most 5.9 in (150 mm) rain, at most 85% humidity.

Comfortable months: 0 of 12¹⁴ · city-level, 2001–2020 normals

Air quality

Annual mean PM2.5 on a fixed scale: 5 µg/m³ (WHO guideline) scores 100, 50 µg/m³ or worse scores 0.

Annual mean PM2.5: 13.1 µg/m³¹⁵ · city-level, 2023

Quality of life

Human Development Index and English proficiency (country-level).

Human Development Index: 0.794¹⁷ · country-level, 2023
English proficiency: low¹⁸ · country-level, 2024

What does Arequipa cost per month?

Total, one person	$1,350	country estimate
One-bedroom rent, centre	no data	city-level rent unavailable
Country cost index (US = 100)	37	country

Can you stay legally?

Long-stay route · Peru

Tourist stay (digital nomad status not yet operational)

Not yet reviewedSubmit a review →

Peru has no digital nomad visa; this is the route remote workers use.

Income: no fixed minimum
Initial stay: 3 months, renewable up to 6 months
Apply: In the country

Read the Peru tourist stay guide →

Nomad visa	none listed
Minimum income	—
US passport	180 days
EU passport	90 days
UK passport	180 days

Visa rules change often. Verify with the issuing government before you book.

Do you pay tax here on income from abroad?

Tax status · Peru

Remote work done in Peru is taxable from day one; residents pay 8%–30% on worldwide income

Worldwide income

Work you physically do in Peru is Peruvian-source income even when the employer or client is abroad: 30% flat while you are non-resident, 8%–30% progressive once you are resident. A foreigner becomes resident after more than 183 days in any 12 months, from the following 1 January, and is then taxed on worldwide income. Foreign dividends, interest, gains, rent and pensions join the 8%–30% scale. There is no wealth or inheritance tax.

Remote work income
Salary from a foreign employer or fees from foreign clients
Taxed
30% flat while non-resident; 8%–30% progressive once resident (2026: 30% above S/ 247,500)
Investments and pensions
Dividends, interest, gains, rent and pensions from abroad
Taxed
8%–30% progressive on foreign-source income once resident; not taxed before then
Wealth
Net wealth and inheritance
No wealth tax
No inheritance tax

Tax resident after: 183 days a year
Top income tax rate: 30%

On the nomad visa

Peru has no working nomad visa. Decreto Legislativo 1582 of 14 November 2023 added a 'nómada digital' status to the migration law for people employed remotely by a company based outside Peru, for up to 365 days, extendable, provided they carry out no paid activity that generates Peruvian-source income. It is a migration rule with no tax provision: it does not change article 9(f) of the income tax law, which still treats work done in Peru as Peruvian-source, and Migraciones' 2023 statement that such nomads earn no Peruvian-source income is not a tax ruling. The status was never regulated, and none of Migraciones' 71 listed procedures covers it. Remote workers use the tourist stay of up to 183 days a year; staying longer on a residence permit makes you resident under the ordinary 183-day test.

Salary from a foreign employer or fees from foreign clients

Taxed30% flat while non-resident; 8%–30% progressive once resident (2026: 30% above S/ 247,500)

Under article 9(f) of the income tax law, income from personal work carried out in Peru is Peruvian-source whatever the nationality or domicile of the parties or where the contract is signed or paid. So a salary from a foreign employer or fees from foreign clients earned while you sit in Peru are taxable even in your first months. Non-residents pay 30% on Peruvian-source work income (article 54), normally withheld by a Peruvian payer; a foreign employer or client does not withhold, which leaves tourists in a grey zone, and the tourist status itself does not allow paid work. On paper, a foreigner who earned Peruvian-source income must also hand migration a certificate of income and withholdings when leaving (article 13). Once resident, work income is taxed on the progressive scale of 8% up to 5 UIT, 14% to 20 UIT, 17% to 35 UIT, 20% to 45 UIT and 30% above (article 53; the UIT is S/ 5,500 in 2026), after an annual allowance of 7 UIT (S/ 38,500) plus up to 3 UIT of listed expenses (article 46). Freelancers deduct a flat 20% of fees, capped at 24 UIT (article 45), register for a RUC tax number, issue electronic fee receipts and make 8% monthly payments on account unless 2026 income stays under S/ 4,010 a month and S/ 48,125 a year. Peruvian social security (EsSalud health, ONP or AFP pensions) runs through Peruvian payrolls; whether a resident freelancer must contribute was not verified here. Foreign tax paid can be credited, but only up to your average Peruvian rate on that income, and unused credit is lost (article 88(e)). Peru has only nine tax treaties (Brazil, Canada, Chile, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom) plus the Andean Community's Decisión 578; there is none with the United States, Germany, France or Spain.

On the nomad visa

Not yet reviewed by a person · compiled from official pages read on 2026-10-27

General information, not tax advice. Tax treaties, your citizenship and your home country's exit rules can change the answer. US citizens are taxed by the US wherever they live.

Airports and nonstop flights

Arequipa is served by one airport.

Airport	Nonstop destinations	International	From US airports
AQPRodríguez Ballón International Airport	2	0	0

Wikipedia airport pages as of 2026-10: seasonal routes included, charters and announced-but-not-started routes excluded.

What is the weather like through the year?

No month meets the comfort rule here. Rank cities for Dec–Feb →

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Mean °F	53	53	53	53	50	49	49	50	52	53	54	53
Rain in	1.4	1.9	1	0.2	0.1	0	0.1	0	0.1	0.3	0.2	0.6
Humidity %	64	69	67	56	40	36	34	32	35	38	43	55

Green temperatures mark months that meet the comfort rule (59–82°F, ≤5.9 in rain, ≤85% humidity). NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology at the city coordinates.

Where can you stay in Arequipa?

Three ways to live here, and what each does to the monthly budget. Rents are the one-bedroom figures from the cost table; hotels and short lets are priced per night and cost more, most of all in high season.

Option	Rent per month	Monthly total	Notes
One-bedroom outside the centre	—	—	No city-level cost here; the total is a national estimate.
One-bedroom in the centre	—	—	No city-level rent figure for this city.
Hotel or short let	—	—	For the first weeks or a stay under a month. Compare hotels on Navoy →

Monthly rents assume an unfurnished lease of six months or more; furnished monthly lets usually cost 20 to 50 percent more.

Cities with a similar profile

Puno Peru · 52.3
Compare with Arequipa →
Cusco Peru · 51.7
Compare with Arequipa →
Huaraz Peru · 52.6
Compare with Arequipa →
Cajamarca Peru · 53.8
Compare with Arequipa →
Belém Brazil · 52.2
Compare with Arequipa →

Also in Latin America: Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Americana, Antigua Guatemala, Antofagasta, Arica

Ready to see Arequipa for yourself?

Nostos tells you where. Navoy, the AI travel planner behind it, builds the trip: itineraries, places to stay and what to book before you land.

Plan a trip to Arequipa →

Opens on navoy.io.

The vibe

What people post about living in Arequipa, read for its mood. It is a reading of opinions, not a fact, and it is not part of the score.

Liked · 72Commenters, many from Arequipa or with ties to it, feel warmly about the city; the main caveats are crime, rain and crowding.

People praise

food
cost
friendliness
climate
history and architecture
nature and volcano views
welcoming vibe

People warn about

crime concerns
rainy season
crowding and migration pressure
restaurant food quality
limited sightseeing for some visitors

Locals speak fondly of the city and feel strongly attached to it.
Long-term residents say they came for work and stayed for years.
Cheap living makes it appealing for retirees and budget-minded remote workers.
Some residents say crime has worsened recently.
Rainy season can be intense, with heavy afternoon downpours and flooded roads.

Read from 8 videos, 40 comments and 0 posts on 2026-11-07; the summary is written by a language model and can misread sarcasm.

Watch what people say

Frequently asked

How much does it cost to live in Arequipa as a digital nomad?: A single person typically spends about $1,350 per month in Arequipa (a country-level estimate for Peru). That is a 60/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.
Is Arequipa safe for digital nomads?: Arequipa scores 44/100 on safety. Peru records 8.6 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2021) and a political-stability score of 56.9/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.
Does Peru have a digital nomad visa?: No dedicated digital nomad visa was listed for Peru as of 2026-10-13. Visitors from the US can stay 180 days visa-free. The long-stay routes that do exist are in the Peru visa guide: https://nostos.navoy.io/visas/peru
How fast is the internet in Arequipa?: Measured median download speed in Arequipa was 20.1 Mbps (upload 12.8 Mbps) across 29,131 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 Arequipa?: Yes. Starlink's availability map lists residential service as available in Peru (checked 2026-10), so a dish can serve as a backup line in Arequipa. Check the exact address on starlink.com before ordering, since capacity varies by area.
Which airports serve Arequipa and how many nonstop flights are there?: Arequipa is served by Rodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP) with 2 nonstop destinations, of which 0 are international. 0 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-10.
When is the best time of year to be in Arequipa?: No month meets our comfort rule (59–82°F / 15–28 °C mean, at most 5.9 in / 150 mm rain, at most 85% humidity). Mean temperatures range from 49°F (9°C) in Jul to 54°F (12°C) in Nov (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).
Arequipa or Puno: which is better for digital nomads?: Puno is the city with the closest factor profile to Arequipa in this dataset. Which one wins depends on your weights; the comparison page puts every factor side by side with the numbers behind them.

Sources

Dataset 2026.11.3, published 2026-11-10. Download the full dataset or read the methodology.

1.City population (latest census or official estimate), Wikipedia (citing national statistics offices). CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. City-proper figures; the per-city source URL is stored with the seed row.
2.2026 Cost of Living Index (country level), WhereNext. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Country-level monthly estimate used only where no city-level figure exists; cost_index kept for every city.
3.Cost of Living Global 2026 (city rows), WhereToEmigrate. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. monthly_cost_single_eur and rent_1br_center_eur, converted to USD at the ECB reference rate on the retrieval date (see ecb-frankfurter).
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. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Police- or statistics-office-recorded rates reported to UNODC's crime-trends survey, latest year per country (2024 for most), both sexes, all ages; the United Kingdom uses England and Wales. Replaces the WHO modelled estimate wherever UNODC has a figure from 2018 or later; WHO's 2021 estimates ran several times above recorded figures for El Salvador and Honduras. Workbook data_cts_intentional_homicide.xlsx (July 2026) reduced by scripts/build-dataset/inputs/convert-unodc-homicide.py.
5.Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100), World Bank. CC BY 4.0. 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). 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). Retrieved 2026-09-22.
8.M-Lab NDT statistics (city aggregates, 2024), Measurement Lab. CC0 1.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Median of daily median download/upload throughput over 2024 for the city aggregate; sample count is the number of tests. Speeds reflect user-initiated tests, not advertised plans.
9.Starlink availability map, SpaceX (Starlink). Factual status cited from starlink.com. Retrieved 2026-10-07. Residential service status per country from the file Starlink's map loads. Grouped as on the map: launched or available = available; coming soon, pending regulatory approval or test = coming soon; blacklisted = not offered; unknown or excluded = unknown. Shown on city pages and as a ranker filter; not part of any score. Roaming and maritime plans can work in more places.
10.Nostos long-stay visa guides, Navoy. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-10-04. One record per country in data/manual/visas/<iso2>.json, compiled into data/visa-guides.json. Each guide lists the official government pages it was compiled from with retrieval dates. A guide's `verification` field is set only when a named person has re-read every source; until then pages say the guide is not yet reviewed by a person.
11.Passport Index dataset (visa requirements, 199 passports × 199 destinations), Ilya Ilyankou (compiled from passportindex.org). MIT. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Days per visit where stated; 'visa free' without a limit is credited as unlimited; eTA, visa on arrival, e-visa and visa required are credited 0 days for scoring but shown by kind. The default US/EU/UK figures use the US, German and British passports.
12.Airport destinations (Wikipedia airline and destination tables), Wikipedia contributors; countries via Wikidata. CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-24. Distinct destination airports listed in each airport article's passenger table, resolved through Wikidata. Seasonal routes count; charters and routes announced but not yet flying are excluded. The as-of date is the newest article revision among the city's airports. Falls back to the OpenFlights snapshot when an airport has no article or table.
13.Walkability and transit ratings (editorial), Navoy. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Judgment ratings, not measurements. Explained on /methodology.
14.NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means), NASA Langley Research Center. Public domain (US Government). Retrieved 2026-09-22. T2M, PRECTOTCORR and RH2M at the city coordinates (0.5° grid). Monthly precipitation = mm/day × days in month.
15.SatPM2.5 satellite-derived annual PM2.5 (V6.GL.02.04), Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-10-07. Annual 2023 PM2.5 for the 0.1° grid cell at the city centre, from satellite aerosol retrievals combined with a chemical transport model and ground monitors. Used only for cities with no WHO database row. Where the same country has WHO-measured cities, values are scaled by the median measured/satellite ratio there (corrects desert-dust overestimates in the Gulf). Across 811 cities with both, log-correlation with WHO values is 0.89 and the median difference 2 µg/m³.
16.OpenStreetMap restaurants (Overpass API), OpenStreetMap contributors. ODbL 1.0. Retrieved 2026-10-02. Count of OpenStreetMap elements tagged amenity=restaurant within 3 km of the city centre coordinate. Measures how many restaurants are mapped, which tracks real density well where OpenStreetMap is well maintained (Europe, the Americas, East and Southeast Asia) and under-counts where it is not (parts of Africa and Central Asia).
17.Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023), United Nations Development Programme. CC BY 3.0 IGO. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
18.EF English Proficiency Index 2024 (band), EF Education First. Proprietary; band cited as a fact with attribution. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Only the proficiency band is stored, transcribed by hand from the public ranking.

🇺🇸For US nomads