---
title: "Living in Belfast as a digital nomad: cost, safety, visa, internet"
url: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/belfast
description: "The UK's cheapest capital, with the Irish coast an hour away"
dataset: 2026.09.4 (2026-09-26)
license: CC BY 4.0
---

# Belfast, United Kingdom

Belfast scores 63.7/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 118 of 309 cities. Expect about $2,900 per month (country-level estimate), no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 68.6 Mbps.

Belfast is the most affordable UK capital, with a compact centre, a growing tech sector and the Antrim coast within an hour. Dublin is two hours south and the city's post-conflict energy is real.

Known for: Titanic Quarter, Low rents for the UK, Cathedral Quarter pubs, Causeway Coast.

## Scores (balanced weights, 0–100)

| Factor | Score |
| --- | --- |
| Overall | 63.7 |
| Cost of living | 21 |
| Safety | 75 |
| Healthcare | 86 |
| Internet | 76 |
| Visa ease | 90 |
| Getting there & around | 35 |
| Climate | 0 |
| Air quality | 95 |
| Quality of life | 96 |

## The numbers behind the scores

| Metric | Value | Level | As of | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly cost, one person | $2,900 | 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) | 1.3 | country | 2021 | [^4] |
| Political stability (0–100) | 70.3 | country | 2024 | [^5] |
| UHC service coverage (0–100) | 88 | country | 2023 | [^6] |
| Life expectancy (years) | 80.1 | country | 2021 | [^7] |
| Median download (Mbps) | 68.6 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Median upload (Mbps) | 20.1 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Nomad visa | none listed | country | 2026-07 | [^9] |
| Visa-free days US / EU / UK | visa or e-visa required / 180 days / unlimited | editorial | 2026-02 | [^10] |
| Non-stop destinations (BFS/BHD) | 70 | city | 2026-09 | [^11] |
| Walkability / transit (1–5) | 4 / 3 | editorial | 2026-09 | [^12] |
| Comfortable months | 0 of 12 | city | 2001–2020 | [^13] |
| Annual mean PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 7.4 | city | 2021 | [^14] |
| Human Development Index | 0.946 | country | 2023 | [^15] |
| English proficiency band | native | country | 2024 | [^16] |

## Climate (2001–2020 normals)

| Month | Mean °C | Rain mm | Humidity % | Comfortable |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jan | 5.8 | 98 | 91 | no |
| Feb | 5.5 | 78 | 90 | no |
| Mar | 6.2 | 76 | 88 | no |
| Apr | 8 | 60 | 86 | no |
| May | 10.5 | 71 | 85 | no |
| Jun | 13.1 | 83 | 85 | no |
| Jul | 14.5 | 90 | 86 | no |
| Aug | 14.5 | 99 | 87 | no |
| Sep | 13.3 | 82 | 88 | no |
| Oct | 11.1 | 116 | 88 | no |
| Nov | 8.4 | 112 | 90 | no |
| Dec | 6.6 | 104 | 91 | no |

## Airports and nonstop flights

| Airport | IATA | Nonstop destinations | International | From US airports |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Belfast International Airport | BFS | 61 | 34 | 1 |
| Belfast City Airport | BHD | 22 | 1 | 0 |

Unique destinations across all airports: 70, of which 34 international (Wikipedia, 2026-09).

## Similar cities

- [Glasgow](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/glasgow) (64.5) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/belfast-vs-glasgow)
- [Cork](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/cork) (64.1) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/belfast-vs-cork)
- [Edinburgh](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/edinburgh) (66.6) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/belfast-vs-edinburgh)
- [Bergen](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/bergen) (66.5) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/belfast-vs-bergen)
- [Salzburg](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/salzburg) (64.5) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/belfast-vs-salzburg)

## FAQ

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

A single person typically spends about $2,900 per month in Belfast (a country-level estimate for United Kingdom). That is a 21/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.

### Is Belfast safe for digital nomads?

Belfast scores 75/100 on safety. United Kingdom records 1.3 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2021) and a political-stability score of 70.3/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.

### Does United Kingdom have a digital nomad visa?

No dedicated digital nomad visa was listed for United Kingdom as of 2026-07. Visitors from the US can stay only with a visa, e-visa, eTA or visa on arrival days.

### How fast is the internet in Belfast?

Measured median download speed in Belfast was 68.6 Mbps (upload 20.1 Mbps) across 43,487 M-Lab tests in 2024. Measured speeds run below advertised plan speeds everywhere, so compare cities rather than reading the number as a plan.

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

Belfast is served by Belfast International Airport (BFS) with 61 nonstop destinations and Belfast City Airport (BHD) with 22 nonstop destinations, 70 unique destinations across all of them, of which 34 are international. 1 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-09.

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

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 42°F (6°C) in Feb to 58°F (15°C) in Jul (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

### Belfast or Glasgow: which is better for digital nomads?

Glasgow is the city with the closest factor profile to Belfast 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

[^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]: Estimates of rates of homicides per 100 000 population, 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/estimates-of-rates-of-homicides-per-100-000-population (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^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]: Digital Nomad Visas 2026, WhereToEmigrate. CC BY 4.0. https://github.com/0brien18/global-emigration-dataset (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^10]: 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)
[^11]: 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)
[^12]: Walkability and transit ratings (editorial), Navoy. CC BY 4.0. https://nostos.navoy.io/methodology (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^13]: NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means), NASA Langley Research Center. Public domain (US Government). https://power.larc.nasa.gov/ (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^14]: 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)
[^15]: 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)
[^16]: 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/belfast