---
title: "Living in Cape Coast as a digital nomad: cost, safety, visa, internet"
url: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/cape-coast
description: "Ghana's historic coast: slave-trade castles, Kakum's canopy walk and a laid-back university town"
dataset: 2026.10.7 (2026-10-13)
license: CC BY 4.0
---

# Cape Coast, Ghana

Cape Coast scores 49.2/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 888 of 1000 cities. Expect about $1,150 per month (country-level estimate), no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 7.5 Mbps.

Cape Coast is a small university town on Ghana's coast, with the UNESCO-listed Cape Coast and Elmina castles, the Kakum rainforest canopy walk about 30 km inland and quiet beaches. English is official and costs are very low, but internet is slow, coworking is almost nonexistent and Accra's airport is about 3 hours away by road.

Known for: Cape Coast and Elmina castles, Kakum canopy walkway, Beaches and fishing harbours, Slow internet, little coworking.

## Scores (balanced weights, 0–100)

| Factor | Score |
| --- | --- |
| Overall | 49.2 |
| Cost of living | 55 |
| Safety | 68 |
| Healthcare | 46 |
| Internet | 42 |
| Visa ease | 34 |
| Getting there & around | 46 |
| Climate | 42 |
| Air quality | 67 |
| Quality of life | 44 |

## The numbers behind the scores

| Metric | Value | Level | As of | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly cost, one person | $1,150 | 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) | 1.83 | country | 2022 | [^4] |
| Political stability (0–100) | 67.1 | country | 2025 | [^5] |
| UHC service coverage (0–100) | 56 | country | 2023 | [^6] |
| Life expectancy (years) | 66.1 | country | 2021 | [^7] |
| Median download (Mbps) | 7.5 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Median upload (Mbps) | 5.4 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Starlink residential service | Available | country | 2026-10 | [^9] |
| Nomad visa | none listed | country | 2026-07 | [^10] |
| Entry for US / EU / UK passports | visa on arrival / visa on arrival / visa on arrival | country | 2026-02 | [^11] |
| Non-stop destinations (TKD/ACC) | 36 | city | 2026-09 | [^12] |
| Restaurants within 3 km of the centre (OpenStreetMap) | 16 | city | 2026-10 | [^16] |
| Walkability / transit (1–5) | 3 / 1 | editorial | 2026-09 | [^13] |
| Comfortable months | 5 of 12 | city | 2001–2020 | [^14] |
| Annual mean PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 20 | city | 2023 | [^15] |
| Human Development Index | 0.628 | country | 2023 | [^17] |
| English proficiency band | high | country | 2024 | [^18] |

## Climate (2001–2020 normals)

| Month | Mean °C | Rain mm | Humidity % | Comfortable |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jan | 27.1 | 33 | 79 | yes |
| Feb | 27.6 | 56 | 82 | yes |
| Mar | 27.7 | 117 | 83 | yes |
| Apr | 27.4 | 155 | 85 | no |
| May | 27 | 239 | 86 | no |
| Jun | 25.7 | 259 | 88 | no |
| Jul | 24.5 | 106 | 88 | no |
| Aug | 24 | 44 | 89 | no |
| Sep | 24.8 | 99 | 89 | no |
| Oct | 25.9 | 166 | 87 | no |
| Nov | 26.8 | 92 | 85 | yes |
| Dec | 27.2 | 40 | 81 | yes |

## Airports and nonstop flights

| Airport | IATA | Nonstop destinations | International | From US airports |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Takoradi Airport | TKD | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Accra International Airport | ACC | 35 | 30 | 3 |

Unique destinations across all airports: 36, of which 30 international (Wikipedia, 2026-09).

## Similar cities

- [Accra](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/accra) (48.7) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/accra-vs-cape-coast)
- [Fès](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/fes) (52.6) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/cape-coast-vs-fes)
- [Meknes](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/meknes) (53.6) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/cape-coast-vs-meknes)
- [Agadir](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/agadir) (54.6) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/agadir-vs-cape-coast)
- [Chefchaouen](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/chefchaouen) (54.8) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/cape-coast-vs-chefchaouen)

## FAQ

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

A single person typically spends about $1,150 per month in Cape Coast (a country-level estimate for Ghana). That is a 55/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.

### Is Cape Coast safe for digital nomads?

Cape Coast scores 68/100 on safety. Ghana records 1.83 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2022) and a political-stability score of 67.1/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.

### Does Ghana have a digital nomad visa?

No dedicated digital nomad visa was listed for Ghana as of 2026-07. Visitors from the US get a visa on arrival.

### How fast is the internet in Cape Coast?

Measured median download speed in Cape Coast was 7.5 Mbps (upload 5.4 Mbps) across 89,199 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 Cape Coast?

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

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

Cape Coast is served by Takoradi Airport (TKD) with 1 nonstop destinations and Accra International Airport (ACC) with 35 nonstop destinations, 36 unique destinations across all of them, of which 30 are international. 3 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-09.

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

The most comfortable months are Jan, Feb, Mar, Nov, Dec. Mean temperatures range from 75°F (24°C) in Aug to 82°F (28°C) in Mar (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

### Cape Coast or Accra: which is better for digital nomads?

Accra is the city with the closest factor profile to Cape Coast 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 Cape Coast](https://navoy.io/hotels/ghana/cape-coast) 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]: SatPM2.5 satellite-derived annual PM2.5 (V6.GL.02.04), Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis. CC BY 4.0. https://sites.wustl.edu/acag/surface-pm2-5/ (retrieved 2026-10-07)
[^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/cape-coast