---
title: "Living in Fort Lauderdale as a digital nomad: cost, safety, visa, internet"
url: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/fort-lauderdale
description: "Beach-and-canal city with Brightline trains and a budget-flight airport"
dataset: 2026.10.7 (2026-10-13)
license: CC BY 4.0
---

# Fort Lauderdale, United States

Fort Lauderdale scores 69/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 170 of 1000 cities. Expect about $3,000 per month (country-level estimate), no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 85 Mbps.

Fort Lauderdale pairs a long public beach with a canal-laced downtown, the FLL low-cost airport and Brightline trains to Miami in about 30 minutes and Orlando in about 3 hours. It is calmer and a little cheaper than Miami, but still expensive, car-oriented away from the beach and Las Olas, and exposed to hurricanes from June to November.

Known for: Fort Lauderdale Beach, Canals and yachts, Brightline to Miami, Hurricane season.

## Scores (balanced weights, 0–100)

| Factor | Score |
| --- | --- |
| Overall | 69 |
| Cost of living | 17 |
| Safety | 51 |
| Healthcare | 81 |
| Internet | 83 |
| Visa ease | 61 |
| Getting there & around | 69 |
| Climate | 67 |
| Air quality | 97 |
| Quality of life | 95 |

## The numbers behind the scores

| Metric | Value | Level | As of | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly cost, one person | $3,000 | 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) | 5.76 | country | 2023 | [^4] |
| Political stability (0–100) | 60.3 | country | 2025 | [^5] |
| UHC service coverage (0–100) | 88 | country | 2023 | [^6] |
| Life expectancy (years) | 76.4 | country | 2021 | [^7] |
| Median download (Mbps) | 85 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Median upload (Mbps) | 18.1 | 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 | home country / eTA required (online, before travel) / eTA required (online, before travel) | country | 2026-02 | [^11] |
| Non-stop destinations (FLL) | 139 | city | 2026-09 | [^12] |
| Restaurants within 3 km of the centre (OpenStreetMap) | 87 | city | 2026-10 | [^16] |
| Walkability / transit (1–5) | 3 / 3 | editorial | 2026-09 | [^13] |
| Comfortable months | 8 of 12 | city | 2001–2020 | [^14] |
| Annual mean PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 6.2 | city | 2022 | [^15] |
| Human Development Index | 0.938 | country | 2023 | [^17] |
| English proficiency band | native | country | 2024 | [^18] |

## Climate (2001–2020 normals)

| Month | Mean °C | Rain mm | Humidity % | Comfortable |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jan | 21.2 | 44 | 75 | yes |
| Feb | 22.1 | 49 | 75 | yes |
| Mar | 23 | 56 | 73 | yes |
| Apr | 24.7 | 76 | 73 | yes |
| May | 26.3 | 135 | 75 | yes |
| Jun | 28 | 191 | 78 | no |
| Jul | 28.7 | 165 | 76 | no |
| Aug | 29 | 182 | 77 | no |
| Sep | 28.3 | 190 | 78 | no |
| Oct | 26.9 | 124 | 76 | yes |
| Nov | 24.4 | 64 | 75 | yes |
| Dec | 22.8 | 51 | 77 | yes |

## Airports and nonstop flights

| Airport | IATA | Nonstop destinations | International | From US airports |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport | FLL | 139 | 37 | 102 |

Unique destinations across all airports: 139, of which 37 international (Wikipedia, 2026-09).

## Similar cities

- [St. Petersburg (Florida)](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/st-petersburg-florida) (68.5) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/fort-lauderdale-vs-st-petersburg-florida)
- [Miami](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/miami) (67.7) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/fort-lauderdale-vs-miami)
- [Orlando](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/orlando) (67.5) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/fort-lauderdale-vs-orlando)
- [Sarasota](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/sarasota) (68.5) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/fort-lauderdale-vs-sarasota)
- [West Palm Beach](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/west-palm-beach) (68) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/fort-lauderdale-vs-west-palm-beach)

## FAQ

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

A single person typically spends about $3,000 per month in Fort Lauderdale (a country-level estimate for United States). That is a 17/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.

### Is Fort Lauderdale safe for digital nomads?

Fort Lauderdale scores 51/100 on safety. United States records 5.76 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2023) and a political-stability score of 60.3/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.

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

No dedicated digital nomad visa was listed for United States as of 2026-07. US citizens are at home here.

### How fast is the internet in Fort Lauderdale?

Measured median download speed in Fort Lauderdale was 85 Mbps (upload 18.1 Mbps) across 67,773 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 Fort Lauderdale?

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

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

Fort Lauderdale is served by Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (FLL) with 139 nonstop destinations, of which 37 are international. 102 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-09.

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

The most comfortable months are Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Oct, Nov, Dec. Mean temperatures range from 70°F (21°C) in Jan to 84°F (29°C) in Aug (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

### Fort Lauderdale or St. Petersburg (Florida): which is better for digital nomads?

St. Petersburg (Florida) is the city with the closest factor profile to Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale](https://navoy.io/hotels/united-states/fort-lauderdale) 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)

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