---
title: "Living in Freetown as a digital nomad: cost, safety, visa, internet"
url: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/freetown
description: "Hilly peninsula capital with fine beaches to the south"
dataset: 2026.11.2 (2026-11-09)
license: CC BY 4.0
---

# Freetown, Sierra Leone

Freetown scores 33.1/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 1473 of 1501 cities. There is no open cost-of-living figure yet; expect no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 2.1 Mbps.

Freetown climbs from a busy harbour into forested hills, and the peninsula road south leads to wide beaches at Lumley, River No. 2 and Tokeh. English is the official language and people are welcoming. The airport sits across the estuary at Lungi and is reached by water taxi or a long drive, power and internet are unreliable, traffic is gridlocked and the June to September rains are torrential.

Known for: Peninsula beaches, Tacugama chimpanzee sanctuary, Airport across the estuary, Torrential rainy season.

## Scores (balanced weights, 0–100)

| Factor | Score |
| --- | --- |
| Overall | 33.1 |
| Cost of living | — |
| Safety | 60 |
| Healthcare | 39 |
| Internet | 18 |
| Visa ease | 34 |
| Getting there & around | 7 |
| Climate | 58 |
| Air quality | 44 |
| Quality of life | 5 |

## The numbers behind the scores

| Metric | Value | Level | As of | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly cost, one person | — | 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) | 2.22 | country | 2020 | [^4] |
| Political stability (0–100) | 58.8 | country | 2025 | [^5] |
| UHC service coverage (0–100) | 48 | country | 2023 | [^6] |
| Life expectancy (years) | 62.4 | country | 2023 | [^7] |
| Median download (Mbps) | 2.1 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Median upload (Mbps) | 1.5 | 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 (FNA) | 14 | city | 2026-07 | [^12] |
| Restaurants within 3 km of the centre (OpenStreetMap) | 35 | city | 2026-11 | [^16] |
| Walkability / transit (1–5) | 2 / 1 | editorial | 2026-09 | [^13] |
| Comfortable months | 7 of 12 | city | 2001–2020 | [^14] |
| Annual mean PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 30.3 | city | 2023 | [^15] |
| Human Development Index | 0.467 | country | 2023 | [^17] |
| English proficiency band | — | country | 2024 | [^18] |

## Climate (2001–2020 normals)

| Month | Mean °C | Rain mm | Humidity % | Comfortable |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jan | 25.7 | 1 | 76 | yes |
| Feb | 26.6 | 2 | 78 | yes |
| Mar | 27.5 | 2 | 76 | yes |
| Apr | 27.9 | 25 | 76 | yes |
| May | 27.6 | 135 | 81 | yes |
| Jun | 26.4 | 399 | 87 | no |
| Jul | 25.4 | 644 | 89 | no |
| Aug | 25.1 | 699 | 90 | no |
| Sep | 25.5 | 400 | 90 | no |
| Oct | 26.1 | 187 | 89 | no |
| Nov | 26.5 | 71 | 85 | yes |
| Dec | 26.1 | 4 | 78 | yes |

## Airports and nonstop flights

| Airport | IATA | Nonstop destinations | International | From US airports |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Freetown International Airport | FNA | 14 | 14 | 0 |

Unique destinations across all airports: 14, of which 14 international (Wikipedia, 2026-07).

## Similar cities

- [Banjul](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/banjul) (36.3) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/banjul-vs-freetown)
- [Djibouti City](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/djibouti-city) (32.1) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/djibouti-city-vs-freetown)
- [Conakry](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/conakry) (33.4) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/conakry-vs-freetown)
- [Cotonou](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/cotonou) (31.5) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/cotonou-vs-freetown)
- [Bissau](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/bissau) (31.5) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/bissau-vs-freetown)

## FAQ

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

We do not have a reliable monthly cost figure for Freetown yet.

### Is Freetown safe for digital nomads?

Freetown scores 60/100 on safety. Sierra Leone records 2.22 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2020) and a political-stability score of 58.8/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.

### Does Sierra Leone have a digital nomad visa?

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

### How fast is the internet in Freetown?

Measured median download speed in Freetown was 2.1 Mbps (upload 1.5 Mbps) across 1,032 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 Freetown?

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

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

Freetown is served by Freetown International Airport (FNA) with 14 nonstop destinations, of which 14 are international. 0 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-07.

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

The most comfortable months are Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Nov, Dec. Mean temperatures range from 77°F (25°C) in Aug to 82°F (28°C) in Apr (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

### Freetown or Banjul: which is better for digital nomads?

Banjul is the city with the closest factor profile to Freetown 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

[Plan a trip to Freetown](https://dashboard.navoy.io/trip/new?utm_source=nostos&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=plan_trip&utm_content=freetown&destination=Freetown%2C+Sierra+Leone) 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/freetown