---
title: "Living in Košice as a digital nomad: cost, safety, visa, internet"
url: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/kosice
description: "Slovakia's eastern capital with a Gothic core and IT jobs"
dataset: 2026.10.7 (2026-10-13)
license: CC BY 4.0
---

# Košice, Slovakia

Košice scores 68.4/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 211 of 1000 cities. Expect about $1,793 per month, no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 74.4 Mbps.

Košice is Slovakia's second city, with a long pedestrian main street around Europe's easternmost Gothic cathedral and a cluster of IT and shared-services employers. It is cheap, on the euro and close to the High Tatras, but far from everything else: Bratislava is over 5 hours away and the airport has only a handful of routes.

Known for: St Elisabeth Cathedral, IT outsourcing hub, Capital of Culture 2013, High Tatras nearby.

## Scores (balanced weights, 0–100)

| Factor | Score |
| --- | --- |
| Overall | 68.4 |
| Cost of living | 37 |
| Safety | 80 |
| Healthcare | 72 |
| Internet | 84 |
| Visa ease | 61 |
| Getting there & around | 85 |
| Climate | 42 |
| Air quality | 76 |
| Quality of life | 81 |

## The numbers behind the scores

| Metric | Value | Level | As of | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly cost, one person | $1,793 | city | 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) | 1.07 | country | 2024 | [^5] |
| Political stability (0–100) | 77.3 | country | 2025 | [^6] |
| UHC service coverage (0–100) | 78 | country | 2023 | [^7] |
| Life expectancy (years) | 74.5 | country | 2021 | [^8] |
| Median download (Mbps) | 74.4 | city | 2024 | [^9] |
| Median upload (Mbps) | 39.2 | city | 2024 | [^9] |
| Starlink residential service | Available | country | 2026-10 | [^10] |
| Nomad visa | none listed | country | 2026-07 | [^11] |
| Entry for US / EU / UK passports | 90 days / unlimited / 90 days | country | 2026-02 | [^12] |
| Non-stop destinations (KSC/BUD) | 152 | city | 2026-09 | [^13] |
| Restaurants within 3 km of the centre (OpenStreetMap) | 220 | city | 2026-10 | [^17] |
| Walkability / transit (1–5) | 5 / 4 | editorial | 2026-09 | [^14] |
| Comfortable months | 5 of 12 | city | 2001–2020 | [^15] |
| Annual mean PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 15.9 | city | 2024 | [^16] |
| Human Development Index | 0.88 | country | 2023 | [^18] |
| English proficiency band | high | country | 2024 | [^19] |

## Climate (2001–2020 normals)

| Month | Mean °C | Rain mm | Humidity % | Comfortable |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jan | -3.9 | 38 | 92 | no |
| Feb | -1.6 | 38 | 87 | no |
| Mar | 3.7 | 38 | 77 | no |
| Apr | 10.2 | 43 | 71 | no |
| May | 15.3 | 76 | 72 | yes |
| Jun | 19.1 | 83 | 71 | yes |
| Jul | 21.2 | 88 | 68 | yes |
| Aug | 21 | 63 | 66 | yes |
| Sep | 15.6 | 55 | 70 | yes |
| Oct | 9.3 | 55 | 80 | no |
| Nov | 3.7 | 45 | 89 | no |
| Dec | -2 | 44 | 92 | no |

## Airports and nonstop flights

| Airport | IATA | Nonstop destinations | International | From US airports |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Košice International Airport | KSC | 18 | 17 | 0 |
| Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport | BUD | 150 | 150 | 1 |

Unique destinations across all airports: 152, of which 151 international (Wikipedia, 2026-09).

## Similar cities

- [Bucharest](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/bucharest) (67.7) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/bucharest-vs-kosice)
- [Szeged](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/szeged) (71.6) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/kosice-vs-szeged)
- [Bratislava](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/bratislava) (66.4) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/bratislava-vs-kosice)
- [Pécs](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/pecs) (70.2) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/kosice-vs-pecs)
- [Zagreb](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/zagreb) (69.3) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/kosice-vs-zagreb)

## FAQ

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

A single person typically spends about $1,793 per month in Košice. That is a 37/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.

### Is Košice safe for digital nomads?

Košice scores 80/100 on safety. Slovakia records 1.07 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2024) and a political-stability score of 77.3/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.

### Does Slovakia have a digital nomad visa?

No dedicated digital nomad visa was listed for Slovakia as of 2026-07. Visitors from the US can stay 90 days visa-free.

### How fast is the internet in Košice?

Measured median download speed in Košice was 74.4 Mbps (upload 39.2 Mbps) across 1,162 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 Košice?

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

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

Košice is served by Košice International Airport (KSC) with 18 nonstop destinations and Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD) with 150 nonstop destinations, 152 unique destinations across all of them, of which 151 are international. 1 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-09.

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

The most comfortable months are May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep. Mean temperatures range from 25°F (-4°C) in Jan to 70°F (21°C) in Jul (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

### Košice or Bucharest: which is better for digital nomads?

Bucharest is the city with the closest factor profile to Košice 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 Košice](https://navoy.io/hotels/slovakia/kosice) 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]: WhereNext city cost estimates 2026 (city pages), WhereNext. CC BY 4.0. https://getwherenext.com/cities (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]: 2026 Cost of Living Index (country level), WhereNext. CC BY 4.0. https://getwherenext.com/data/cost-of-living-2026 (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^5]: 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)
[^6]: 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)
[^7]: 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)
[^8]: 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)
[^9]: M-Lab NDT statistics (city aggregates, 2024), Measurement Lab. CC0 1.0. https://statistics.measurementlab.net/ (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^10]: Starlink availability map, SpaceX (Starlink). Factual status cited from starlink.com. https://www.starlink.com/map (retrieved 2026-10-07)
[^11]: Digital Nomad Visas 2026, WhereToEmigrate. CC BY 4.0. https://github.com/0brien18/global-emigration-dataset (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^12]: 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)
[^13]: 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)
[^14]: Walkability and transit ratings (editorial), Navoy. CC BY 4.0. https://nostos.navoy.io/methodology (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^15]: NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means), NASA Langley Research Center. Public domain (US Government). https://power.larc.nasa.gov/ (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^16]: 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)
[^17]: OpenStreetMap restaurants (Overpass API), OpenStreetMap contributors. ODbL 1.0. https://overpass-api.de/ (retrieved 2026-10-02)
[^18]: 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)
[^19]: 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/kosice