---
title: "Living in Meknes as a digital nomad: cost, safety, visa, internet"
url: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/meknes
description: "Imperial city with a UNESCO medina, Roman Volubilis and far fewer tourists than Fès"
dataset: 2026.10.7 (2026-10-13)
license: CC BY 4.0
---

# Meknes, Morocco

Meknes scores 53.6/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 806 of 1000 cities. Expect about $1,300 per month (country-level estimate), no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 8.6 Mbps.

Meknes is one of Morocco's four imperial cities, with a UNESCO-listed medina, the monumental Bab Mansour gate and the Roman ruins of Volubilis about 30 km away, and it gets a fraction of the tourists and hassle of Fès. Costs are low and trains reach Fès in under an hour, but coworking and expat life are thin and the nearest airport is Fès.

Known for: Bab Mansour and the imperial walls, Volubilis Roman ruins, Vineyards and olive country, Fès an hour away.

## Scores (balanced weights, 0–100)

| Factor | Score |
| --- | --- |
| Overall | 53.6 |
| Cost of living | 50 |
| Safety | 61 |
| Healthcare | 61 |
| Internet | 36 |
| Visa ease | 46 |
| Getting there & around | 50 |
| Climate | 50 |
| Air quality | 86 |
| Quality of life | 43 |

## The numbers behind the scores

| Metric | Value | Level | As of | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly cost, one person | $1,300 | 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) | 1.67 | country | 2024 | [^4] |
| Political stability (0–100) | 56.1 | country | 2025 | [^5] |
| UHC service coverage (0–100) | 65 | country | 2023 | [^6] |
| Life expectancy (years) | 72.6 | country | 2021 | [^7] |
| Median download (Mbps) | 8.6 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Median upload (Mbps) | 0.7 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Starlink residential service | Unknown | country | 2026-10 | [^9] |
| Nomad visa | none listed | country | 2026-07 | [^10] |
| Entry for US / EU / UK passports | 90 days / 90 days / 90 days | country | 2026-02 | [^11] |
| Non-stop destinations (FEZ) | 35 | city | 2026-08 | [^12] |
| Restaurants within 3 km of the centre (OpenStreetMap) | 61 | city | 2026-10 | [^16] |
| Walkability / transit (1–5) | 3 / 2 | editorial | 2026-09 | [^13] |
| Comfortable months | 6 of 12 | city | 2001–2020 | [^14] |
| Annual mean PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 11.4 | city | 2023 | [^15] |
| Human Development Index | 0.71 | country | 2023 | [^17] |
| English proficiency band | low | country | 2024 | [^18] |

## Climate (2001–2020 normals)

| Month | Mean °C | Rain mm | Humidity % | Comfortable |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jan | 10.8 | 79 | 72 | no |
| Feb | 11.7 | 69 | 71 | no |
| Mar | 14.3 | 81 | 69 | no |
| Apr | 16.6 | 59 | 68 | yes |
| May | 20.1 | 32 | 62 | yes |
| Jun | 24.2 | 7 | 55 | yes |
| Jul | 27.6 | 2 | 46 | yes |
| Aug | 28.5 | 5 | 44 | no |
| Sep | 24.7 | 23 | 53 | yes |
| Oct | 20.9 | 65 | 58 | yes |
| Nov | 14.9 | 105 | 67 | no |
| Dec | 12.1 | 81 | 71 | no |

## Airports and nonstop flights

| Airport | IATA | Nonstop destinations | International | From US airports |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Fès–Saïss Airport | FEZ | 35 | 32 | 0 |

Unique destinations across all airports: 35, of which 32 international (Wikipedia, 2026-08).

## Similar cities

- [Fès](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/fes) (52.6) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/fes-vs-meknes)
- [Chefchaouen](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/chefchaouen) (54.8) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/chefchaouen-vs-meknes)
- [Agadir](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/agadir) (54.6) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/agadir-vs-meknes)
- [Tangier](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/tangier) (56.7) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/meknes-vs-tangier)
- [Sfax](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/sfax) (54.2) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/meknes-vs-sfax)

## FAQ

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

A single person typically spends about $1,300 per month in Meknes (a country-level estimate for Morocco). That is a 50/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.

### Is Meknes safe for digital nomads?

Meknes scores 61/100 on safety. Morocco records 1.67 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2024) and a political-stability score of 56.1/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.

### Does Morocco have a digital nomad visa?

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

### How fast is the internet in Meknes?

Measured median download speed in Meknes was 8.6 Mbps (upload 0.7 Mbps) across 73,278 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 Meknes and how many nonstop flights are there?

Meknes is served by Fès–Saïss Airport (FEZ) with 35 nonstop destinations, of which 32 are international. 0 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-08.

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

The most comfortable months are Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Sep, Oct. Mean temperatures range from 51°F (11°C) in Jan to 83°F (29°C) in Aug (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

### Meknes or Fès: which is better for digital nomads?

Fès is the city with the closest factor profile to Meknes 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

[Hotels in Morocco](https://navoy.io/hotels/morocco) 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/meknes