---
title: "Living in Oakland as a digital nomad: cost, safety, visa, internet"
url: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/oakland
description: "The Bay Area's sunnier, grittier side, a 15-minute BART ride from San Francisco"
dataset: 2026.10.7 (2026-10-13)
license: CC BY 4.0
---

# Oakland, United States

Oakland scores 66.4/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 341 of 1000 cities. Expect about $3,000 per month (country-level estimate), no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 57.8 Mbps.

Oakland gives access to Bay Area tech at lower rents than San Francisco, with more sun than its foggy neighbour, Lake Merritt in the middle of town and BART trains across the bay in about 15 minutes. Rents are still high by any standard outside the Bay, and property crime and visible homelessness are real problems in parts of the city.

Known for: Lake Merritt, BART to San Francisco in 15 minutes, Diverse food scene, Property crime.

## Scores (balanced weights, 0–100)

| Factor | Score |
| --- | --- |
| Overall | 66.4 |
| Cost of living | 17 |
| Safety | 51 |
| Healthcare | 81 |
| Internet | 76 |
| Visa ease | 61 |
| Getting there & around | 80 |
| Climate | 42 |
| Air quality | 95 |
| 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) | 57.8 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Median upload (Mbps) | 14.8 | 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 (OAK/SFO) | 150 | city | 2026-09 | [^12] |
| Restaurants within 3 km of the centre (OpenStreetMap) | 357 | city | 2026-10 | [^16] |
| Walkability / transit (1–5) | 4 / 4 | editorial | 2026-09 | [^13] |
| Comfortable months | 5 of 12 | city | 2001–2020 | [^14] |
| Annual mean PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 7.4 | city | 2021 | [^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 | 9.4 | 100 | 84 | no |
| Feb | 10.3 | 102 | 82 | no |
| Mar | 11.4 | 82 | 82 | no |
| Apr | 12.2 | 42 | 80 | no |
| May | 14 | 18 | 78 | no |
| Jun | 16 | 6 | 74 | yes |
| Jul | 16.8 | 1 | 74 | yes |
| Aug | 17.3 | 1 | 74 | yes |
| Sep | 17.6 | 4 | 70 | yes |
| Oct | 15.9 | 29 | 69 | yes |
| Nov | 12.4 | 62 | 76 | no |
| Dec | 9.6 | 138 | 82 | no |

## Airports and nonstop flights

| Airport | IATA | Nonstop destinations | International | From US airports |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport | OAK | 31 | 5 | 26 |
| San Francisco International Airport | SFO | 144 | 58 | 86 |

Unique destinations across all airports: 150, of which 60 international (Wikipedia, 2026-09).

## Similar cities

- [Philadelphia](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/philadelphia) (66.7) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/oakland-vs-philadelphia)
- [San Francisco](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/san-francisco) (65.7) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/oakland-vs-san-francisco)
- [Dallas](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/dallas) (64.8) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/dallas-vs-oakland)
- [Minneapolis](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/minneapolis) (65.3) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/minneapolis-vs-oakland)
- [Seattle](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/seattle) (64.5) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/oakland-vs-seattle)

## FAQ

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

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

### Is Oakland safe for digital nomads?

Oakland 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 Oakland?

Measured median download speed in Oakland was 57.8 Mbps (upload 14.8 Mbps) across 287,895 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 Oakland?

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 Oakland. Check the exact address on starlink.com before ordering, since capacity varies by area.

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

Oakland is served by Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK) with 31 nonstop destinations and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) with 144 nonstop destinations, 150 unique destinations across all of them, of which 60 are international. 90 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-09.

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

The most comfortable months are Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct. Mean temperatures range from 49°F (9°C) in Jan to 64°F (18°C) in Sep (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

### Oakland or Philadelphia: which is better for digital nomads?

Philadelphia is the city with the closest factor profile to Oakland 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 the United States](https://navoy.io/hotels/united-states) 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)

HTML page: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/oakland