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

A single person typically spends about $2,037 per month in Riyadh, renting a one-bedroom outside the centre (about $980). A central one-bedroom costs about $1,778, which brings the total to roughly $2,835. That is a 40/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.

Is Riyadh safe for digital nomads?

Riyadh scores 73/100 on safety. Saudi Arabia records 0.8 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2024) and a political-stability score of 65.9/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.

Does Saudi Arabia have a digital nomad visa?

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

How fast is the internet in Riyadh?

Measured median download speed in Riyadh was 24.9 Mbps (upload 10.2 Mbps) across 48,019 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 Riyadh?

Not yet. Starlink's availability map lists Saudi Arabia as coming soon (Pending regulatory approval) as of 2026-10. Roaming plans may work for short stays, but local rules on using them vary.

Which airports serve Riyadh and how many nonstop flights are there?

Riyadh is served by King Khalid International Airport (RUH) with 118 nonstop destinations, of which 93 are international. 2 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-11.

When is the best time of year to be in Riyadh?

The most comfortable months are Feb, Mar, Apr, Oct, Nov, Dec. Mean temperatures range from 57°F (14°C) in Jan to 97°F (36°C) in Jul (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

Riyadh or Al Khobar: which is better for digital nomads?

Al Khobar is the city with the closest factor profile to Riyadh in this dataset. Which one wins depends on your weights; the comparison page puts every factor side by side with the numbers behind them.

Photo: B.alotaby · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Riyadh

Saudi Arabia · Middle East · 7,009,100 people · Asia/Riyadh · SAR

Riyadh scores 54.6/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 1061 of 1501 cities. Expect about $2,037 per month, no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 24.9 Mbps.

Riyadh is changing faster than any city in the region, with a new metro, entertainment districts and tourist e-visas. It remains conservative, car-dependent and extremely hot.

Rapid opening to tourism
Metro opened 2024
Desert weekends
Conservative and car-bound

Balanced score

out of 100

Vibe check

Cost4.4
Safety8.1
Health9.2
Internet6.9
Visa3.8
Mobility3.0
Climate5.6
Air6.5
QoL7.2

Rank 1,061 of 1,501

Rank with your own weights →Plan a trip to Riyadh →

Monthly cost$2,037one person
Nomad visaNone listedUS passport: visa on arrival
Internet24.9 Mbpsmeasured median
Comfortable months6 of 1259–82°F (15–28 °C), dry, not humid

For US nomads

US passport entry
visa on arrival
check the consulate before booking
Time vs New York
8 hours ahead of New York
1h of a 9–6 day overlap with Eastern time
Time vs Los Angeles
11 hours ahead of Los Angeles
0h of a 9–6 day overlap with Pacific time
Non-stop from the US
2 US airports
Wikipedia, 2026-11

Prices are in US dollars. US citizens are taxed on worldwide income; the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and state residency rules are worth a look before a long stay.

Eating out

OpenStreetMap, 2026-11¹⁶

103restaurants within 3 km

Mapped around the centre of Riyadh: a modest scene, worth checking the neighbourhoods. A count of what is on the map, not a rating, and it does not affect the score.

How Riyadh scores, factor by factor

Superscripts link to the source list at the bottom. Country-level figures apply to all of Saudi Arabia.

Cost of living

Monthly cost for one person (log-scaled, cheaper is better).

Monthly cost, one person: $2,037² · city-level, 2026-09
Central one-bedroom rent: $1,778² · city-level, 2026-09

Safety

Homicide rate and political stability (country-level).

Homicide rate: 0.8 per 100k⁴ · country-level, 2024
Political stability: 65.9/100⁵ · country-level, 2025

Healthcare

WHO universal-health-coverage index and life expectancy (country-level).

UHC service coverage: 83/100⁶ · country-level, 2023
Life expectancy: 78.9 years⁷ · country-level, 2023

Internet

Median measured download and upload speed (M-Lab, city-level; the province or country aggregate where the city has too few tests).

Median download: 24.9 Mbps⁸ · city-level, 2024
Median upload: 10.2 Mbps⁸ · city-level, 2024
Tests measured: 48,019⁸ · city-level, 2024
Starlink: Coming soon (Pending regulatory approval)⁹ · country-level, 2026-10, not scored

Visa ease

How easily your passport gets in and stays: visa-free days, eTA, visa on arrival, e-visa or consular visa, plus a nomad visa and how affordable its income threshold is. Averages US, EU and UK passports until you pick yours.

Nomad visa: none listed¹⁰
Entry, US passport: visa on arrival¹¹ · country-level, 2026-02
Entry, EU passport: visa on arrival¹¹ · country-level, 2026-02
Entry, UK passport: visa on arrival¹¹ · country-level, 2026-02

Getting there & around

Non-stop airport destinations (hub size) plus editorial walkability and transit ratings.

Non-stop destinations from RUH: 118¹² · city-level, 2026-11
Walkability: 1/5¹³ · editorial, 2026-09
Public transit: 3/5¹³ · editorial, 2026-09

Climate

Share of months that are comfortable: 59–82°F (15–28 °C) mean, at most 5.9 in (150 mm) rain, at most 85% humidity.

Comfortable months: 6 of 12¹⁴ · city-level, 2001–2020 normals

Air quality

Annual mean PM2.5 on a fixed scale: 5 µg/m³ (WHO guideline) scores 100, 50 µg/m³ or worse scores 0.

Annual mean PM2.5: 23.6 µg/m³¹⁵ · city-level, 2024

Quality of life

Human Development Index and English proficiency (country-level).

Human Development Index: 0.900¹⁷ · country-level, 2023
English proficiency: very-low¹⁸ · country-level, 2024

What does Riyadh cost per month?

Total, one person	$2,037	city, outskirts one-bedroom
Total with a central one-bedroom	$2,835	derived
One-bedroom rent, centre	$1,778	city
One-bedroom rent, outskirts	$980	city
Country cost index (US = 100)	43	country

Can you stay legally?

Nomad visa	none listed
Minimum income	—
US passport	visa on arrival
EU passport	visa on arrival
UK passport	visa on arrival

Visa rules change often. Verify with the issuing government before you book.

Do you pay tax here on income from abroad?

Tax status · Saudi Arabia

No tax on salaries or investment income; foreigners running a business from Saudi Arabia pay 20% on profit

No income tax

Saudi Arabia does not tax salaries, and a resident's foreign dividends, interest, capital gains, rent and pensions are untaxed too. There is no wealth or inheritance tax. The catch is self-employment: a non-Saudi resident who freelances or runs a business from Saudi Arabia owes 20% income tax on net profit, while Saudi and GCC nationals pay 2.5% zakat instead. VAT is 15% and property sales carry a 5% transfer tax.

Remote work income
Salary from a foreign employer or fees from foreign clients
Not taxed
Investments and pensions
Dividends, interest, gains, rent and pensions from abroad
Not taxed
Wealth
Net wealth and inheritance
No wealth tax
No inheritance tax

Tax resident after: 183 days a year
Top income tax rate: none

On the nomad visa

Saudi Arabia has no digital nomad or remote-work visa. Citizens of 68 countries can get a one-year multiple-entry tourist eVisa that allows up to 90 days in the country, for tourism-related activities. A foreign salary earned during such a stay is not taxed in Saudi Arabia. For long stays, Premium Residency (SAR 100,000 a year for the limited-duration product, renewable for 1 to 5 years, or SAR 800,000 once for the unlimited one) gives residence, exemption from the fees charged to expatriates, the right to own property and to do business under the Investment Law. The Premium Residency Center says holders face no special taxes but are subject to the normal Saudi tax rules, so business profit is still taxed at 20%.

Salary from a foreign employer or fees from foreign clients

Not taxed

Salary from an employer is not subject to Saudi income tax, whatever the amount and wherever the employer is. Income tax applies only to people who carry on an activity (a business, trade or profession), and ZATCA's withholding guide confirms that pay arising from an employment relationship falls outside the 20% tax. Freelancers are different: Saudi rules count a service as performed in Saudi Arabia when the work, or part of it, is done there, so fees for work you do from Saudi Arabia are Saudi-source even when the clients are abroad. A resident non-Saudi doing such work owes 20% income tax on net profit, must register with ZATCA before the end of the first tax year (fine for natural persons: SAR 1,000) and file a return within 120 days of the year end. Saudi and GCC nationals running a licensed business pay zakat at 2.5% of the zakat base instead of income tax. We could not confirm a freelance permit open to foreigners; working for yourself legally usually means an investment licence or Premium Residency, which allows business under the Investment Law. How a non-resident freelancer paid by foreign clients is treated is less clear; a tax treaty may help. If you take a job with a Saudi employer, the employer pays a 2% occupational-hazards contribution to GOSI for you; the GOSI pension branch covers Saudi workers only, so expatriates build no Saudi pension. Your home country may still tax you if you remain resident there.

On the nomad visa

Income Tax · Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) · read 2026-10-27
Definition of taxable activity: commercial, service, investment, leasing and professional activities; excludes bank accounts and a resident individual's trading of Saudi-listed shares
Simplified Guideline for Income Tax (Second Version, May 2026) · Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) · read 2026-10-27
Income tax applies to non-Saudi resident natural persons who practise an activity in the Kingdom; exemption for gains on property other than business assets; registration before the end of the first fiscal year, SAR 1,000 fine for natural persons
General Guideline for Withholding Tax (Second Version, May 2026) · Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) · read 2026-10-27
183-day and 30-day-plus-permanent-home residency tests; services count as performed in the Kingdom if the work is done there, even remotely; work in the Kingdom taxed at 20% (resident) or 15% withholding unless it arises from an employment relationship; withholding rates (5% on dividends, interest and rent) on payments to non-residents only
Implementing Regulations of the Income Tax Law (Arabic, as amended to 1440H) · Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) · read 2026-10-27
Article 3: residency tests and definition of a permanent home (owned, leases totalling at least a year, or housing provided for a year); Article 6: services performed in the Kingdom; return due within 120 days
Income Tax Law (Royal Decree No. M/1 of 15/1/1425H), official English translation · Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers · read 2026-10-27
Article 2 taxpayers (resident non-Saudi natural person conducting business), Article 3 residency, and the tax base of a resident non-Saudi natural person as income from sources within the Kingdom. The site did not load from our location on 2026-10-27; these points are taken from the indexed text of this document and repeated in ZATCA's guidelines
Implementing Regulations for Zakat Collection 1445H (2024) · Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) · read 2026-10-27
'Saudi' includes GCC nationals; zakat payers are resident Saudis with a licensed activity and Saudi-owned companies; zakat is 2.5% of the zakat base
Social Insurance Law · General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) · read 2026-10-27
Occupational hazards branch applies to all workers regardless of nationality, 2% of wages paid by the employer; annuities (pension) branch covers Saudi workers only
Simplified Guideline: Real Estate Transaction Tax (Fifth Version, 3 May 2024) · Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) · read 2026-10-27
5% tax on property sales instead of 15% VAT; inheritance distributions exempt; gifts to a spouse or relatives up to the third degree out of scope
VAT at 15% comes into effect · Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) · read 2026-10-27
VAT rate raised from 5% to 15% from 1 July 2020
Limited Duration and Unlimited Duration Premium Residency · Premium Residency Center · read 2026-10-27
SAR 100,000 a year (1 to 5 years, renewable) or SAR 800,000 once; exemption from expatriate fees, property ownership, business under the Investment Law. The sapr.gov.sa address did not resolve; pr.gov.sa is the current portal
Premium Residency FAQs · Premium Residency Center · read 2026-10-27
No special taxes on Premium Residency holders, who are subject to the tax provisions applied in the Kingdom
Saudi eVisa · Saudi Tourism Authority (official eVisa portal) · read 2026-10-27
One-year multiple-entry tourist eVisa for 68 eligible countries, up to 90 days in the country, for tourism-related activities

Not yet reviewed by a person · compiled from official pages read on 2026-10-27

General information, not tax advice. Tax treaties, your citizenship and your home country's exit rules can change the answer. US citizens are taxed by the US wherever they live.

Airports and nonstop flights

Riyadh is served by one airport.

Airport	Nonstop destinations	International	From US airports
RUHKing Khalid International Airport	118	93	2

Wikipedia airport pages as of 2026-11: seasonal routes included, charters and announced-but-not-started routes excluded.

What is the weather like through the year?

Comfortable months by our rule: Feb–Apr, Oct–Dec. Rank cities for Dec–Feb →

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Mean °F	57	62	70	80	90	94	97	96	90	81	69	59
Rain in	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	0.2
Humidity %	40	32	27	24	17	11	12	13	15	20	36	43

Green temperatures mark months that meet the comfort rule (59–82°F, ≤5.9 in rain, ≤85% humidity). NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology at the city coordinates.

Where can you stay in Riyadh?

Three ways to live here, and what each does to the monthly budget. Rents are the one-bedroom figures from the cost table; hotels and short lets are priced per night and cost more, most of all in high season.

Option	Rent per month	Monthly total	Notes
One-bedroom outside the centre	$980	$2,037	The basis of the monthly cost and the cost score.
One-bedroom in the centre	$1,778	$2,835	The monthly total with the central rent swapped in.
Hotel or short let	—	—	For the first weeks or a stay under a month. Compare hotels on Navoy →

Monthly rents assume an unfurnished lease of six months or more; furnished monthly lets usually cost 20 to 50 percent more.

Cities with a similar profile

Al Khobar Saudi Arabia · 55.6
Compare with Riyadh →
Dammam Saudi Arabia · 53.6
Compare with Riyadh →
Amman Jordan · 52.6
Compare with Riyadh →
Jubail Saudi Arabia · 53.6
Compare with Riyadh →
Muscat Oman · 52.4
Compare with Riyadh →

Also in Middle East: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Al Ain, Al Khobar, Aleppo, Amman

Where Riyadh ranks

#5 · Top 10 cities for digital nomads in the Middle East

Ready to see Riyadh for yourself?

Nostos tells you where. Navoy, the AI travel planner behind it, builds the trip: itineraries, places to stay and what to book before you land.

Plan a trip to Riyadh →

Opens on navoy.io.

The vibe

What people post about living in Riyadh, read for its mood. It is a reading of opinions, not a fact, and it is not part of the score.

Mixed · 62Commenters are mostly warm about Riyadh's hospitality and fast-changing scene, but flag healthcare quality and the odd attention foreigners attract; overall genuinely mixed with a leaning positive tone.

People praise

hospitality
generosity
tourism growth
food
entertainment options
nature variety

People warn about

healthcare quality
attention toward Western foreigners
car rental advice
vast distances
not a Dubai copy

Locals are generous and welcoming to visitors
Healthcare is a real dealbreaker for some expats
Riyadh is distinct and shouldn't be compared to Dubai
Westerners get noticed and approached often
Sprawling city, getting around takes effort

Read from 4 videos, 23 comments and 0 posts on 2026-11-07; the summary is written by a language model and can misread sarcasm.

Watch what people say

Frequently asked

How much does it cost to live in Riyadh as a digital nomad?: A single person typically spends about $2,037 per month in Riyadh, renting a one-bedroom outside the centre (about $980). A central one-bedroom costs about $1,778, which brings the total to roughly $2,835. That is a 40/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.
Is Riyadh safe for digital nomads?: Riyadh scores 73/100 on safety. Saudi Arabia records 0.8 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2024) and a political-stability score of 65.9/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.
Does Saudi Arabia have a digital nomad visa?: No dedicated digital nomad visa was listed for Saudi Arabia as of 2026-07. Visitors from the US get a visa on arrival.
How fast is the internet in Riyadh?: Measured median download speed in Riyadh was 24.9 Mbps (upload 10.2 Mbps) across 48,019 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 Riyadh?: Not yet. Starlink's availability map lists Saudi Arabia as coming soon (Pending regulatory approval) as of 2026-10. Roaming plans may work for short stays, but local rules on using them vary.
Which airports serve Riyadh and how many nonstop flights are there?: Riyadh is served by King Khalid International Airport (RUH) with 118 nonstop destinations, of which 93 are international. 2 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-11.
When is the best time of year to be in Riyadh?: The most comfortable months are Feb, Mar, Apr, Oct, Nov, Dec. Mean temperatures range from 57°F (14°C) in Jan to 97°F (36°C) in Jul (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).
Riyadh or Al Khobar: which is better for digital nomads?: Al Khobar is the city with the closest factor profile to Riyadh in this dataset. Which one wins depends on your weights; the comparison page puts every factor side by side with the numbers behind them.

Sources

Dataset 2026.11.3, published 2026-11-10. Download the full dataset or read the methodology.

1.City population (latest census or official estimate), Wikipedia (citing national statistics offices). CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. City-proper figures; the per-city source URL is stored with the seed row.
2.WhereNext city cost estimates 2026 (city pages), WhereNext. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. The '~$X/mo' single-person estimate published on each city page (the API only exposes countries). Scaled to the WhereToEmigrate basket by the median ratio observed on cities both sources cover, so figures are comparable across the dataset; the scaling factor is recorded in the value's note on /methodology. Where the headline estimate is below the city's own outskirts one-bedroom rent divided by 0.55 (rent at most 55% of a single person's spending), the total is raised to that floor; the page's figure is implausibly low there.
3.2026 Cost of Living Index (country level), WhereNext. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Country-level monthly estimate used only where no city-level figure exists; cost_index kept for every city.
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. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Police- or statistics-office-recorded rates reported to UNODC's crime-trends survey, latest year per country (2024 for most), both sexes, all ages; the United Kingdom uses England and Wales. Replaces the WHO modelled estimate wherever UNODC has a figure from 2018 or later; WHO's 2021 estimates ran several times above recorded figures for El Salvador and Honduras. Workbook data_cts_intentional_homicide.xlsx (July 2026) reduced by scripts/build-dataset/inputs/convert-unodc-homicide.py.
5.Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100), World Bank. CC BY 4.0. 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). 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). Retrieved 2026-09-22.
8.M-Lab NDT statistics (city aggregates, 2024), Measurement Lab. CC0 1.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Median of daily median download/upload throughput over 2024 for the city aggregate; sample count is the number of tests. Speeds reflect user-initiated tests, not advertised plans.
9.Starlink availability map, SpaceX (Starlink). Factual status cited from starlink.com. Retrieved 2026-10-07. Residential service status per country from the file Starlink's map loads. Grouped as on the map: launched or available = available; coming soon, pending regulatory approval or test = coming soon; blacklisted = not offered; unknown or excluded = unknown. Shown on city pages and as a ranker filter; not part of any score. Roaming and maritime plans can work in more places.
10.Digital Nomad Visas 2026, WhereToEmigrate. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Programme name, minimum monthly income (EUR, converted to USD) and whether it leads to permanent residence. Values are directional; verify with the issuing government.
11.Passport Index dataset (visa requirements, 199 passports × 199 destinations), Ilya Ilyankou (compiled from passportindex.org). MIT. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Days per visit where stated; 'visa free' without a limit is credited as unlimited; eTA, visa on arrival, e-visa and visa required are credited 0 days for scoring but shown by kind. The default US/EU/UK figures use the US, German and British passports.
12.Airport destinations (Wikipedia airline and destination tables), Wikipedia contributors; countries via Wikidata. CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-24. Distinct destination airports listed in each airport article's passenger table, resolved through Wikidata. Seasonal routes count; charters and routes announced but not yet flying are excluded. The as-of date is the newest article revision among the city's airports. Falls back to the OpenFlights snapshot when an airport has no article or table.
13.Walkability and transit ratings (editorial), Navoy. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Judgment ratings, not measurements. Explained on /methodology.
14.NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means), NASA Langley Research Center. Public domain (US Government). Retrieved 2026-09-22. T2M, PRECTOTCORR and RH2M at the city coordinates (0.5° grid). Monthly precipitation = mm/day × days in month.
15.WHO Ambient Air Quality Database, June 2026 update (V8), World Health Organization. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO data policy). Retrieved 2026-09-22. Annual mean PM2.5 for the most recent year available for the city.
16.OpenStreetMap restaurants (Overpass API), OpenStreetMap contributors. ODbL 1.0. Retrieved 2026-10-02. Count of OpenStreetMap elements tagged amenity=restaurant within 3 km of the city centre coordinate. Measures how many restaurants are mapped, which tracks real density well where OpenStreetMap is well maintained (Europe, the Americas, East and Southeast Asia) and under-counts where it is not (parts of Africa and Central Asia).
17.Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023), United Nations Development Programme. CC BY 3.0 IGO. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
18.EF English Proficiency Index 2024 (band), EF Education First. Proprietary; band cited as a fact with attribution. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Only the proficiency band is stored, transcribed by hand from the public ranking.

🇺🇸For US nomads