---
title: "Living in Uppsala as a digital nomad: cost, safety, visa, internet"
url: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/uppsala
description: "Sweden's oldest university city, 18 minutes from Arlanda"
dataset: 2026.10.7 (2026-10-13)
license: CC BY 4.0
---

# Uppsala, Sweden

Uppsala scores 71.2/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 76 of 1000 cities. Expect about $3,125 per month, no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 96.9 Mbps.

Uppsala is a flat, bikeable university city with Scandinavia's tallest cathedral, a castle on the hill and a student-nation social life, with Arlanda airport about 18 min by train and Stockholm about 40 min. Rents are below Stockholm, but the student housing shortage is severe, winters are dark and nightlife runs on the academic calendar.

Known for: Uppsala University (1477), Cathedral and castle, Student nations, Stockholm in 40 min.

## Scores (balanced weights, 0–100)

| Factor | Score |
| --- | --- |
| Overall | 71.2 |
| Cost of living | 16 |
| Safety | 83 |
| Healthcare | 88 |
| Internet | 91 |
| Visa ease | 61 |
| Getting there & around | 81 |
| Climate | 25 |
| Air quality | 100 |
| Quality of life | 97 |

## The numbers behind the scores

| Metric | Value | Level | As of | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly cost, one person | $3,125 | 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) | 0.87 | country | 2024 | [^5] |
| Political stability (0–100) | 80.5 | country | 2025 | [^6] |
| UHC service coverage (0–100) | 85 | country | 2023 | [^7] |
| Life expectancy (years) | 82.7 | country | 2021 | [^8] |
| Median download (Mbps) | 96.9 | city | 2024 | [^9] |
| Median upload (Mbps) | 88.5 | 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 (ARN) | 165 | city | 2026-09 | [^13] |
| Restaurants within 3 km of the centre (OpenStreetMap) | 195 | city | 2026-10 | [^17] |
| Walkability / transit (1–5) | 4 / 4 | editorial | 2026-09 | [^14] |
| Comfortable months | 3 of 12 | city | 2001–2020 | [^15] |
| Annual mean PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 4.2 | city | 2024 | [^16] |
| Human Development Index | 0.959 | country | 2023 | [^18] |
| English proficiency band | very-high | country | 2024 | [^19] |

## Climate (2001–2020 normals)

| Month | Mean °C | Rain mm | Humidity % | Comfortable |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jan | -4.4 | 47 | 97 | no |
| Feb | -3.6 | 40 | 97 | no |
| Mar | -0.4 | 40 | 90 | no |
| Apr | 5.1 | 39 | 81 | no |
| May | 10.6 | 60 | 78 | no |
| Jun | 15.1 | 83 | 74 | yes |
| Jul | 18.2 | 81 | 74 | yes |
| Aug | 16.9 | 80 | 78 | yes |
| Sep | 12.3 | 53 | 83 | no |
| Oct | 6 | 68 | 90 | no |
| Nov | 1.5 | 61 | 96 | no |
| Dec | -2.4 | 54 | 97 | no |

## Airports and nonstop flights

| Airport | IATA | Nonstop destinations | International | From US airports |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Stockholm Arlanda Airport | ARN | 165 | 139 | 1 |

Unique destinations across all airports: 165, of which 139 international (Wikipedia, 2026-09).

## Similar cities

- [Lund](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/lund) (71.1) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/lund-vs-uppsala)
- [Groningen](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/groningen) (70.9) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/groningen-vs-uppsala)
- [Stockholm](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/stockholm) (70.9) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/stockholm-vs-uppsala)
- [Turku](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/turku) (69.2) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/turku-vs-uppsala)
- [Odense](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/odense) (72.1) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/odense-vs-uppsala)

## FAQ

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

A single person typically spends about $3,125 per month in Uppsala. That is a 16/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.

### Is Uppsala safe for digital nomads?

Uppsala scores 83/100 on safety. Sweden records 0.87 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2024) and a political-stability score of 80.5/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.

### Does Sweden have a digital nomad visa?

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

### How fast is the internet in Uppsala?

Measured median download speed in Uppsala was 96.9 Mbps (upload 88.5 Mbps) across 3,638 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 Uppsala?

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

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

Uppsala is served by Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) with 165 nonstop destinations, of which 139 are international. 1 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-09.

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

The most comfortable months are Jun, Jul, Aug. Mean temperatures range from 24°F (-4°C) in Jan to 65°F (18°C) in Jul (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

### Uppsala or Lund: which is better for digital nomads?

Lund is the city with the closest factor profile to Uppsala 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 Uppsala](https://navoy.io/hotels/sweden/uppsala) 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/uppsala