NavoyNostos

Zagreb

Croatia · Europe · 767,131 people · Europe/Zagreb · EUR

Zagreb scores 66.8/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 69 of 309 cities. Expect about $1,823 per month, a nomad visa (Digital Nomad Temporary Stay (Croatia DNV)), and a measured median download speed of 57.5 Mbps.

Zagreb offers Croatia's digital nomad permit with a cheaper, less seasonal life than the coast. Café culture is strong; the sea is two hours away.

  • Café culture
  • Christmas market
  • Croatian nomad permit
  • Inland, no coast
67
Balanced score
out of 100

Rank 69 of 309

Rank with your own weights →

For US nomads

  • US passport entry
    90 days visa-free
    no visa needed for a visit
  • Time vs New York
    6 hours ahead of New York
    3h of a 9–6 day overlap with Eastern time
  • Time vs Los Angeles
    9 hours ahead of Los Angeles
    0h of a 9–6 day overlap with Pacific time
  • Non-stop from the US
    0 US airports
    Wikipedia, 2026-09

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.

How Zagreb scores, factor by factor

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

Cost of living

Monthly cost for one person (log-scaled, cheaper is better).
41
  • Monthly cost, one person: $1,8232 · city-level, 2026-09
  • Central one-bedroom rent: no data3 · city-level, 2026-09 — no city-level rent row in the WhereToEmigrate dataset

Safety

Homicide rate and political stability (country-level).
83
  • Homicide rate: 0.8 per 100k5 · country-level, 2021
  • Political stability: 75.8/1006 · country-level, 2024

Healthcare

WHO universal-health-coverage index and life expectancy (country-level).
73
  • UHC service coverage: 76/1007 · country-level, 2023
  • Life expectancy: 76.9 years8 · country-level, 2021

Internet

Median measured download and upload speed (M-Lab, city-level).
73
  • Median download: 57.5 Mbps9 · city-level, 2024
  • Median upload: 19.1 Mbps9 · city-level, 2024
  • Tests measured: 7,5029 · city-level, 2024

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. Uses the US/EU/UK average until you pick a passport.
84
  • Nomad visa: Digital Nomad Temporary Stay (Croatia DNV)10 · min income $4,153/mo
  • Visa-free, US passport: 90 days11 · country-level, 2026-02
  • Visa-free, EU passport: unlimited11 · country-level, 2026-02
  • Visa-free, UK passport: 90 days11 · country-level, 2026-02

Getting there & around

Non-stop airport destinations (hub size) plus editorial walkability and transit ratings.
39
  • Non-stop destinations from ZAG: 6312 · city-level, 2026-09
  • Walkability: 4/513 · editorial, 2026-09
  • Public transit: 4/513 · 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.
42
  • Comfortable months: 5 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.
80
  • Annual mean PM2.5: 13.9 µg/m³15 · city-level, 2024

Quality of life

Human Development Index and English proficiency (country-level).
86
  • Human Development Index: 0.88916 · country-level, 2023
  • English proficiency: very-high17 · country-level, 2024

What does Zagreb cost per month?

Total, one person$1,823city, outskirts one-bedroom
One-bedroom rent, centreno datacity-level rent unavailable
Country cost index (US = 100)41country

Can you stay legally?

Nomad visaDigital Nomad Temporary Stay (Croatia DNV)
Minimum income$4,153/month
US passport, visa-free90 days
EU passport, visa-freeunlimited
UK passport, visa-free90 days

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

Airports and nonstop flights

Zagreb is served by one airport.

AirportNonstop destinationsInternationalFrom US airports
ZAGZagreb Airport63400

Wikipedia airport pages as of 2026-09: seasonal routes included, charters and announced-but-not-started routes excluded.

What is the weather like through the year?

MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Mean °F313442526069737262524233
Rain in22.42.32.43.63.43.23.34.23.33.12.5
Humidity %928983777469636271829092

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.

Cities with a similar profile

Also in Europe: Aarhus, Alicante, Amsterdam, Antalya, Antwerp, Athens

Frequently asked

How much does it cost to live in Zagreb as a digital nomad?
A single person typically spends about $1,823 per month in Zagreb. That is a 41/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.
Is Zagreb safe for digital nomads?
Zagreb scores 83/100 on safety. Croatia records 0.8 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2021) and a political-stability score of 75.8/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.
Does Croatia have a digital nomad visa?
Yes. Croatia offers the Digital Nomad Temporary Stay (Croatia DNV) with a minimum income of about $4,153 per month. Verify current rules with the issuing authority before applying.
How fast is the internet in Zagreb?
Measured median download speed in Zagreb was 57.5 Mbps (upload 19.1 Mbps) across 7,502 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 Zagreb and how many nonstop flights are there?
Zagreb is served by Zagreb Airport (ZAG) with 63 nonstop destinations, of which 40 are international. 0 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-09.
When is the best time of year to be in Zagreb?
The most comfortable months are May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep. Mean temperatures range from 31°F (-1°C) in Jan to 73°F (23°C) in Jul (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).
Zagreb or Bratislava: which is better for digital nomads?
Bratislava is the city with the closest factor profile to Zagreb 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 2026.09.4, published 2026-09-26. Download the full dataset or read the methodology.

  1. 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. 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.
  3. 3.Cost of Living Global 2026 (city rows), WhereToEmigrate. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. monthly_cost_single_eur and rent_1br_center_eur, converted to USD at the ECB reference rate on the retrieval date (see ecb-frankfurter).
  4. 4.2026 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.
  5. 5.Estimates of rates of homicides per 100 000 population, World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO data policy). Retrieved 2026-09-22. WHO GHO data may be reused with attribution under WHO's data policy; see the /data page for the per-field license table.
  6. 6.Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100), World Bank. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
  7. 7.UHC service coverage index, World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO data policy). Retrieved 2026-09-22.
  8. 8.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.
  9. 9.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.
  10. 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. 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. 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. 13.Walkability and transit ratings (editorial), Navoy. CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-22. Judgment ratings, not measurements. Explained on /methodology.
  14. 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. 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. 16.Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023), United Nations Development Programme. CC BY 3.0 IGO. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
  17. 17.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.