Which is cheaper, Istanbul or Tashkent?

We lack a monthly cost figure for one of the two cities.

Is Istanbul or Tashkent safer?

Tashkent scores higher on safety (71 vs 43), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.

Where is the internet faster, Istanbul or Tashkent?

Istanbul: a measured median of 19.8 Mbps versus 9.2 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

Istanbul vs Tashkent

for digital nomads

Under balanced weights Istanbul edges it, 53 to 42, winning 6 of the 9 factors. Istanbul is stronger on visa ease, getting there & around, climate; Tashkent on safety, air quality. Change the weights in the ranker to see which one wins for you.

Istanbul

out of 100

Two continents, endless energy, weak lira

Full Istanbul profile →

Tashkent

out of 100

Central Asia's largest city, opening up

Full Tashkent profile →

Factor scores (0–100, balanced weights)

Metric	Istanbul	Tashkent
Cost of living	59	no data
Safety	43	71 ✓
Healthcare	71 ✓	67
Internet	49 ✓	37
Visa ease	70 ✓	31
Getting there & around	78 ✓	40
Climate	50 ✓	33
Air quality	0	18 ✓
Quality of life	57 ✓	40

Cost

Metric	Istanbul	Tashkent
Monthly cost, one personcountry-level estimate for at least one city	$1,198	no data
Central one-bedroom rent	$1,280	no data

Safety and health (country-level)

Metric	Istanbul	Tashkent
Homicides per 100k	4.8	1.3 ✓
Political stability (0–100)	49.3	65.4 ✓
UHC service coverage (0–100)	77	79 ✓
Life expectancy	75.3 yrs ✓	72.2 yrs

Internet (M-Lab measured medians)

Metric	Istanbul	Tashkent
Download	19.8 Mbps ✓	9.2 Mbps
Upload	6.8 Mbps	9.4 Mbps ✓

Visa

Metric	Istanbul	Tashkent
Nomad visa	Türkiye Digital Nomad Visa ✓	none listed
Minimum income for the visa	$3,000/mo	no data
Visa-free days, US passport	90 days ✓	visa or e-visa required
Visa-free days, EU passport	90 days ✓	30 days
Visa-free days, UK passport	90 days ✓	30 days

Getting there and around

Metric	Istanbul	Tashkent
Non-stop airport destinations	370 ✓	108
Walkability (1–5, editorial)	3	3
Transit (1–5, editorial)	4	4

Climate and air

Metric	Istanbul	Tashkent
Comfortable months per year	6 ✓	4
Annual mean PM2.5	50.5 µg/m³	42 µg/m³ ✓

✓ marks the better value in each row; ties and missing data are left unmarked.

Frequently asked

Which is cheaper, Istanbul or Tashkent?: We lack a monthly cost figure for one of the two cities.
Is Istanbul or Tashkent safer?: Tashkent scores higher on safety (71 vs 43), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.
Where is the internet faster, Istanbul or Tashkent?: Istanbul: a measured median of 19.8 Mbps versus 9.2 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

More comparisons

Sources: Cost of Living Global 2026 (city rows); 2026 Cost of Living Index (country level); Digital Nomad Visas 2026; Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100); Estimates of rates of homicides per 100 000 population; UHC service coverage index; Life expectancy at birth (years), both sexes; M-Lab NDT statistics (city aggregates, 2024); Airport destinations (Wikipedia airline and destination tables); NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means); WHO Ambient Air Quality Database, June 2026 update (V8); Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023); EF English Proficiency Index 2024 (band); Walkability and transit ratings (editorial); Passport Index dataset (visa requirements, 199 passports × 199 destinations); Türkiye Digital Nomad Visa (GoTürkiye); WhereNext city cost estimates 2026 (city pages). Dataset 2026.09.4. See each city page for per-metric footnotes and the methodology.