Which is cheaper, Mazatlán or Puerto Vallarta?

Puerto Vallarta is cheaper: about $1,400 per month versus $1,400 for one person.

Is Mazatlán or Puerto Vallarta safer?

Mazatlán scores higher on safety (23 vs 23), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.

Where is the internet faster, Mazatlán or Puerto Vallarta?

Mazatlán: a measured median of 31.8 Mbps versus 28.6 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

Mazatlán vs Puerto Vallarta

for digital nomads

Under balanced weights Mazatlán edges it, 58 to 58, winning 3 of the 9 factors. Mazatlán is stronger on nothing outright; Puerto Vallarta on nothing outright. Change the weights in the ranker to see which one wins for you.

Mazatlán

out of 100

Pacific city with the longest malecón and a restored old town

Full Mazatlán profile →

Puerto Vallarta

out of 100

Pacific beach town with a strong expat scene

Full Puerto Vallarta profile →

Factor scores (0–100, balanced weights)

Metric	Mazatlán	Puerto Vallarta
Cost of living	52	52
Safety	23	23
Healthcare	65	65
Internet	60 ✓	57
Visa ease	90	90
Getting there & around	18	27 ✓
Climate	75 ✓	67
Air quality	86 ✓	85
Quality of life	54	54

Cost

Metric	Mazatlán	Puerto Vallarta
Monthly cost, one personcountry-level estimate for at least one city	$1,400	$1,400
Central one-bedroom rent	no data	no data

Safety and health (country-level)

Metric	Mazatlán	Puerto Vallarta
Homicides per 100k	28.2	28.2
Political stability (0–100)	53.7	53.7
UHC service coverage (0–100)	79	79
Life expectancy	70.8 yrs	70.8 yrs

Internet (M-Lab measured medians)

Metric	Mazatlán	Puerto Vallarta
Download	31.8 Mbps ✓	28.6 Mbps
Upload	10.7 Mbps ✓	9.5 Mbps

Visa

Metric	Mazatlán	Puerto Vallarta
Nomad visa	none listed	none listed
Minimum income for the visa	no data	no data
Visa-free days, US passport	180 days	180 days
Visa-free days, EU passport	180 days	180 days
Visa-free days, UK passport	180 days	180 days

Getting there and around

Metric	Mazatlán	Puerto Vallarta
Non-stop airport destinations	23	50 ✓
Walkability (1–5, editorial)	3	4 ✓
Transit (1–5, editorial)	2	2

Climate and air

Metric	Mazatlán	Puerto Vallarta
Comfortable months per year	9 ✓	8
Annual mean PM2.5	11.3 µg/m³ ✓	11.9 µg/m³

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

Frequently asked

Which is cheaper, Mazatlán or Puerto Vallarta?: Puerto Vallarta is cheaper: about $1,400 per month versus $1,400 for one person.
Is Mazatlán or Puerto Vallarta safer?: Mazatlán scores higher on safety (23 vs 23), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.
Where is the internet faster, Mazatlán or Puerto Vallarta?: Mazatlán: a measured median of 31.8 Mbps versus 28.6 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); SatPM2.5 satellite-derived annual PM2.5 (V6.GL.02.04); 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). Dataset 2026.09.4. See each city page for per-metric footnotes and the methodology.