Which is cheaper, Puerto Vallarta or Tulum?

Puerto Vallarta is cheaper: about $1,400 per month versus $1,458 for one person.

Is Puerto Vallarta or Tulum safer?

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

Where is the internet faster, Puerto Vallarta or Tulum?

Puerto Vallarta: a measured median of 28.6 Mbps versus 19.3 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

Puerto Vallarta vs Tulum

for digital nomads

Under balanced weights Tulum edges it, 59 to 58, winning 3 of the 9 factors. Puerto Vallarta is stronger on nothing outright; Tulum on nothing outright. Change the weights in the ranker to see which one wins for you.

Puerto Vallarta

out of 100

Pacific beach town with a strong expat scene

Full Puerto Vallarta profile →

Tulum

out of 100

Caribbean beach and jungle, at a premium

Full Tulum profile →

Factor scores (0–100, balanced weights)

Metric	Puerto Vallarta	Tulum
Cost of living	52 ✓	51
Safety	23	23
Healthcare	65	65
Internet	57 ✓	50
Visa ease	90	90
Getting there & around	27	29 ✓
Climate	67	75 ✓
Air quality	85	93 ✓
Quality of life	54	54

Cost

Metric	Puerto Vallarta	Tulum
Monthly cost, one personcountry-level estimate for at least one city	$1,400 ✓	$1,458
Central one-bedroom rent	no data	$836

Safety and health (country-level)

Metric	Puerto Vallarta	Tulum
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	Puerto Vallarta	Tulum
Download	28.6 Mbps ✓	19.3 Mbps
Upload	9.5 Mbps ✓	8.8 Mbps

Visa

Metric	Puerto Vallarta	Tulum
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	Puerto Vallarta	Tulum
Non-stop airport destinations	50	134 ✓
Walkability (1–5, editorial)	4 ✓	3
Transit (1–5, editorial)	2 ✓	1

Climate and air

Metric	Puerto Vallarta	Tulum
Comfortable months per year	8	9 ✓
Annual mean PM2.5	11.9 µg/m³	8.1 µg/m³ ✓

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

Frequently asked

Which is cheaper, Puerto Vallarta or Tulum?: Puerto Vallarta is cheaper: about $1,400 per month versus $1,458 for one person.
Is Puerto Vallarta or Tulum safer?: Puerto Vallarta scores higher on safety (23 vs 23), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.
Where is the internet faster, Puerto Vallarta or Tulum?: Puerto Vallarta: a measured median of 28.6 Mbps versus 19.3 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); WhereNext city cost estimates 2026 (city pages). Dataset 2026.09.4. See each city page for per-metric footnotes and the methodology.