Photo: Trevor Cameron · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Jamaica
English, Jamaican Patois · JMD · Eastern Standard Time (North America · Updated
How it scores for living there
- 60%Cost of livingRated 3 of 5 for living there, workable
- 30%Income taxRated 3 of 5 for living there, workable
- AppliesCapital gainsRated 3 of 5 for living there, workable
- 27MbpsInternetRated 3 of 5 for living there, workable
- 0.46Doctors /1,000Rated 1 of 5 for living there, bad
- 22PM2.5 ug/m3Rated 2 of 5 for living there, poor
- 49.4Homicide /100kRated 1 of 5 for living there, bad
- 71.6Life expectancyRated 2 of 5 for living there, poor
- 90%People onlineRated 4 of 5 for living there, good
- 44Corruption indexRated 3 of 5 for living there, workable
- 9of 12Mild monthsRated 4 of 5 for living there, good
Facts, not judgements
- UTC-5Time zone
- JMDCurrency
- English+1Language
- A, BPower plug
- 4.2mVisitors in 2019
Colour says whether a figure is good for someone moving in, not whether it is high: cheap is green and expensive is red. Every coloured box carries the reason for its colour, the bar under it repeats the score as a width, and boxes with no data are not drawn.
Nomads in Jamaica
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Who can help you in Jamaica
Vetted partners for the move: immigration and tax lawyers, relocation services, banking and eSIM, guides and local experts. One Gold partner and up to three standard listings per country.
Climate and cost by city
Sea off Montego Bay: warmest September at 31°C, coolest February at 27°C.
Average monthly temperature and rainfall from Open-Meteo ERA5 (2019-2023 mean, CC BY 4.0). Sea surface temperature from Open-Meteo Marine. Price level from the World Bank ICP survey, same-year pairing, omitted where the survey does not cover the country.
Cost of living and lifestyle
Day to day, Jamaica costs about 60% of the US level, on a World Bank income of $13k per person (PPP, 2025).
That percentage is measured against your country, not against ours. It follows the country picker in the header, or your account if you are signed in. With neither, it falls back to the United States, which is the 100 of the World Bank index, and the sentence says so.
World Bank ICP price level (US=100) and GNI per capita PPP, CC BY 4.0. It is a national average: a capital runs above it and a small town below it.
Getting to Jamaica
Its main airport has non-stop service to 26 airports in the OpenFlights route database.
| From | Routing | Flight time | Cheapest fare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami | Non-stop | 1h 45m | €269 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | Non-stop | 3h 41m | €834 |
| New York | Non-stop | 3h 58m | €202 |
| Chicago | Non-stop | 4h 08m | €424 |
| Newark | Non-stop | 4h 09m | €180 |
| Toronto | Non-stop | 4h 15m | €231 |
| Manchester | Non-stop | 9h 40m | €512 |
| London | Non-stop | 10h 15m | €1379 |
| London | Non-stop | 10h 45m | €814 |
| Amsterdam | Non-stop | 10h 45m | €517 |
| Milano | Non-stop | 13h 30m | €901 |
Airports and non-stop routes from OpenFlights (Open Database License). Fares and flight times are cached one-way economy prices from Travelpayouts, the cheapest seen recently rather than a live quote or an average. They move; treat them as an order of magnitude.
What to see in Jamaica
Ordered by how many people looked each place up over the last twelve months, so the list is measured interest and not our taste.
UNESCOWorld Heritage Site
Port Royal
18,343 readers a month look it up
museum
White Witch of Rose Hall
4,184 readers a month look it up
mountain range
Blue Mountains
2,342 readers a month look it up
coastal waterfall
Dunn's River Falls
1,404 readers a month look it up
port
Kingston Harbour
829 readers a month look it up
river
Black River
765 readers a month look it up
beach
Hellshire Beach
309 readers a month look it up
national park
Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park
281 readers a month look it up
Photo credits
- Port Royal: Raychristofer, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- White Witch of Rose Hall: Urban Walnut, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Blue Mountains: Wolmadrian, PUBLIC DOMAIN, via Wikimedia Commons
- Dunn's River Falls: Breakyunit at English Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Kingston Harbour: Benson Kua from Toronto, Canada, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Black River: Johannes49 at English Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Hellshire Beach: Op. Deo at English Wikipedia, PUBLIC DOMAIN, via Wikimedia Commons
- Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park: Wolmadrian, PUBLIC DOMAIN, via Wikimedia Commons
The practical basics
- Local time…Eastern Standard Time (North America, America/Jamaica
- CurrencyJMDISO 4217
- LanguagesEnglish, Jamaican Patois
- PlugsA, B110/190 V 50 Hz
- UK travel adviceNo blanket warningFCDO, reviewed 2026-05-06
- Population2.8mWorld Bank
Currency codes ISO 4217; plugs and voltage from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); time zone and flag from the countries-states-cities database (ODbL 1.0); travel advice from the UK FCDO (Open Government Licence v3).
How many people visit
Jamaica logged 1.3 million international arrivals in 2020, the last year the World Bank series covers. That is a pandemic year and it is not what a normal year looks like: in 2019 the same series counted 4.2 million.
World Bank indicator ST.INT.ARVL, international tourism arrivals, CC BY 4.0. Arrivals count trips, not people: the same visitor twice in a year counts twice.
Tax in Jamaica, in one line
Personal income tax runs up to 30 per cent. Capital gains: Generally taxed as ordinary income; verify locally.
Tax figures are compiled by us and are being re-verified against primary sources. General information, not tax advice.
Data: World Bank, Open-Meteo, M-Lab, Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, under open licences. General information, not tax or legal advice.