Photo: dronepicr · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Mexico
Spanish, nahuatl, Yucatec Maya · MXN · Central Standard Time (North America)
How it scores for living there
- 54%Cost of livingRated 3 of 5 for living there, workable
- 35%Income taxRated 2 of 5 for living there, poor
- AppliesCapital gainsRated 3 of 5 for living there, workable
- 25MbpsInternetRated 3 of 5 for living there, workable
- 2.59Doctors /1,000Rated 3 of 5 for living there, workable
- 17PM2.5 ug/m3Rated 2 of 5 for living there, poor
- 24.9Homicide /100kRated 1 of 5 for living there, bad
- 75.3Life expectancyRated 3 of 5 for living there, workable
- 83%People onlineRated 3 of 5 for living there, workable
- 26Corruption indexRated 1 of 5 for living there, bad
- 12of 12Mild monthsRated 5 of 5 for living there, ideal
Facts, not judgements
- UTC-6Time zone
- MXNCurrency
- Spanish+2Language
- A, BPower plug
- 97.4mVisitors 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 Mexico
Loading members…
Who can help you in Mexico
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 Acapulco: warmest August at 31°C, coolest March at 26°C.
Sea off Cancun: warmest August at 30°C, coolest February at 27°C.
Sea off Huatulco: warmest August at 31°C, coolest March at 27°C.
Sea off Puerto Vallarta: warmest September at 31°C, coolest April at 24°C.
Sea off San Jose del Cabo: warmest September at 30°C, coolest February at 22°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, Mexico costs about 54% of the US level, on a World Bank income of $25k 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 Mexico
Its main airport has non-stop service to 5 airports in the OpenFlights route database.
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.
The practical basics
- Local time…Central Standard Time (North America), America/Bahia_Banderas
- CurrencyMXNISO 4217
- LanguagesSpanish, nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
- PlugsA, B120/240 V 60 Hz
- Safe tap water43%of people on a safely managed supply, World Bank 2024
- UK travel adviceAdvises against travelFCDO, reviewed 2026-09-03
- Population131.9mWorld 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
Mexico logged 51.1 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 97.4 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 Mexico, in one line
Personal income tax runs up to 35 per cent. Capital gains: 10% flat on gains from sale of listed shares via Mexican stock exchange; other gains taxed at progressive PIT rates (up to 35%), real estate gains inflation-adjusted.
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.