Bangkok and Phuket often feature high on the lists of best places to retire or expats to live. Now Bangkok has been ranked #5 among the world’s Top Ten cities for “expats to live and work” for 2022. This is thanks to the Global Expat Index published by Preply.
Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur is the best city for expats to work and live in 2022, according to the survey. Heading to another continent, Tbilisi in Georgia is the second best city for expats to relocate. Then, another city often in these Top Ten expat lists, Lisbon in Portugal is the third best city for expats this year. Dubai and Bangkok fill up the top 5 cities in the list.
The only other Asian cities in the Top 20 this year are Ho Chi Minh City and Taipei.
The survey assessed 60 popular expat locations with 11 relevant relocation metrics, like the average monthly salary, safety, the average length of time to learn the local lingo fluently, cost of living, local income tax, internet connection speeds and leisure activities.
KL came out on top, thanks to its affordable living costs and many leisure opportunities.
The report shows that the cost of living as an expat is relatively high in Bangkok, at 73,800 hai baht, compared to KL with an equivalent of 38,675 Thai baht. The average monthly salary in Bangkok, after tax, measured at 21,073 Thai baht compared to 44,667 in Malaysia. After Kuala Lumpur, however, Bangkok has the most affordable monthly rent for a 1-bedroom city centre property, at 19,314 Thai baht, and a meal costs just 90 baht, according to the survey.
