Where to live in Belize
We track 3 cities in Belize: Belize City, Orange Walk and San Pedro. Average temperatures run from 26°C to 27°C. We estimate a couple needs €2,435 to €2,594 a month to live centrally. For foreigners, long-term residency is comparatively open.
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- Safety
- 52/100
- country-level estimate
- Healthcare
- 57/100
- country-level estimate
- Democracy
- 6.4/10
- estimated
Estimated from World Bank indicators and calibrated to the scales of our reference tables: safety from the country-level homicide rate per 100,000 people (VC.IHR.PSRC.P5, 2022) and Worldwide Governance Indicators Political Stability and Absence of Violence estimate (GOV_WGI_PV.EST, 2025), healthcare from the life expectancy at birth (SP.DYN.LE00.IN, 2024) and current health spending per person in US dollars (SH.XPD.CHEX.PC.CD, 2023), cost of living from the price level of GDP relative to the United States, from GDP per person in US dollars and at purchasing power parity (NY.GDP.PCAP.CD/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD, 2025) and democracy score from the Worldwide Governance Indicators Voice and Accountability estimate (GOV_WGI_VA.EST, 2025). Source: The World Bank (World Development Indicators, Worldwide Governance Indicators), CC BY 4.0.
Limited data for Belize. Figures for safety, healthcare, cost of living and political stability in Belize are country-level estimates from World Bank indicators, each named with its year. We have no tax, English, social openness or internet speed figures for Belize, so the quiz scores those factors conservatively and this page leaves them out.
The 3 cities we track
| City | Size | Setting | Avg temp | Rain a year | Est. cost a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belize City | smaller | coastal | 27°C | 1,710 mm | €2,594 |
| Orange Walk | smaller | coastal | 26°C | 1,379 mm | €2,435 |
| San Pedro | smaller | coastal | 27°C | 1,356 mm | €2,451 |
Source: City size from GeoNames, temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages), rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals), coast distance from Natural Earth. Cost is our model estimate for a couple living centrally, from the World Bank price level.
Residency and visas
Comparatively open. Residency is realistic mainly via the Qualified Retirement Program for those 40+ with steady foreign income, or via standard permanent residency after roughly a year of legal residence with proof of financial stability.
The cheapest self-funded routes we track for Belize:
- Income: about $2,000 a month (Belize Qualified Retirement Program (QRP), USD 2,000/mo (USD 24,000/yr) foreign retirement income; age 40+; as of June 2026)
For short visits, 105 of 198 passports can enter visa-free and 93 need a visa in advance.
Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).