Where to live in Bhutan
We track 3 cities in Bhutan: Phuntsholing, Thimphu and Tsirang. Average temperatures run from 12°C to 22°C. We estimate a couple needs €1,809 to €1,883 a month to live centrally. For foreigners, long-term residency is hard to obtain.
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- Safety
- 74/100
- country-level estimate
- Healthcare
- 54/100
- 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, 2020) 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 Bhutan. Figures for safety, healthcare, cost of living and political stability in Bhutan 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 Bhutan, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phuntsholing | smaller | inland | 22°C | 3,875 mm | €1,809 |
| Thimphu | smaller | inland | 12°C | 1,087 mm | €1,883 |
| Tsirang | smaller | inland | 16°C | 2,390 mm | €1,809 |
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
Hard to obtain. Bhutan offers no income, investor, or general residence route for foreigners; long-term residency is essentially limited to spouses of Bhutanese citizens, those granted permits for significant national contribution (Friends of Bhutan), and naturalization after 15-20 years of residence with Dzongkha proficiency.
For short visits, 3 of 198 passports can enter visa-free and 195 can get an e-visa or visa on arrival.
Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).