Where to live in Bolivia
We track 3 cities in Bolivia: Cochabamba, La Paz and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Average temperatures run from 9°C to 24°C. We estimate a couple needs €2,512 to €2,584 a month to live centrally. For citizens from outside Mercosur and its associate states, long-term residency is comparatively open.
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- Safety
- 57/100
- country-level estimate
- Healthcare
- 53/100
- country-level estimate
- Democracy
- 5.6/10
- 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, 2023) 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 Bolivia. Figures for safety, healthcare, cost of living and political stability in Bolivia 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 Bolivia, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cochabamba | mid-sized | inland | 17°C | 706 mm | €2,512 |
| La Paz | large | inland | 9°C | 598 mm | €2,584 |
| Santa Cruz de la Sierra | large | inland | 24°C | 1,281 mm | €2,578 |
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, for people from outside Mercosur and its associate states. Residency runs through a specific-purpose visa that converts to renewable temporary residency, with a sufficient-means route for retirees and self-funded applicants and an open-ended investor/property route, leading to permanent residency and citizenship within a few years.
Citizens of Mercosur and its associate states have freedom-of-movement or simplified residency rights here.
The cheapest self-funded routes we track for Bolivia:
- Income: about $300 a month (Bolivia sufficient-means/rentista residency (DS 24423 art. 37 requires foreign income sufficient for subsistence; no statutory figure, practical baseline ~USD 300/mo of demonstrable income or savings); as of June 2026)
For short visits, 52 of 198 passports can enter visa-free and 146 can get an e-visa or visa on arrival.
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).