Where to live in Cambodia
We track 3 cities in Cambodia: Battambang, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Each averages 28°C over the year. We estimate a couple needs €2,170 to €2,375 a month to live centrally. For foreigners, long-term residency is comparatively open.
12 questions, about 4 minutes, no account needed. Taking the quiz is free, and so is seeing your #1 city. Full results for both of you are a one-time US$12 (€12 in Europe).
- Safety
- 60/100
- country-level estimate
- Healthcare
- 51/100
- country-level estimate
- Democracy
- 2.6/10
- estimated
Estimated from World Bank indicators and calibrated to the scales of our reference tables: safety from the Worldwide Governance Indicators Political Stability and Absence of Violence estimate (GOV_WGI_PV.EST, 2025) and life expectancy at birth (SP.DYN.LE00.IN, 2024), 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 Cambodia. Figures for safety, healthcare, cost of living and political stability in Cambodia 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 Cambodia, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battambang | smaller | near the coast | 28°C | 1,332 mm | €2,170 |
| Phnom Penh | large | near the coast | 28°C | 1,359 mm | €2,375 |
| Siem Reap | smaller | inland | 28°C | 1,341 mm | €2,182 |
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. Cambodia grants an ordinary (E-class) visa that almost any foreigner can renew indefinitely with no means test, via the EB business extension or, for those 55+, the ER retirement extension.
For short visits, 8 of 198 passports can enter visa-free, 189 can get an e-visa or visa on arrival and 1 need a visa in advance.
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).