Where to live in Jamaica
We track 3 cities in Jamaica: Kingston, Mandeville and Montego Bay. Average temperatures run from 23°C to 26°C. We estimate a couple needs €2,738 to €3,167 a month to live centrally. For foreigners, long-term residency is possible, with conditions.
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
- 46/100
- country-level estimate
- Healthcare
- 58/100
- country-level estimate
- Democracy
- 7.1/10
- 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 Jamaica. Figures for safety, healthcare, cost of living and political stability in Jamaica 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 Jamaica, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston | large | coastal | 26°C | 1,094 mm | €3,167 |
| Mandeville | smaller | coastal | 23°C | 1,899 mm | €2,738 |
| Montego Bay | smaller | coastal | 26°C | 1,372 mm | €2,808 |
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
Possible, with conditions. Jamaica grants discretionary permanent residence to retirees who can show adequate means, to foreign nationals after roughly three years of work-permit employment, and to spouses of Jamaican citizens, with no published income or investment minimum on the official route.
For short visits, 101 of 198 passports can enter visa-free, 21 can get an e-visa or visa on arrival and 76 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).