Where to live in Kenya
We track 3 cities in Kenya: Mombasa, Nairobi and Nakuru. Average temperatures run from 19°C to 26°C. We estimate a couple needs €2,025 to €2,159 a month to live centrally. Kenya sits in our low to medium tax tier. For citizens from outside the East African Community, 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).
- Tax tier
- Low to medium
- Moderate personal income tax
- Languages
- Swahili, English
- Some English
- Safety
- 42/100
- country-level
- Healthcare
- 45/100
- country-level
- Internet
- ~20 Mbps
- median fixed broadband
The 3 cities we track
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.
Taxes
Kenya sits in our low to medium tax tier: moderate personal income tax. The tier applies to every city here, and couples who cap tax below it will not see these cities in their results.
Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.
Residency and visas
Possible, with conditions, for people from outside the East African Community. Long-term residence is realistic via the Class K ordinary-residents permit for self-funded retirees with assured passive income, the Class G investor permit for those starting or buying into a business, or employer-sponsored work permits, with permanent residence available after several years.
Citizens of the East African Community have freedom-of-movement or simplified residency rights here.
The cheapest self-funded routes we track for Kenya:
- Income: about $2,000 a month (Class K (Ordinary Residents) permit, assured income USD 24,000/year (USD 2,000/mo), applicant must be 35+; as of June 2026)
- Investment: about $100k (Class G (Investor) permit, minimum capital USD 100,000 invested in a registered Kenyan business; as of June 2026)
For short visits, 7 of 198 passports can enter visa-free and 191 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).