Where to live in Montenegro
We track 3 cities in Montenegro: Herceg Novi, Nikšić and Podgorica. Average temperatures run from 12°C to 17°C. We estimate a couple needs €2,215 to €2,445 a month to live centrally. For foreigners, long-term residency is possible, with conditions.
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- Safety
- 71/100
- country-level estimate
- Healthcare
- 66/100
- country-level estimate
- Democracy
- 6.7/10
- 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 Montenegro. Figures for safety, healthcare, cost of living and political stability in Montenegro 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 Montenegro, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herceg Novi | smaller | coastal | 17°C | 1,302 mm | €2,215 |
| Nikšić | smaller | coastal | 12°C | 1,288 mm | €2,316 |
| Podgorica | smaller | coastal | 16°C | 1,586 mm | €2,445 |
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. Long-term residence runs through a concrete basis rather than a pure means test: buying qualifying property, a remote-work (digital nomad) permit, or company/employment, with a five-year path to permanent residence.
The cheapest self-funded routes we track for Montenegro:
- Income: about $2,088 a month (Montenegro digital nomad residence permit, EUR 1,800/mo (3x the EUR 600 minimum wage; up to EUR 2,400 for degree holders); program currently set to end 31 Dec 2026; EUR converted at 1.16 USD/EUR (3 Jun 2026); as of June 2026)
- Investment: about $174k (Property-ownership temporary residence, EUR 150,000 minimum taxable value (Law on Foreigners amendments effective 17 Jan 2026); EUR converted at 1.16 USD/EUR (3 Jun 2026); as of June 2026)
For short visits, 100 of 198 passports can enter visa-free and 98 need a visa in advance.
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).