Where to live in Nigeria
We track 16 cities in Nigeria, including Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan. Average temperatures run from 22°C to 28°C. We estimate a couple needs €1,972 to €2,144 a month to live centrally. Nigeria sits in our low to medium tax tier. 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).
- Tax tier
- Low to medium
- Moderate personal income tax
- Languages
- English
- Limited English
- Safety
- 38/100
- country-level
- Healthcare
- 40/100
- country-level
- Internet
- ~20 Mbps
- median fixed broadband
The 16 cities we track
| City | Size | Setting | Avg temp | Rain a year | Est. cost a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aba | large | near the coast | 26°C | 2,417 mm | €1,987 |
| Abuja | large | inland | 26°C | 1,296 mm | €2,039 |
| Benin City | large | near the coast | 26°C | 1,973 mm | €2,013 |
| Enugu | mid-sized | inland | 27°C | 1,754 mm | €1,975 |
| Ibadan | large | near the coast | 26°C | 1,264 mm | €2,057 |
| Ilorin | large | inland | 27°C | 1,141 mm | €1,983 |
| Jos | large | inland | 22°C | 1,155 mm | €1,981 |
| Kaduna | large | inland | 25°C | 1,159 mm | €2,016 |
| Kano | major | inland | 26°C | 764 mm | €2,076 |
| Lagos | major | coastal | 27°C | 1,458 mm | €2,144 |
| Maiduguri | large | inland | 28°C | 518 mm | €1,985 |
| Onitsha | large | near the coast | 27°C | 1,810 mm | €2,005 |
| Port Harcourt | large | coastal | 26°C | 2,995 mm | €2,024 |
| Sokoto | large | inland | 28°C | 574 mm | €1,981 |
| Warri | mid-sized | coastal | 26°C | 2,810 mm | €1,972 |
| Zaria | large | inland | 25°C | 989 mm | €1,977 |
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
Nigeria 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. Long-term residence runs mainly through employer-sponsored CERPAC permits under the expatriate quota system, with self-funded permanent-residence routes for investors and for retirees arriving from abroad.
The cheapest self-funded routes we track for Nigeria:
- Investment: about $250k (Nigeria N3A Small Scale Enterprise Investor Visa, US$250,000-500,000 imported and retained as investor's capital; as of June 2026)
For short visits, 17 of 198 passports can enter visa-free and 181 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).