Where to live in Tanzania
We track 3 cities in Tanzania: Dar es Salaam, Dodoma and Mwanza. Average temperatures run from 22°C to 26°C. We estimate a couple needs €1,962 to €2,081 a month to live centrally. Tanzania sits in our low to medium tax tier. For citizens from outside the East African Community, long-term residency is possible, with conditions.
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- Tax tier
- Low to medium
- Moderate personal income tax
- Languages
- Swahili, English
- Limited English
- Safety
- 50/100
- country-level
- Healthcare
- 42/100
- country-level
- Internet
- ~20 Mbps
- median fixed broadband
The 3 cities we track
| City | Size | Setting | Avg temp | Rain a year | Est. cost a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dar es Salaam | major | coastal | 26°C | 1,100 mm | €2,081 |
| Dodoma | mid-sized | inland | 22°C | 559 mm | €1,962 |
| Mwanza | large | inland | 23°C | 883 mm | €1,984 |
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
Tanzania 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 residency runs mainly through investment (a relatively accessible Zanzibar ZIPA-approved property route or a larger mainland investor permit) or a sponsor-tied work permit, plus a discretionary retirement permit for applicants 55+ with assured means.
Citizens of the East African Community have freedom-of-movement or simplified residency rights here.
The cheapest self-funded routes we track for Tanzania:
- Investment: about $100k (Zanzibar Residence Permit Class C (C-11) via a ZIPA-approved property purchase, USD 100,000 minimum (vs the mainland Tanzania Investment Centre investor permit at USD 500,000); as of June 2026)
For short visits, 47 of 198 passports can enter visa-free and 151 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).