I'm talking standard of living in relation to cost of living, which country gives you the best bang for your buck and still maintains high standards of living?

I'm struggling to come up with an answer. On one side, living in a cheap contry like India would give you massive purchasing power, but at the cost of being in a place that is not very safe and almost dystopic at times

On the other hand, a country like america is incredibly expensive but gives you a safer place and access to more services, but that defeats the purpose, because now you're wasting the potential of a location free income, and depending on how high this income is, it might be more worth it to just get a job there.

What country would be the best in this case? How can we determine that?

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nosecohn t1_jac0dft wrote on February 28, 2023 at 9:57 AM

The balance you're trying to strike is one that's quite common for retired people. Publications that cater to those people publish annual lists of the best places to retire. Do a web search and check those out.

Countries consistently at the top are Spain, Portugal, Panama and Costa Rica.

yes_its_him t1_jac6r5h wrote on February 28, 2023 at 11:26 AM

It's personal preference.

If everybody wanted to live in the same place, then nobody would be any place else.

dtorre t1_jabyjai wrote on February 28, 2023 at 9:31 AM

The Southbay of Southern California is the greatest place on the planet. Climate, access to restaurants/travel, the ocean, and the people are nice.

it’s one of the most expensive places on the planet for that reason. I grew up there, and have moved around the country in my adult life. It doesn’t get better.

that being said, I value the weather, access to entertainment/restaurants, and the beach a lot when I consider where i want to live.

theoriginalharbinger t1_jac4347 wrote on February 28, 2023 at 10:51 AM

There's no right answer here. You'll get responses like "India" or "Costa Rica" which have expat populations - but also have to be okay with spending 4k on plane tickets whenever you want to visit the US for a grandkids' event. And never do things like see a Broadway show if that's your jam.

"Best" is going to be a value assessment based on a host of factors like access to your children, access to specific recreation, and so on.

So what do you value?

Fun_Donut_5023 t1_jac9oli wrote on February 28, 2023 at 12:01 PM

The best place to live would be one where you can live legally. Not sure if this is a thought exercise but the vast majority of earth’s human population can’t just pick up and move to any old country. This question is entirely dependent on your personal circumstances.

[deleted] t1_jac05sj wrote on February 28, 2023 at 9:54 AM

[deleted]

yes_its_him t1_jac6v5j wrote on February 28, 2023 at 11:28 AM

Almost anyplace close to the US in the "tropics" is going to be much less safe than most of the US.

Top 11 Countries with the Highest Homicide Rates*

Incidents per 100,000 people - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2018

El Salvador - 52.02
U.S. Virgin Islands (U.S. territory) - 49.28
Jamaica - 43.85
Lesotho - 43.56
Honduras - 38.93
Belize - 37.79
Venezuela - 36.69
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - 36.54
South Africa - 36.40
Saint Kitts and Nevis - 36.09
Nigeria - 34.52

Then the US is 4.96 on this metric.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/violent-crime-rates-by-country