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The Desk Port

Methodology & data sources

The Desk Port helps remote workers compare cities using consistent, citable datasets. Only cities with enough data for meaningful comparisons appear in search, city pages, and editorial guides.

Which cities appear

A city is listed when it has complete climate history, at least one listed language, and country-level livability inputs (peace, healthcare, and digital scores, or a composite livability score). The catalog grows over time as we add more cities.

How search scores cities

When you run a search, each eligible city receives a composite fit score based on how well it matches your preferences. We combine climate fit, cost of living relative to your home country, timezone overlap with your work schedule, language preferences, country livability, and optional terrain preferences. The relative importance of each factor depends on which filters you set. Dealbreaker toggles exclude cities that fail a criterion entirely. City detail pages show the same underlying metrics with personalized context when you arrive from search.

  • Climate — compares your target months and temperature/rainfall ranges against historical normals from Open-Meteo.
  • Cost of living — uses World Bank PPP price levels at country level (USA = 100) relative to your selected home country.
  • Timezone — measures work-hour overlap between your schedule and each city's IANA timezone.
  • Livability — composite country score blending Global Peace Index, Healthcare access index, and ITU digital development.

Editorial guides

Guides are curated rankings and comparisons built from the same city set. They update automatically as more cities become available. Browse all guides.

Data sources

  • Climate data

    Open-Meteo — CC BY 4.0. Historical climate normals (temperature, rainfall, rainy days).

  • City and timezone data

    GeoNames — CC BY 4.0. City names, coordinates, population, and IANA timezones.

  • Cost of living index

    World Bank International Comparison Program — CC BY 4.0. Purchasing-power parity price levels; United States = 100 baseline.

  • Extended country indicators

    World Bank Open Data — CC BY 4.0. Rule of law, government effectiveness, homicide rate, physicians, inflation, electricity access, and satellite PM2.5 fallback.

  • City air quality (PM2.5)

    OpenAQ — CC BY 4.0. Monitoring-station PM2.5 near city coordinates when available.

  • Safety (livability)

    Global Peace Index — See source. Country-level peace and safety scores.

  • Healthcare access (livability)

    Healthcare access index — See source. Country-level healthcare access scores.

  • Digital infrastructure (livability)

    ITU Digital Development — See source. Country-level digital development indicators.

  • City photographs

    Wikimedia Commons & Openverse — Varies (CC0, CC BY, Public domain). License-filtered images with attribution where required.

Update frequency

  • Climate — refreshed from Open-Meteo when cities are added or updated.
  • Cost of living — refreshed periodically from World Bank ICP data.
  • Livability — refreshed periodically from source datasets.
  • Guides — updated automatically as the city catalog grows.

Limitations & disclaimers

  • The Desk Port is a research and comparison tool — not travel, visa, tax, or legal advice.
  • Cost of living and livability are country-level indices; individual cities inherit national values.
  • Data completeness varies by country and city; the catalog is still growing.
  • Climate normals describe historical averages, not future weather or seasonal guarantees.

Privacy & analytics

The Desk Port uses a first-party, anonymous session cookie (tdp_session) to understand how people use search, city pages, and guides so we can improve results. We do not use third-party analytics, sell data, or require accounts. Raw analytics events are kept for about 90 days; aggregated metrics may be retained longer. Visitors in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland see a consent banner before the cookie is set. To request deletion of analytics tied to your session, contact us with your cookie value from browser dev tools.

Shareable search links

Copy pre-built filter URLs for articles, newsletters, or internal planning. Each link opens the search tool with filters applied.

  • Affordable cities (US salary baseline)

    Cities at or below 60% of US cost of living, with default climate and timezone filters. Open search

    https://thedeskport.com/?searched=1&home=US&workStart=08%3A00&workEnd=17%3A00&workTz=America%2FLos_Angeles&colMax=60

  • Warm winters + US Eastern timezone

    Target Nov–Mar with mild temperatures and an 8am–5pm America/New_York work schedule. Open search

    https://thedeskport.com/?searched=1&home=US&months=11%2C12%2C1%2C2%2C3&tempMin=15&workStart=08%3A00&workEnd=17%3A00&workTz=America%2FNew_York

  • English-speaking, high livability

    English listed as a city language and country livability at the High tier or above. Open search

    https://thedeskport.com/?searched=1&home=US&langs=en&workStart=08%3A00&workEnd=17%3A00&workTz=America%2FLos_Angeles&livMin=high

  • Coastal + warm

    Beach-adjacent cities with average temperatures of at least 18°C in your target months. Open search

    https://thedeskport.com/?searched=1&home=US&tempMin=18&workStart=08%3A00&workEnd=17%3A00&workTz=America%2FLos_Angeles&beach=1

  • Budget remote-work hubs

    Maximum 50% of US cost of living — useful for stretching a US-based remote salary. Open search

    https://thedeskport.com/?searched=1&home=US&workStart=08%3A00&workEnd=17%3A00&workTz=America%2FLos_Angeles&colMax=50&livMin=high

Cite this data

Suggested attribution text for journalists, researchers, and bloggers. Replace example URLs with the city or guide you are referencing.

  • Site-wide

    The Desk Port (https://thedeskport.com). City rankings combine Open-Meteo climate normals, World Bank cost-of-living indices, timezone overlap, and composite livability scores (Global Peace Index, healthcare access, ITU digital development). Methodology: https://thedeskport.com/about

  • City page (example: Lisbon)

    Lisbon, Portugal. Remote-work city profile from The Desk Port. https://thedeskport.com/city/lisbon-pt. Data sources and methodology: https://thedeskport.com/about

  • Guide (example: Cheapest Countries)

    "Cheapest Countries for Remote Work" — curated remote-work city ranking from The Desk Port. https://thedeskport.com/guides/cheapest-countries-remote-work. Methodology: https://thedeskport.com/about

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