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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, country hubs, 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. Retiring abroad mode (`intent=retire`) sets work-hour overlap to zero weight and raises healthcare, safety, and cost of living. Open the Retire abroad hub or search with Retiring abroad selected. 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) for most destinations, and a US regional composite (BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, and Census ACS) when that city-level index is present. Search scores the city value relative to your selected home country. BEA RPP has an 18–24 month lag and ACS 5-year estimates smooth over five years, so the US index is directionally accurate rather than live.
  • 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, or start from a country hub.

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 for countries; United States = 100 baseline. Non-US cities inherit this country index.

  • US regional cost of living

    BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, and Census ACS — US public domain. City/metro/county composite for US destinations (housing, overall prices, and home values). RPP lags 18–24 months; ACS 5-year estimates smooth over five years.

  • 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.

  • Human Development Index

    UNDP Human Development Report (via Our World in Data) — CC BY. Country-level HDI (0–1). Shown on city and country pages; omitted when missing. Not mixed into the livability composite.

  • Life satisfaction

    World Happiness Report (via Our World in Data) — Free with attribution. Country-level Cantril ladder score (0–10). Display and summary only; omitted when missing.

  • Corruption Perceptions Index

    Transparency International (via Our World in Data) — Free with attribution. Country-level perceived public-sector corruption (0–100, higher = cleaner). Complements Global Peace Index; omitted when missing.

  • Exchange rates

    Frankfurter / European Central Bank — Open (ECB reference rates). Live USD conversion on country hubs for ECB-covered currencies. Omitted for USD countries and currencies the ECB does not publish.

  • Public holidays

    Nager.Date — MIT. Upcoming national public holidays on country hubs. Omitted when a country is unsupported or the calendar is empty.

  • 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 — World Bank ICP for countries; US city values refresh from BEA, HUD, and Census when the regional seed is re-run.
  • Livability — refreshed periodically from source datasets.
  • Development, happiness, and corruption scores — country-level HDI, World Happiness, and CPI, refreshed when the wellbeing seed is re-run. Shown on city and country pages; not used as search dealbreakers.
  • Exchange rates and holidays — ECB reference rates (Frankfurter) and Nager.Date public holidays load on country hubs at request time and are omitted when unsupported.
  • Guides — updated automatically as the city catalog grows.

Limitations & disclaimers

  • The Desk Port is a research and comparison tool — not travel, visa, tax, legal, medical, or financial advice. Healthcare scores are country-level access indexes, not hospital quality or a treatment recommendation. Physician density is also national. Retirement rankings do not cover visas, Medicare, or insurance.
  • Cost of living is country-level (World Bank PPP) except for US cities with a regional index. US city overviews add county income, GDP, industry mix, and HUD rents when those series have been seeded; clauses are omitted when a metric is missing. Livability is always country-level; cities inherit national livability values. Human Development Index, life satisfaction, and corruption scores are also country-level display metrics and are omitted when a source has no value for that country.
  • 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

  • Country hub (example: Portugal)

    Remote-work cities in Portugal. Country hub from The Desk Port. https://thedeskport.com/country/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

  • City comparison (example: Lisbon vs Porto)

    "Lisbon vs Porto" — automated remote-work city comparison for Portugal from The Desk Port. https://thedeskport.com/guides/lisbon-pt-vs-porto-pt. Methodology: https://thedeskport.com/about

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