Is the Digital Nomad Dream on Its Way Out?

A quick scroll on Instagram or TikTok will bring up numerous posts from remote workers showing off their lavish and seemingly idyllic lifestyles. It’s hard not to wish for the same when you’re stuck in a dreary office all day.

However, Americans aren’t becoming digital nomads just because they want to work out of cutesy European cafes or by the beach in Bali. There are more complex factors at play.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of digital nomads

Digital nomads existed before 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed many more people to embrace this lifestyle. “COVID made my job remote, and off I went. That was it,” said one Redditor on the r/digitalnomad subreddit, which boasts over 364,000 members.

According to MBO Partners’ 2025 report, the number of digital nomads has increased by 153% since 2019, and they now comprise approximately 12% of the US workforce. 1

With many jobs going remote during the pandemic, a lot of employees began to wonder why they needed to stay in the US at all. Another Redditor stated in 2023 that while they “always wanted to work remotely,” the pandemic made it much easier for them to find a remote job.

The economic challenges in the US

According to a report from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP), the bottom 60% of working Americans don’t earn enough for what the researchers define as a “minimal quality of life,” factoring in the cost of things like technology needed for work, professional clothing, and transportation. 2

Even 62% of Americans with side hustles use their additional earnings to afford groceries and household essentials, according to data from SideHustles.com.

For this reason, many Americans are embracing the digital nomad lifestyle and relocating to countries with lower costs of living. “NYC got off-the-rails expensive. My lease was up, and I said it’s time to go,” said one Redditor. Another user on r/digitalnomad claims that they found they could “live comfortably off a couple grand per month in most of the world.”

“After spending more than that in rent alone once we returned to our high-cost-of-living area, we decided to leave again as soon as we could,” they stated.

The political situation in the US

On top of the economic challenges Americans now face, politics is increasingly causing US workers to rethink staying at home.

According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of 15 countries providing full or partial data, at least 180,000 Americans left the US in 2025. The Brookings Institution also found that in 2025, the US experienced “negative migration” for the first time, with losses of around 150,000 people. They expect that number to increase in 2026. 3

When you ask Americans why they’re leaving, the current political situation frequently crops up. Jessica Cellura, a teacher from North Carolina, told CNN that she and her husband decided to leave the US to “get away from all the chaos.”

Digital nomads often operate in legal gray areas, with many entering countries on tourist visas and “border hopping” (i.e., leaving when their visas expire only to return). This makes it tricky to put a hard figure on where most of them are based. But based on anecdotal reports from digital nomads, there are a few places that have built reputations as hubs for foreign remote workers.

Mexico City, Mexico

The US’s southern neighbor has seen an influx of Americans moving there since the pandemic. According to statistics from Mexico’s Migration Policy Unit, the number of American citizens who applied for or renewed residency visas increased by 70% between 2019 and 2022. 4 However, since many digital nomads enter the country on tourist visas, allowing them to stay in Mexico for up to 6 months, the real figure may be much higher.

If one city in Mexico has cemented itself as a hub for digital nomads, it’s the nation’s capital, Mexico City. Adalia Aborisade, who worked as a public school teacher in Texas before relocating to Mexico City, told CNBC that “things are just a lot more laid-back than in the US.”

On top of having a more laid-back lifestyle, Americans’ money goes further in Mexico than back home. According to data from the crowdsourced cost of living database Numbeo, Mexico’s cost of living  (including rent) is 75% less than the US.

Bangkok, Thailand

On the other side of the globe, Thailand is another location many Americans are now calling home. Users on nomads.com, a popular digital-nomad-focused platform, have ranked Thailand’s capital city, Bangkok, as the number one destination for digital nomads.

Donetta Barber, a single mom originally from Fresno, California, relocated to Bangkok with her daughter in July 2025. She told Business Insider that moving to Bangkok has allowed her to “slow down” and spend more time with her daughter. Barber was able to move to Thailand thanks to the country’s Destination Thailand visa, which allows remote workers to live there for up to five years.

On top of a much lower cost of living, Barber said that she feels far safer in Bangkok compared to the US, and claimed that having a solid community has improved her “mental clarity.”

Lisbon, Portugal

Another city rapidly gaining popularity among American digital nomads is Portugal’s capital city, Lisbon. According to data from Portugal’s Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA), the number of Americans living in the country increased by 36% from 2023 to 2024. 5

Many Americans are taking advantage of Portugal’s D8 Visa, also known as the “Digital Nomad Visa,” which grants remote workers, freelancers, and entrepreneurs 1 year of residency. 6

Kaitlin Wichmann, who worked in marketing full-time in Los Angeles, relocated to Lisbon, where she now operates as a freelance digital marketer. Wichmann told CNBC that she only works 20-hours a week, and said that she now feels “happier and more at peace.”

Although plenty of Americans feel their lives have improved since leaving the US, many of the residents in the countries they flock to are less enthusiastic about their presence. Citizens of popular digital nomad hubs have accused digital nomads of gentrifying cities.

Mexico City: less spice and higher rents

Residents in Mexico City held protests last year against the influx of American and European digital nomads, claiming that they’re outpricing local residents. The protestors claimed that digital nomads work without paying taxes and have caused rent prices in the city to soar beyond what locals can afford.

Antonio Azuela, a lawyer and sociologist based in Mexico City, told the Associated Press that the influx of “digital nomads” in the city during the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the “lack of regulation in the market,” has helped fuel the high increase in rent prices.

According to data from the Mexican government, the current average monthly salary in Mexico City is roughly $360 (6,360 pesos). 7 When we researched property prices in Roma Sur, one of Mexico City’s most popular districts among digital nomads, the cheapest apartment listing we could find (as of March 2026) rented for $476 per month (8,500 pesos). 8

Moreover, residents in Mexico City argue that apartments have been converted into unregulated Airbnb listings. In a study from the Monterrey Institute of Technology, researchers found that, before the pandemic, there were 2,898 homes listed on Airbnb in the Hipódromo, Condesa, Roma Norte, and Roma Sur neighborhoods of Mexico City. By 2023, that number jumped to 5,033, a 74% increase. 8

On top of higher rent prices, these districts in Mexico City have become inundated with gourmet restaurants, trendy cafes, and coworking spaces. Some taco stands in these neighborhoods have even reportedly lowered the spice level of their salsas to accommodate delicate Western palates. One of the researchers behind the study, Aleksandra Krstikj, said all this “could be linked to the digital nomad lifestyle.”

In response to last year’s protests, Mexico City’s government announced that it would bring in regulations to ensure landlords cannot increase rents above inflation.

Lisbon: anti-tourist protests and a failed Airbnb crackdown

The Iberian Peninsula has seen growing anti-tourist sentiments—in Barcelona, locals staged anti-tourist protests in 2024 and 2025. Residents in Lisbon staged their own protests last year, carrying a handmade effigy of the city’s patron saint from his namesake church to the site of a proposed five-star hotel.

In 2023, Catarina Viegas, who’s part of an anti-capitalist collective called Climáximo, told Euronews that digital nomads earning far more than locals take up residence in short-term rentals while residents struggle with a housing crisis.

“People say that tourism is good for the economy, but who is getting the benefits?” she asks. “It’s not the people that actually live here.”

Lisbon’s residents have been becoming increasingly hostile towards digital nomads over the past few years. In 2019, in response to protests against rising house prices, Lisbon introduced a moratorium on short-term rentals. However, the government overturned these restrictions on vacation rentals after they failed to address increasing house prices.

Thailand: stricter visa regulations

While Thailand hasn’t seen the same level of anti-tourist sentiments as Spain or Lisbon, the Southeast Asian nation is beginning to change its attitude towards international visitors.

In 2024, Thailand adopted a 60-day visa exemption program, which was open to tourists from 93 countries and territories. Now, the government is considering reducing its visa exemption to 30 days. Thailand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, said that “a growing number of negative reactions from businesses and residents” in Phuket, another popular destination among digital nomads, has prompted the government to review the visa exemption policy.

Phuangketkeow cited “inappropriate behavior by some tourists, illegal employment, and business competition affecting local operators” as reasons for the proposed change, though the government hasn’t finalized this decision yet.

Residents in many popular digital nomad hubs accuse foreign remote workers of pricing them out of their cities. However, many of them are reluctant to take the blame.

One Redditor on the r/digitalnomad subreddit said that real structural problems, like escalating house prices and gentrification, shouldn’t be placed on “a very transient and small community” like digital nomads. Another Redditor also argued that property owners are responsible for the increasing prices in cities like Mexico City, rather than “tourists or nomads.”

While plenty of digital nomads don’t believe they’re responsible for gentrification, others take a more nuanced view. Tracie LeBlanc, a Canadian digital nomad who relocated to Mexico City last year, told CBC that she wondered whether she was “creating harm in being here.”

Portland native Richard Alsobrooks and his wife Alexis told the BBC they’d consider relocating to Mexico City one day, though Alexis said they “don’t want to contribute to gentrification.” They believe it’s possible to move abroad without causing problems for locals, stating that learning the language, paying taxes, and integrating into the community “goes a lot further than trying to make somewhere your own.” 9

Many Americans claim they feel safer, are more financially secure, and have a better sense of community abroad than they did back home. But on top of the increasing anti-expat sentiments in various cities, mounting global tensions could also be putting the digital nomad dream into question.

As a result of the US and Israel’s ongoing war with Iran, many countries are experiencing severe fuel shortages. Thailand, a favorite destination of many digital nomads, is suffering from diesel shortages, with many gas stations running out entirely.

Flights are also getting more costly—The New York Times reported that on the day before the war started, the lowest next-day ticket from the US to Asia, Europe, and beyond averaged between $830 and $1,000. On March 12, that increased to about $1,900. Those who want to pursue the digital nomad lifestyle because of the economic challenges in the US now face hefty costs just to leave the country.

Even before the US/Iran war, tensions were building around the world. Unrest broke out in western Mexico in February 2026 following the death of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, with cartel members setting vehicles alight and blockading cities. Japan plans to deploy missiles near Taiwan, amidst fears that China will invade the latter.

While the world may feel less stable than it did when digital nomads first broke onto the scene, many people still aspire to this lifestyle, especially younger generations.

According to MBO Partners, 75% of digital nomads are millennials (40%) or Gen Z (35%), and they predict that the latter will become the “top digital nomad generation” over the next two to three years. The report also found that 81% of digital nomads are “highly satisfied” with their work, in contrast to 61% of all workers. 1

At least for now, digital nomadism seems to be the dream for many Americans, even if the global landscape feels shakier.