Living in Phnom Penh — Cost, Visa & Wifi Reality

Cost of Living

Monthly budgets (last verified 5 October 2026, from nomads.com tiers checked live today, Numbeo's September 2026 basket and WhereNext's 2026 value model; 4,053 riel to the dollar):

Nomad budget: ~$1,200-1,800/month

nomads.com puts the nomad tier at $1,514 a month (checked 5 October 2026); WhereNext models life at $900, cost index 25, value +1.88 in its Budget Living quadrant. A median hotel room is $268 a month, a hot desk $100.

Expat comfort: ~$1,300-1,900/month

The expat tier reads $1,284: a central one-bedroom ($646, Numbeo September 2026) and eating out most nights. Outside the centre the same flat is $370.

Family tier: ~$2,900/month

The family figure is $2,896 before schooling; nomads.com prices international primary at about $10,980 a year on top, and members rate education Low.

Local baseline: ~$830/month

The local tier is $827 against a Numbeo net salary of $324 a month, with nomads.com grading local income very poor at $239 a month and GDP per capita at $2,872 a year.

What the prices mean

An inexpensive meal $4.00, dinner for two $39.80, a cappuccino $2.95, 60 Mbps fibre $24.89, a gym $40.62, a transport pass $9.60 (Numbeo, September 2026). Same basket on the Siem Reap cost page.

Visa Options

Nothing new is asserted here: Cambodia's rules live on the Cambodia visa hub, verified 27 September 2026 against the official e-visa portal.

Tourist or Ordinary e-visa

The Tourist e-visa is $30 and the Ordinary (business) e-visa $35: single entry, valid three months, one month of stay, three business days. Apply on evisa.gov.kh only; both are also issued on arrival at the airports, cash.

Extending from inside the country

The Ordinary visa is the long-stay route. Through a Phnom Penh agent: about USD 45 to 55 for one month, 80 to 110 for three, 150 to 160 for six, 280 to 300 for twelve. Six months or more usually pulls in a work permit requirement; overstay costs USD 10 a day.

No digital nomad visa

There is no nomad permit, no income floor and no bank-statement test, which is why people come. The hub states the grey area plainly: the E visa does not authorise local work for a Cambodian company, and every traveller files the free e-Arrival Card within seven days of arrival.

WiFi & Coworking

The contested number: nomads.com grades community internet at 17 Mbps, Slow, while the measured network is another story. The Speedtest Global Index for August 2026, checked 5 October, puts fixed broadband at 54.19 Mbps down and 54.37 up, 5 ms latency (rank 140), and mobile at 182.20 down (rank 50).

What to buy

Numbeo's September 2026 basket prices 60 Mbps-plus fibre at $24.89 a month and a 10 GB-plus plan at $7.42; one member renews a SMART SIM with 44 GB for about $5. WhereNext scores Cambodia's digital infrastructure 30, tier Limited, so test the apartment line before signing.

Coworking and cafes

A hot desk runs $100 a month. nomads.com names Co-lab Cambodia its top pick and Small World Cambodia the alternative; members also rate Workspace1 at the Factory and Suzy Anti-cafe. Above about $25 a night connections are called fast and reliable; below it, slow wifi is common.

Healthcare

Read this honestly: nomads.com grades hospitals Bad, scoring the city 1 out of 5 on its top-hospital index. Private clinics handle everyday complaints, but complex care means leaving the country, so insurance with medical evacuation is the line item not to skip; the profile recommends SafetyWing. Power grid grades Great; climate resilience grades Bad.

Safety

The headline grades are mixed but livable: safety Okay, lack of crime Good, food safety Okay (nomads.com, 5 October 2026). The rating that should change your behaviour is traffic safety, graded Bad: roads are the real hazard here, not street crime.

Annual air quality is 66 US AQI, Good; the reading on 5 October 2026 was 101, unhealthy for some, a dry-season day rather than the norm. English grades Bad, nightlife Bad, the city quiets around 9pm, tap water is not drinkable, and friendly to foreigners grades Good.