Kampong Cham, Cambodia

You come for the low costs, not a career. The local economy spins on agriculture, river trade, and a quiet hum of small commerce. Foreigners don’t find jobs here unless they’re teaching English, and even those spots are scarce and poorly paid. Remote work is your only realistic option, but the average internet speed sits at 30 Mbps. That’s fine for email and spotty for video calls. Your total monthly nut, with a one-bedroom in the city center running $300 and living expenses at $420, lands somewhere under $800. It’s cheap. It also means you’re living in a place that can’t quite support a laptop lifestyle without regular frustration.

Housing is basic concrete boxes with erratic utilities. You’ll need a motorbike, because tuk-tuk fares add up and public transport is nonexistent. Serious healthcare means a two-hour dash to Phnom Penh; the local clinics are grim and understocked. Bureaucracy is not a quirk, it’s a constant. Visa extensions and any sort of paperwork wade through a swamp of political appointees and arbitrary rules. The 50/50 safety and crime numbers reflect a city where petty theft is common but violent crime isn’t the leading headline. Almost nobody speaks English beyond a few phrases, so if you don’t learn Khmer, you’ll be isolated. This is a Buddhist stronghold with a population brushing 900,000, yet the streets feel half-empty after dark.

This city suits a very specific type. You might thrive if you’re a retiree on a thin budget who genuinely does not need company or comfort, and who finds grim, unpolished places oddly centering. If you demand reliable internet, a community of other expats, or healthcare that won’t kill you in a crisis, head to Siem Reap or skip Cambodia entirely. The digital nomad score of 55 isn’t a fluke. Kampong Cham will test your patience with endless small obstacles and offer little in return beyond a stark, dusty authenticity. Most people should visit, shrug, and leave. The stubborn few who stay don’t come back to the forums to rave about it.