How we score cities

Every score on gayonaway is built from five axes. The weights below are imported directly from the scoring code — they cannot drift from what the algorithm actually uses.

Last reviewed: 2026-06-28

The formula

overall = (safety × 25%) + (legal × 20%) + (community × 15%) + (nomad × 20%) + (cost × 20%)

Each axis is scored 0–10. The weighted sum is clamped to [0, 10] and rounded to one decimal place. At build time, every city's stored overall is verified against the computed value; a mismatch of more than 0.05 stops the build with an error — so published scores are always consistent with the formula.

Safety leads at 25%. Legal status (20%), cost of living (20%), and nomad infrastructure (20%) come next, with community at 15%. Safety and legal are the non-negotiable foundations — no amount of affordable coffee offsets living in fear or in a country that criminalises who you are — while cost and a workable remote-work setup carry real weight because they make or break a relocation you can actually sustain.

The five axes

Safety

25%

Reflects the practical risk of being openly gay in public: reported hate crimes, police attitudes, social acceptance surveys, and media freedom. Higher = safer environment.

Source: Equaldex Safety Index + ILGA World Annual Report

Legal status

20%

Covers criminalisation, partnership recognition, anti-discrimination protections, adoption rights, and gender-marker change laws. A country that criminalises same-sex relations scores 0 regardless of other factors.

Source: Equaldex legal data + ILGA World State-Sponsored Homophobia report

Community

15%

How easy it is to find your people on arrival — bars, cafés, community centres, annual Pride, online groups, and English-speaking LGBTQ+ networks.

Source: Editorial research: visible venues, Pride events, expat community groups, LGBTQ+ media presence

Nomad infrastructure

20%

Practical remote-work setup: reliable fast internet, affordable co-working spaces, visa paths for stays of 1–12 months, and overlap with US/EU business hours.

Source: Editorial research: co-working density, median internet speed, visa options, time-zone fit for remote work

Cost of living

20%

Monthly budget estimate for a single digital nomad: mid-range apartment, food, transport, co-working. The score is inverted so that more affordable = higher. Expensive cities score lower on this axis.

Source: Numbeo cost-of-living data (inverted — expensive cities score lower)

Primary data sources

  • Equaldex — crowdsourced, editor-reviewed database of LGBTQ+ rights and policies by country and region. Used for legal axis and safety index.
  • ILGA World — International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. Annual reports on state-sponsored homophobia and trans rights. Used for legal and safety axes.
  • Numbeo — crowd-sourced cost-of-living database with city-level monthly expense estimates. Used for the cost axis (inverted so expensive = lower score).
  • Editorial research — for community and nomad axes, we survey visible LGBTQ+ infrastructure, co-working density, median internet speeds (Speedtest Global Index), and visa options. We revisit each city at least annually.

Limitations and caveats

Scores reflect publicly available data and editorial research at the last-reviewed date above. Ground reality can change faster than datasets update — especially legal status and safety. Always verify current conditions through local community contacts and recent travel reports before making a relocation decision.

Cost estimates are for a solo nomad lifestyle, not a couple or family. Actual costs vary widely by neighbourhood and personal spending habits.

See the full rankings → Browse all cities