The €2,000/Month Question: What Digital Nomads Actually Need to Earn

You're planning location independence. The question everyone asks: how much do you actually need to earn?

The answer depends entirely on where you're going. But there's a baseline figure that comes up repeatedly: around €2,000 per month.

Mathilde Andersen, who left Switzerland to build an HR consultancy whilst travelling, used this as her rough baseline. "Around €2,000 to at least cover your expenses, your accommodation. If you want to have something halfway decent and you want to go out and maybe save something a little bit."

That's conservative. And it's wildly variable depending on geography.

The Geographic Variable

€2,000 means completely different things depending on location.

In Southeast Asia (Bali, Thailand, Vietnam), it's comfortable. You can afford decent accommodation, eat out regularly, have a savings buffer, and not stress constantly about money.

In southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Greece), you're budgeting carefully but managing. Cooking most meals. Choosing affordable neighbourhoods. Occasional treats, minimal savings.

In northern Europe (France, Germany, Switzerland), you're struggling. Accommodation alone eats half your budget. You're constantly calculating. This isn't sustainable long-term.

The €2,000 baseline assumes you're strategic about location. It's not a universal number. It's a starting point in affordable regions.

What €2,000 Actually Covers

Let's be specific about what this baseline includes in affordable locations:

Accommodation (€400-800 depending on location and arrangements), food (cooking most meals, eating out occasionally), local transport and occasional flights, health and travel insurance, work expenses (coworking, internet, equipment).

That's the basics. You cover essentials with a small buffer.

What It Doesn't Cover

Here's what €2,000 baseline doesn't include:

Frequent travel between countries. Building savings. Living in expensive cities. Unexpected major expenses. Premium accommodation. Regular dining out.

€2,000 is the survival baseline in affordable places, not comfortable living everywhere.

The Three Tiers

Think of nomadic income in three categories:

Budget Nomad (€2,000/month): Southeast Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe. Cooking most meals, budget accommodation or co-livings (which include bills and are often preferred by nomads for community), careful spending. This works. You're living nomadically, just strategically about location and lifestyle.

Comfortable Nomad (€3,000-4,000/month): Southern Europe becomes accessible. Decent accommodation without flatmates or that luxury co-living you've had your eye on for months. Eating out a few times weekly. Building savings. Travelling between locations without stress. Choice based on preference, not just affordability.

Premium Nomad (€4,000+/month): Live anywhere. Northern Europe, expensive cities, premium locations. No constant budget calculations. Comfortable savings. Full location freedom.

None of these is "right." They're different approaches. €2,000 in Bali can mean better quality of life than €4,000 in London. It's about matching your income to the lifestyle and locations you want.

Starting Smart

The strategy isn't earning €4,000 before you start. It's starting in affordable locations whilst building income.

Many nomads begin in Southeast Asia for this reason. Thailand, Vietnam, Bali, Philippines. Cost of living is low enough that €2,000 stretches significantly further, giving runway to build skills, find clients, and establish income streams.

Starting in Chiang Mai, €2,000 lasts months. Starting in Zurich, weeks.

You buy time to figure out what works, build your client base, test different approaches without depleting savings immediately.

The goal isn't staying in budget locations forever. It's using them strategically whilst building income to eventually choose based on quality of life, community, or opportunity rather than just cost.

Beyond the Number

What matters more than the specific amount: can you earn it reliably?

Income requiring constant hustle isn't sustainable. You want income predictable enough that you stop thinking about it constantly.

Many nomads start with survival income, whatever pays bills initially. Once stabilised, they transition to work they actually want. Foundation income buys permission to specialise, be selective, build towards something better.

That's the real target. Not a specific number, but income reliable enough to fade into the background whilst you focus on living, not just surviving.

The Bottom Line

€2,000 monthly works as baseline in budget-friendly locations. You can absolutely make nomadic life sustainable at that level if you're strategic about geography.

€3,000-4,000 opens up more expensive regions and provides a financial buffer. €4,000+ removes most geographic constraints entirely.

The path isn't waiting until you earn top-tier income before starting. It's starting at whatever tier matches your current income, choosing locations accordingly, and building towards the next tier over time.

Geography matters. Reliability matters. And the goal is income stable enough that you're choosing locations for the right reasons, whether that's community, opportunity, quality of life, or simply because you want to be there.

Mathilde Andersen built her HR consultancy whilst travelling through Spain and Latin America. You can hear her full story and how she structured her income in:
Mathilde's Story

Digital nomads and location-independent professionals featured on Ibi's Digital Nomad Stories podcast share insights into building sustainable remote careers. Listen to all episodes: All Podcasts