Mexico City vs Medellín for remote workers
Mexico City (America/Mexico_City, UTC-6) and Medellín (America/Bogota, UTC-5) are 1 hour apart. Medellín is roughly 20% cheaper. Here's how they compare as a base for working remotely.
| Mexico City | Medellín | |
|---|---|---|
| Timezone | UTC-6 | UTC-5 |
| Cost index (NYC=100) | 42 | 35 |
| Country | Mexico | Colombia |
Which is the better base, Mexico City or Medellín?
The two sit 1 hour apart, so they suit different teams. Mexico City is UTC-6, which lines up more naturally with teams in the Americas; Medellín is UTC-5, leaning toward the Americas. The further two cities are in longitude, the less their working days overlap, that's the single biggest factor in whether basing there actually works.
On cost of living, Medellín is roughly 20% cheaper. A cheaper base stretches a remote salary further, so the nomad sweet spot is a city that pairs low cost with *enough* overlap to keep your team in sync. Use the base-finder to see the exact overlap for your own team's timezone, and the sun pages to check daylight and season before you commit.
A note on the cost figures: they are a curated approximation indexed to New York, gathered from public cost-of-living summaries, not a licensed dataset. They are reliable enough to rank two cities against each other and not precise enough to budget from. Rent, visa status and lifestyle move the real number far more than the index does.
Sources and last check
Times, offsets and sun positions on this page are computed live from the IANA timezone database and the NOAA solar algorithm, so they do not depend on the review dates below.
- Cost-of-living index, New York = 100
- Source: Curated approximation from public cost-of-living summaries. Last checked, reviewed every 6 months.
Not covered:Approximate and unlicensed. Treat as a rough ranking, not a figure to budget from. Replace with a licensed feed before scaling comparisons. - Curated city set: names, countries, coordinates, IANA zones
- Source: IANA tzdb for zones, public geographic data for coordinates. Last checked, reviewed every 12 months.
FAQ
Is Mexico City or Medellín cheaper?
Medellín is roughly 20% cheaper.
What's the time difference between Mexico City and Medellín?
1 hour.