Two towns in Italy – Santa Fiora in Tuscany and Rieti in Lazio — will subsidize 50% of your rent if you work from there. You would need to be a digital nomad because authorization to work in Italy isn’t included in the deal. These towns are so small there likely wouldn’t be work awaiting you anyway.
Or, if you’d rather stay Stateside, Zillow has named Jacksonville, FL (pictured above) the number one city to be a digital nomad. Jacksonville scores high for affordability with typical rents just under $1,000 (though Asheville also made the Top 10 for digital nomads, even though its rents are almost double that of Jacksonville).
Geo-arbitrage from NY to Florida enabled us to FIRE in our forties
Affordability is one of the factors that played into our own move down to the Jacksonville area. In addition to affordability, we can attest firsthand that Jacksonville, FL is an excellent place to be a digital nomad. We moved here in late 2019 and were able to maintain a vigorous consulting practice. In fact, our revenues actually went up ~80% from 2019 to 2020. With travel at a standstill, we cancelled half a dozen trips and spent the time working. With everyone virtual, being in Jacksonville v. NYC didn’t put us at a disadvantage.
With 40 miles of contiguous beach just minutes away, we were easily able to balance our work with excellent quality of life. In 2020, we went to the beach 122 times. It was one of the top 10 things that kept me sane during the pandemic.
Geo-arbitrage to an international destination could super-charge the FIRE journey
While we could happily continue working virtually right here, real estate prices in Jacksonville, FL are climbing well above historical norms. This presents an opportunity to sell here, rent in Tuscany and lead an even cheaper digital nomad life abroad! The math works out that we could subsidize five or more years abroad with one sale:
A condo in our complex, of similar size and features to ours, sold two weeks ago for $210,000. To give you a sense of how crazy fast prices are climbing in Jacksonville, we had listed ours less than a year ago at $169,000 (though we got an offer within the week, we ultimately didn’t sell and moved in ourselves).
A sale at ~$200,000 would put at least $150,000 in our pocket, even after factoring in agent commissions, closing costs and capital gains tax (we don’t qualify for the full exemption on a personal residence because we haven’t lived here long enough).
If you believe International Living’s estimate of ~$2,000 per month for living expenses in Tuscany, that $150,000 could float us for over six years – and that’s not counting the 50% rent subsidy if we qualified!
In the meantime, we would still be consulting and pocket 100% of the revenues as savings for our return home.
If we didn’t want to do Tuscany, we could make a similar play in Costa Rica – though monthly expenses would be higher. We spent ~$3,400 the last full month we spent in Tamarindo.
Brainstorming multiple options keeps you flexible and prevents insular thinking
The Italy rent subsidy program sparked the idea, but I thought about, not just Tuscany for a digital nomad stint, but also Tamarindo, returning to NYC for a few months, or road tripping around the US. I thought about both selling our condo outright or renting it (maybe to another digital nomad!). I even thought about leaving consulting for an in-house position since traditional employment is also virtual these days. Brainstorming multiple options ensures you don’t get stuck in any one particular solution and miss opportunities.
Right now, we’re loving things just as they are – primary residence in Jacksonville, frequent road trips, a return to international travel when it’s safe to do so, and consulting all along the way. That doesn’t mean I’m not constantly on the lookout for different options.
In fact, northwest Arkansas is offering $10,000 for people to move in – as is Tulsa, Oklahoma!
Where would you like to digital nomad – Tuscany, Jacksonville, Fayetteville, Tulsa…?
We are Scott and Caroline, 50-somethings who spent the first 20+ years of our adult lives in New York City, working traditional careers and raising 2 kids. We left full-time work in our mid-40’s for location-independent, part-time consulting projects and real estate investing, in order to create a more flexible and travel-centric lifestyle. 
Financial independence and early retirement is not something we originally focused on, but over time realized it was possible. Our free report, 
