San Miguel de Allende: colonial-town living on about $1,900 a month

Living in San Miguel de Allende costs about $1,900 a month for one person, $2,900 for a couple and $4,800 for a family, in U.S. dollars. A one-bedroom averages about $1,050 in the historic center and around $650 outside it, and an inexpensive restaurant meal runs about $12.

Small, walkable and unusually social. About 70,000 people live here at 6,200 feet, and the UNESCO-listed center packs galleries, restaurants and volunteer groups into an area you can cross on foot. The American and Canadian community is large enough that English gets you through most errands. The flip side is weekend tourist crowds, hills and cobblestones everywhere, and centro prices set by foreign buyers.

The high-desert climate averages about 65°F (18.2°C) across the year, with warm sunny days and cool nights. Annual rainfall is modest at about 22 inches (571 mm), concentrated in a summer rainy season. Winter days are mild but nights can get cold, and most homes lack central heating, so a fireplace or space heater matters more than air conditioning.

Not if you live in or near the historic center, where most errands happen on foot and taxis or Uber cover the rest. Urbano buses reach the outlying neighborhoods for 10 pesos, and first-class buses handle trips to Querétaro and Mexico City. Residents in outlying developments, or those who fly often out of Querétaro or León, usually keep a car.

You apply for a temporary resident visa at a Mexican consulate in the U.S., showing sufficient income or savings, and finish the resident card at the local immigration office once you get here. Most people rent for six to twelve months before picking a neighborhood, since prices differ sharply between the centro and outlying colonias. Stays under 180 days can be done as a tourist while you scout.

It is one of the most established retirement destinations in Mexico, with English-speaking doctors, a deep volunteer and arts scene, and a couple's budget of about $2,900 a month. The trade-offs are hilly cobblestone terrain that gets harder as mobility declines and centro rents that run about $1,050 for a one-bedroom.

Routine care is handled locally through clinics and three private hospitals, often with English-speaking doctors and cash prices far below U.S. rates. For cancer care, cardiac work or major surgery, residents drive 60 to 90 minutes to the large private hospitals in Querétaro. Private Mexican insurance is the common route for coverage, but premiums climb and exclusions multiply if you enroll past 65, so get quotes early.

San Miguel scores a 54 on the safety index against a crime index of 46, middling among the Mexican cities we cover, and daily concerns are mostly petty theft and the occasional home burglary. The State Department rates Guanajuato Level 3, reconsider travel, but places the gang violence mostly in the southern and central parts of the state: U.S. government employees are barred from Federal Highway 45D and everything south of it, including Celaya, Salamanca and Irapuato, with no other restrictions in Guanajuato, San Miguel included. Pay attention to routes when you drive between cities.