Digital nomads receive a not-so-warm welcome to Mexico City

Mexico City is home to more than 300-plus neighborhoods, but three to four are incredibly popular with foreigners and digital nomads. So much so, that rents and prices have gone up for locals, and some are not too happy.

Jacobo Wong read of a sign posted in Mexico City’s Roma neighborhood last year.

“There is a sign that went viral, ‘New to the city? Working remotely? You’re a f****** plague! Locals f**ken hate you. Leave!”

Since then, some locals have also criticized hearing more English being spoken in those trendy neighborhoods.

“It’s crazy going to places like Roma and Condesa and hearing English everywhere,” said Fernando Bustos Gorozpe on his TikTok channel.

“It’s still Mexico City! There might be a few vegan restaurants here and there,” said Jon Roberts, an American from Louisiana living in Condesa, who says it’s Mexicans benefiting from the uptick in prices. “Who is the one raising the prices? The owners themselves. So maybe the anger should be pointed to them.”

“I can see the good and bad things about it,” said Alexis Barragan, who runs ‘One Way Mexico trips’, a tourism company that caters to a lot of Americans.  

He benefits from the tourism, but as a native of the city he definitely sees the downside of digital nomads who come to live and work.

“It is a gentrification.”

About 1.6 million Americans currently live in Mexico, according to the State Department. The Mexican government allows Americans to stay for up to six months if they don’t have a visa.

Mexicans believe Americans are taking advantage of low prices in Mexico during a time of inflation and moving into places with cheaper rent. 

“I completely get it! I lived in a neighborhood in LA that was gentrified,” said Charles Julius, who lived in Los Angeles’ West Adams neighborhood as it gentrified over the last decade. He has moved to Mexico City to work on research. “I can understand people who might have a less positive view of it, but I hope to be more of a contributor versus someone who is here to only have fun.”

“A lot of Mexicans and foreigners are coming to this place to live,” said Edyta Norejko, ‘For House Mexico’ owner, a real estate company that specializes in finding foreign homes.

She says 70% of her business comes from clients outside of Mexico who want to live in the country’s capital city.  

While the anger is expressed by some locals, most welcome foreigners with open arms.

“I don’t think it’s a problem,” said Claudia Romero. “I see more Americans, Chinese and Koreans and I think it adds to our culture.”

“Mexico has a lot to offer for you,” said Barragan, who hopes more visitors will dive into Mexico’s culture and language more as they visit or live in North America’s largest city.