Updated November 10, 2026. Indicative score. Weights: entertainment 11.73% (destinations and venues within 50 km); bars 3.73%; safety 15% with a penalty; water at country level; land price per m² = official source (ITBI, Terracap, registries, valuations) or listings with a caveat · coverage 100%
Chiang Mai has an indicative score of 7.36/10 in the World ranking of Onde Viver Bem, updated November 10, 2026. The strongest published variables are Beach / mountains (10.00), Restaurants (9.92) and Entertainment (8.80); the weakest are Clean air (2.83), Safety (4.13) and Mild climate (5.77). The scores are indicative. Cost of living and the land price per m² are not part of the score. Some figures on this page are estimates and carry the “estimated” badge.
safety: undetermined-intent deaths estimated from the national ratio; safety: assault deaths from 2021 (Ministry of Public Health), the latest year published; safety: figure for Chiang Mai province, not just the city; safety: feeling of safety at national level only (Gallup); estimated: robbery (median of comparable cities); estimated: safely managed water (basic access × regional ratio)
asking price in Thailand-Property listings, November 10, 2026, sample n=120 · source
Collected November 10, 2026 · exchange rate THB 33.49 per US$ (Frankfurter API (ECB reference rates), 2026-11-09)
Note: Asking price in listings, not a transaction price. Only Mueang Chiang Mai district (the city), not the province. DDproperty/hipflat/dotproperty blocked access (403).
Score breakdown
Each criterion's score, its weight in the total and the raw figure, linked to its source.
raw: 9.01 per 100k pop. · 40% violent deaths (log 30→0, 0.5→10 per 100k) + 30% city robbery ÷ country average (log 5×→0, 0.5×→10) + 30% share who feel safe at night (lin 30%→0, 95%→10); any part without data: weights renormalized
Composite safety: violent deaths 9.0 per 100k → 2.9 (weight 40%) · ESTIMATED robbery 2.13× the country average (median of comparable cities; range 1.67–3.91×) → 3.7 (weight 30%) estimated · 70.0% feel safe walking alone at night (Thailand (national), 2024) → 6.2 (weight 30%).
Estimate: ESTIMATE (not a measurement): no local robbery statistic collected. City÷country ratio = median of the 29 cities with measured robbery outside Brazil (all of them, no city-states) (2.13×; P25–P75 range 1.67–3.91×). Base: Buenos Aires 2.27, Córdoba 3.31, Mendoza 3.16, Toronto 1.24, Lausanne 4.65, Copenhague 2.50, Barcelona 5.58, Madri 1.80, Málaga 1.06, Oviedo 0.38, Valência 2.03, Bordeaux 4.89, Estrasburgo 1.67, Lille 4.52, Marselha 3.98, Nice 1.26, Rennes 2.71, Atenas 2.16, Dublin 2.10, Roma 1.63, Kuala Lumpur 1.85, Amsterdã 3.91, Cidade do Panamá 1.80, Braga 0.67, Lisboa 4.50, Porto 4.50, Miami 1.58, Orlando 1.90, Montevidéu 2.13.
raw: 60.0 km · beach: distance log 5 km→10, 150 km→0; mountains: richness of nature leisure (mean of the top 3 of 4 counts, 50 km) × access (1 up to 15 km → 0 at 150 km, log), 0 with no relief; score = min(10, max(beach, mountains) + 0.3·min)
raw: 23.014 % withdrawal / available resources · average: stress log 100%→0, 10%→10; safe water lin 50%→0, 100%→10
Estimate: ESTIMATE (not a measurement): the World Bank/JMP does not publish the % using safely managed water for the country. Estimate = at least basic access (100.0%, World Bank 2024) × median safely-managed÷basic ratio in 21 East Asia & Pacific countries with basic access ≥ 95% (0.905) = 90.5% (range 50.6–99.3%). Water stress: measured (World Bank).
raw: Average of two mapping sources, OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps (Overture count ÷ K, K = median Overture/OSM ratio across the 39 cities: 2.57 within 2 km, 3.41 in the municipality); each source: 50% log1p(count within 2 km), 1000→10 + 50% log1p(per 10k pop.), 30→10. Brazil: 50% of that score + 50% log1p(CNPJ per 10k pop. ÷ K), 30→10
raw: Average of two mapping sources, OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps (Overture count ÷ K, K = median Overture/OSM ratio across the 39 cities: 2.48 within 2 km, 3.20 in the municipality); each source: 50% log1p(count within 2 km), 500→10 + 50% log1p(per 10k pop.), 10→10. Brazil: 50% of that score + 50% log1p(CNPJ per 10k pop. ÷ K), 10→10
raw: 34.0 count of OSM objects · log1p(count), 150→10
The city
Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand, the cultural capital of northern Thailand and the capital of Chiang Mai province. It lies about 800 km north of Bangkok, the national capital, in a mountainous region, and has a population of 1.2 million. The city sits on the Ping River, a tributary of the Chao Phraya.
English rendering of the Portuguese Wikipedia summary linked below. Source: wikipedia_pt. Wikipedia revision 67482186 (2024-02-14T21:25:11Z).
Taxation
Transfer fee (Land Department): 2% of the assessed value (+ 3.3% specific business tax if sold within ≤ 5 years, or 0.5% stamp duty). Base: official assessed value. Same rules for foreigners (condominium, 49% quota) กรมที่ดิน (Department of Lands)
annual property tax (IBI/taxe foncière/ENFIA/IMU/固定資産税 etc.); no official local rate collected yet (we do not invent the figure). not collected in this round
Frequently asked questions
What is the Onde Viver Bem score for Chiang Mai?
Chiang Mai has an indicative score of 7.36/10 in the World ranking, updated November 10, 2026. Cost of living is not part of the score.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the score for Chiang Mai?
The strongest published variables are Beach / mountains (10.00), Restaurants (9.92) and Entertainment (8.80); the weakest are Clean air (2.83), Safety (4.13) and Mild climate (5.77).
Does cost of living or the land price per m² enter the score?
No. Cost of living and the land price per m² appear on the page but are not part of the score. See the methodology.
How is the score calculated?
It is an indicative 0–10 quality-of-life index, with 13 variables and published weights. Safety has a 15% weight and, when local data exist, a lethal-violence penalty may cap the total. The full method is on the methodology page.
Are any figures on this page estimates?
Yes. Some values are documented estimates, labelled with the “estimated” badge in the technical notes. The method is explained in the Estimates section.
Informational content and indicative scores. This is not advice on investing, immigration, buying property or choosing a career. Every metric cites its source; cost of living is not part of the score.
