Cost of Living in Saipan
Where this figure comes from. No cost survey covers Saipan, so the $1,900 a month above is our own estimate rather than a measurement. On 330 of our 921 city guides the figure is built from a published Numbeo basket, a one-bedroom rent in the centre plus one person's monthly costs without rent, converted to USD; this city is not one of them. Treat it as a starting point and check current rental listings before you budget against it. How we source everything.
Budget around $1,900 a month, which makes Saipan noticeably cheaper than Guam a short flight south. A one-bedroom runs roughly $700 to $1,200, and the collapse of the Chinese tourism market left a good deal of accommodation looking for tenants. Groceries carry the same Pacific freight markup as everywhere out here, and imported produce is expensive. Eating out is cheap, with Filipino, Korean, Chinese and Chamorro food all widely available and priced for local wages rather than visitors. Utilities are the sting: power on Saipan is expensive and air conditioning runs most of the year. The United States dollar is the currency.
Where to Work in Saipan
Connectivity is adequate rather than good. Saipan was on a single ageing submarine cable for years and outages were a recurring problem; a second connection has improved matters but speeds and prices still lag Guam. Mobile data covers the populated west coast. Power is less reliable than on Guam and generators are common in businesses. There is essentially no coworking, so most people work from accommodation. Like Guam, Saipan runs ten hours ahead of GMT, which suits work with East Asia and is punishing for anything on American or European hours.
Getting Around Saipan
You need a car. Saipan is about twenty kilometres long with a single main road down the west coast through Garapan and Susupe, no useful public transport, and attractions scattered from Banzai Cliff in the north to the airport in the south. Rentals are cheap and plentiful. Garapan, the main town, is walkable within itself. Saipan International Airport connects to Guam several times a day and directly to Seoul, Tokyo and a shifting set of Chinese cities, with Guam the reliable route to anywhere else. The road to the Forbidden Island lookout and the northern cliffs is worth the drive.
Sorting transport? Book an airport transfer, or compare car rental on Auto Europe and QEEQ.
Visas for Saipan
The Northern Mariana Islands are a United States commonwealth and share Guam's visa arrangement. The Guam and Northern Mariana Islands visa waiver programme admits citizens of several Asian countries, including South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, for forty five days, and there is a separate discretionary parole arrangement for Chinese and Russian visitors that has been suspended and restored more than once. Everyone else needs a United States visa or ESTA. There is no remote work visa and visitor status does not permit work. United States citizens can live and work here without any permission at all.
Best Time to Visit Saipan
December to June is the dry season and the best window, warm at around thirty degrees with lower humidity and the clearest water for diving the Grotto. July to November brings the rains and the typhoons, and Saipan has taken direct hits, including Typhoon Yutu in 2018 which was among the strongest storms ever to strike United States soil. Recovery from that took years and is still visible in places. Sea temperature is warm year round. The dry season is also when the island is busiest with Korean and Japanese visitors, which is a small effect these days.
Pros and Cons of Saipan
The case for Saipan is world-class diving at a price no comparable destination matches, American legal and medical systems, everything in English, and an island that is genuinely quiet. The Grotto is one of the best-known cavern dives anywhere and it is fifteen minutes from town. The case against is thinner infrastructure than Guam, an economy that has been in difficulty since the tourism collapse, some visible dereliction, and very limited flight options. Connectivity is workable but not something to stake a business on. There is no remote worker community whatsoever.
Who Saipan Is For
Saipan suits divers above all, and anyone who wants a quiet tropical base with United States systems at a lower cost than Guam or Hawaii. It suits people working East Asian hours. It also suits anyone drawn to Pacific war history, since the 1944 battlefield sites are unfenced and largely as they were left. It does not suit anyone who needs reliable high-speed connectivity, anyone wanting a social scene, or anyone working with Europe or the Americas. It also suits anyone who wants a genuinely quiet island with American paperwork, since the population is under fifty thousand and the northern half is close to empty.
Photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
