The Fernshore Index
The factors retirees look at first.
Each grade is against a published measure, with its source and the date we checked it. It is research information, not advice. Where we have no figure, the row says Unknown.
Retirement
85 of 100Strong
Strong: temporary residence on economic solvency accepts pension income, has no age minimum, and four years as a temporary resident allow a change to permanent residence.
Source: Temporary resident visa: economic solvency (2026 checklist); Change from temporary resident to permanent resident (procedure INM-03-010-B). Checked 15 October 2026.
Healthcare
64 of 100Mixed
WHO UHC service coverage index 79 (2023).
Source: UHC service coverage index (SDG 3.8.1). Checked 15 October 2026.
Cost of living
62 of 100Mixed
Price level 0.537 of United States prices (2025).
Source: Price level index (GDP), Mexico. Checked 15 October 2026.
Safety
16 of 100Weak
Global Peace Index 2026: 139th of 163.
Source: Global Peace Index 2026, overall rank. Checked 15 October 2026.
Community
87 of 100Strong
Expat Insider 2026 Ease of Settling In: 1st of 31.
Source: Expat Insider 2026: Ease of Settling In. Checked 15 October 2026.
Climate
0 of 100Weak
Mérida, the main city: no comfortable month a year; the coolest months, January and December, average a daily high of 30.2 °C, just over the 30 °C line, and every other month is hotter or wetter.
Source: Normal climatológica 1991–2020, Merida (Conagua) (31097). Checked 15 October 2026.
Visa, United States passport
85 of 100Strong
The temporary resident visa on economic solvency is open without a Mexican job offer or age minimum and allows a stay of more than 180 days and up to four years. It asks for either an income of more than US$52,000 a year or savings of more than US$73,000. The official figures are about MXN 79,800 a month (680 days of the UMA, Mexico's daily reference unit) or about MXN 1,300,000 balance, converted at the 15 October 2026 rate. To be safe, have more than MXN 80,000 a month. The San Diego consulate prints about US$4,500 a month or about US$76,000, and New York prints about US$4,200 or about US$71,500. To be safe, have more than US$4,600 a month.
Source: General guidelines for issuing visas (2025), procedure 5: temporary resident visa; Value of the UMA; Exchange rates, 15 October 2026 (MXN cross rates from the ECB reference rates); Temporary resident visa: economic solvency (2026 checklist); Temporary resident visa checklist 2026. Checked 15 October 2026.
Visa, Canada passport
85 of 100Strong
Same visa: no job offer or age minimum, a stay of more than 180 days and up to four years. It asks for either an income of more than US$55,000 a year or savings of more than US$77,000. Vancouver and Calgary print about CA$6,500 a month or about CA$108,900 balance, converted at the 15 October 2026 rate. To be safe, have more than CA$6,500 a month. The consulate pages were read from archive copies from February and March 2026.
Source: General guidelines for issuing visas (2025), procedure 5: temporary resident visa; Value of the UMA; Exchange rates, 15 October 2026 (MXN cross rates from the ECB reference rates); Temporary resident visa (archived copy of 12 March 2026); Visas: temporary residence (archived copy of 23 February 2026). Checked 15 October 2026.
Visa, Australia passport
85 of 100Strong
Same visa: no job offer or age minimum, a stay of more than 180 days and up to four years. It asks for either an income of more than US$52,000 a year (about A$75,000) or savings of more than US$73,000. The official 2025 guidelines set about MXN 79,800 a month or about MXN 1,300,000 balance, converted at the 15 October 2026 rate. To be safe, have more than MXN 80,000 a month. Canberra's current page couldn't be opened; its information sheet is from 2022.
Source: General guidelines for issuing visas (2025), procedure 5: temporary resident visa; Value of the UMA; Exchange rates, 15 October 2026 (MXN cross rates from the ECB reference rates); Temporary resident visa: general information (2022 sheet). Checked 15 October 2026.
Visa, New Zealand passport
85 of 100Strong
Same visa: no job offer or age minimum, a stay of more than 180 days and up to four years. Wellington prints about NZ$5,300 a month (an income of more than US$36,000 a year) or about NZ$86,000 balance (savings of more than US$49,000), converted at the 15 October 2026 rate. To be safe, have more than NZ$5,400 a month. The official 2025 guidelines figure is higher: more than US$52,000 a year or savings of more than US$73,000. The embassy page was read from a February 2026 archive copy.
Source: General guidelines for issuing visas (2025), procedure 5: temporary resident visa; Value of the UMA; Exchange rates, 15 October 2026 (MXN cross rates from the ECB reference rates); Temporary resident visa (archived copy of 27 February 2026). Checked 15 October 2026.
Cities
Cities in Mexico for retirees.
Cities where there is evidence that this group moves.
The country
The rest of the research on Mexico.
The country page grades every factor, with its sources.
MexicoQuestions from retirees about Mexico.
Can a retiree live in Mexico on pension income, and is there an age minimum?
Pension income counts for temporary residence on economic solvency, and the guidelines set no age minimum. The visa allows more than 180 days and up to four years. The test is tax-free income above a monthly figure for six months; to be safe, more than MXN 80,000. Consulates convert it to their own currency.
What pension income do consulates ask for?
San Diego and Las Vegas print about US$4,500 to US$4,600 a month of employment or pension income, or an average balance of about US$76,000 to US$78,000. To be safe, show more than US$4,700 a month or US$79,000. Vancouver prints Canadian dollars (more than CA$6,500 or CA$110,000). Ask your own consulate.
Can a retiree move from temporary to permanent residence in Mexico?
Four years as a temporary resident allow a change to permanent residence, under the Migration Law and INM's procedure. INM's page also names a route for retirees and pensioners with income from abroad; its requirements are not in our research, so they are unknown here. Ask INM.
What should a retiree know about healthcare in Mexico?
The WHO service coverage index for Mexico is 79 of 100 (2023). Canada's advice says quality varies: private hospitals and clinics in major cities offer care, rural services are limited, and private care is expensive and often paid in advance. Voluntary IMSS fees we found cover ages 20 to 59; older ages are unknown.
What do cost, climate and safety look like for retirees in Mexico?
Prices overall are about 0.54 of United States prices (World Bank, 2025). Mérida one-bedroom adverts asked MXN 8,000 to 13,000 a month. Mérida's average daily highs top 30 °C in every month. Canada advises a high degree of caution across Mexico. These are national or single-city views.
Sources
Where each figure comes from.
Every figure on this page links to the page we read, with the date we checked it.
- [K1] Temporary resident visa: economic solvency (2026 checklist), Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego. Checked 15 October 2026. US$4,510 a month of employment or pension income for 6 months, or a US$75,950 average balance for 12 months; employees need a letter agreeing to remote work from Mexico. San Diego consular district, 2026 figures. Used for the United States passport.
- [R1] Change from temporary resident to permanent resident (procedure INM-03-010-B), Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM), via gob.mx. Checked 15 October 2026. Four years as a temporary resident allow a change to permanent residence; retirees and pensioners with income from abroad are another route. The page has no date. gob.mx shows an automated-access challenge to scripts, so the content was read with a page reader.
- [H1] UHC service coverage index (SDG 3.8.1), World Health Organization. Checked 15 October 2026. Mexico: 79 out of 100 (2023), read from the WHO GHO API on 15 October 2026.
- [C1] Price level index (GDP), Mexico, World Bank. Checked 15 October 2026. 2025: 53.69 (United States = 100), read from the World Bank API on 15 October 2026.
- [S1] Global Peace Index 2026, overall rank, Institute for Economics and Peace. Checked 15 October 2026. Mexico ranks 139th of 163 countries (score 2.650).
- [Q1] Expat Insider 2026: Ease of Settling In, InterNations (Expat Insider survey, private). Checked 15 October 2026. Mexico ranks 1st of 31 countries.
- [W1] Normal climatológica 1991–2020, Merida (Conagua) (31097), Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (SMN), Comisión Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA). Checked 16 October 2026. Read from an archive copy dated 16 October 2026; the official file at the original address shows the same figures. Station 31097 Merida (Conagua), Mérida municipality, 10 msnm; file issued 9 October 2026. Monthly average daily highs 30.2 to 36 °C; months with a high of 30 °C or less and under 150 mm of rain: none (0). Mérida (Conagua), the main city for Mexico's climate grade. The profile's private-site copy (Climate-Zone.com) rounds to whole numbers and shows January and December at 30 °C; the SMN file has them at 30.2 °C.
- [V1] General guidelines for issuing visas (2025), procedure 5: temporary resident visa, Diario Oficial de la Federación (Secretaría de Gobernación and Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores). Checked 15 October 2026. Published 25 July 2025. Temporary residence visa: a stay of more than 180 days and not more than 4 years. Economic solvency: an average monthly balance of 11,460 days of UMA over 12 months, or tax-free employment or pension income above 680 days of UMA a month over 6 months. No age minimum and no job offer in the solvency route.
- [V2] Value of the UMA, Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI). Checked 15 October 2026. The page loads its figures by script, so the value was not read from it directly. 2026 value MXN 117.31 a day (in force from 1 February 2026); 680 days is MXN 79,771 and 11,460 days is MXN 1,344,373.
- [F2] Exchange rates, 15 October 2026 (MXN cross rates from the ECB reference rates), European Central Bank, via the Frankfurter API. Checked 15 October 2026. 1 MXN = 0.05399 USD, 0.0767 CAD, 0.07812 AUD, 0.0964 NZD on 15 October 2026.
- [V3] Temporary resident visa checklist 2026, Consulate General of Mexico in New York. Checked 15 October 2026. US$4,200 a month of income for 6 months, or a US$71,500 balance for 12 months; remote workers need a letter showing permission to work from abroad. Used for the United States passport.
- [V4] Temporary resident visa (archived copy of 12 March 2026), Consulate General of Mexico in Vancouver (Internet Archive copy). Checked 15 October 2026. CA$108,894 average monthly balance over 12 months, or tax-free employment or pension income of over CA$6,461 a month over 6 months. Used for the Canadian passport. The live page refused automated access in earlier research; the archive copy opened on 15 October 2026.
- [V5] Visas: temporary residence (archived copy of 23 February 2026), Consulate General of Mexico in Calgary (Internet Archive copy). Checked 15 October 2026. Same CA$108,894 and CA$6,461 figures as Vancouver. Used for the Canadian passport.
- [V6] Temporary resident visa: general information (2022 sheet), Embassy of Mexico in Australia, Canberra. Checked 15 October 2026. A 2022 sheet: the visa is for stays of more than 180 days and less than 4 years; the card is issued by INM within 30 days of arrival and allows up to four years. Its solvency figures (a balance of MXN 708,500) are an older basis that no longer applies, so the 2025 guidelines (V1) set the Australian test.
- [V7] Temporary resident visa (archived copy of 27 February 2026), Embassy of Mexico in New Zealand, Wellington (Internet Archive copy). Checked 15 October 2026. Economic solvency: NZ$86,000 average monthly balance over 12 months, or NZ$5,300 average monthly income over 6 months (page last updated February 2025, below the 2025 guidelines figure). Used for the New Zealand passport.