How much does a digital nomad coliving base in China cost?

Prices right now

The table below is generated from our base dataset, so it changes when we update a price.

What the price includes

At the village bases the monthly rate buys a bed or a room, use of the coworking floor, kitchen and common rooms, and access to whatever programme the community runs that month. Utilities and Wi-Fi are included everywhere we have checked. Bedding is included; towels sometimes are not. Laundry is either free machines or a few yuan a load.

Near Shanghai and in Shenzhen the model is closer to a serviced apartment: your rent covers the room and shared spaces, and the community programme is an extra you opt into. Tiaohai Living charges ¥3,600–4,300 a month for its 13 apartments and prices its hostel beds per night, at ¥120–200 depending on how many people share the room. Caojing's government-built village runs from ¥900 for a bed in a three-person room, ¥1,100 for the cheapest private loft, up to ¥3,100 for a villa double, on a rate card the operator publishes in full.

Dorm, double or single

The spread inside one base is usually wider than the spread between bases. At DN Yucun a shared-room bed is ¥300 a month while a single is ¥1,100. At NCC Dali a four-bed dorm is ¥900 a week and a private room with its own bathroom starts at ¥900 a month, an odd-looking pair that reflects dorms being priced for short stays and privates for long ones.

If you plan to work eight hours a day from your room, budget for a single. If you will work from the shared floor and only sleep in the room, a four-bed dorm at a village base is the cheapest way to live in China with fast internet and other people around.

The costs the listings leave out

• Deposit. Caojing is the only one that publishes a number: ¥500, paid before check-in. Everywhere else, budget for something similar and ask.
• Minimum stay. NCC requires two weeks in every room type. Others sell by the night as well as the month. Staying a week rather than a month costs far more than a quarter of the monthly rate: on Caojing's rate card a week is about 40% of the month, and DNA prices its dorms weekly only.
• Whether the place still exists. Half the bases on other people's lists are announcements or pilots. Before you pay a deposit, check that someone independent has written about the place recently.
• Getting there. The village bases are 30–60 minutes by car from the nearest high-speed rail station; taxis run ¥80–200 for that leg. Add the train: Hangzhou–Anji is about ¥60, Kunming–Dali about ¥150, Shanghai–Jinshan about ¥20.
• Food. ¥20–40 a meal at base canteens and village restaurants, more in cities. Over a month that is ¥1,500–3,000, often more than the room.
• Connectivity. A Chinese SIM is ¥100–200 a month; a travel eSIM that bypasses the firewall is ¥150–400 a month depending on data. See our internet page for why you probably want both.

A realistic monthly budget

For a single room at a village base, three meals a day and a working VPN, plan on ¥3,500–5,000 a month, or roughly US$500–700. A dorm bed and cooking for yourself can bring that under ¥2,500. The Shanghai and Shenzhen bases push the same lifestyle to ¥6,000–8,000 once you eat out and move around the city. Compare that with the ¥8,000–13,000 that a comfortable city apartment plus coworking membership costs, and the appeal of the bases is obvious even before the community.