Living in Hong Kong

Hong Kong keeps almost all of what it pays, since tax sits lightly here, and English is the working language, so the entry barrier is low for the skills it wants. The catch is the cost of living, which runs about as high as anywhere and tends to swallow the paycheck whole, leaving a strong salary with little to show at month's end. Finance and tech drive the hiring, with steady demand for care work alongside. It's a place you come to work and build a name, less to bank a surplus.

Hong Kong's immigrant population is defined by a single corridor: of its 3M foreign-born residents — about 40% of the population — 2.5M were born in mainland China, far ahead of Indonesia and the Philippines. That community has grown 8% over the past decade. Hong Kong's own diaspora of 1.2M is spread across mainland China, the US, and Canada.