Living in Jamaica

Jamaica removes the language barrier that complicates much of the region, since English is the working tongue and a newcomer starts a step ahead on that front alone. Pay still lands on the lower side, and with living costs around the middle, what remains after the basics stays slim. Tourism and hospitality are the most open way in, though, as elsewhere, hiring leans on who you know, and the financial case here rests more on the life than on the size of the paycheck.

Jamaica's diaspora overwhelmingly heads to one country. Of 1.2M Jamaicans living abroad, 910.7K are in the United States — more than the United Kingdom (146.6K) and Canada (144.3K) combined. The diaspora grew 15% over the past decade and far outweighs the small immigrant population back home.