Living in Jordan

Jordan reads as the steadier of its neighbors on the money side. Pay lands mid-range and the cost of living is moderate, and with tax taking very little, a salary leaves a modest cushion rather than nothing at all. The catch is the way in, where hiring favors people who already have a foot in the door and English opens some fields more than others. For a newcomer it is a measured prospect, neither generous nor punishing, where the harder question is access rather than money.

Jordan's population is defined by the people it has taken in. Its 5.1M foreign-born residents make up 44% of everyone in the country, and the picture is dominated by regional displacement: 2.4M were born in Palestine and 1.6M in Syria, with Egypt a distant third. The total grew 20% over the past decade.