How the Nerdy Index works.
No black box: every score is a published formula or rubric, every number has a source – so you can check, disagree and recompute.
The idea
“Which country is best?” has no single answer – a digital nomad and a family office care about very different things. So we split the question into 15 criteria, score each from 0 to 10, and let you decide how much each one counts.
Two pillars come out of it: Company (where to put the business) and Residence (where to live). Each is the weighted average of its criteria, scaled to 0–100. The Nerdy Index combines all criteria with the weights of the profile you choose.
Two kinds of criteria
Formula criteria start from a hard number with a source – a tax rate, a cost, a public index (Numbeo, World Bank, EF, EU and FATF lists) – and turn it into 0–10 with the formula shown below. Rubric criteria (banking, substance, residency access, mobility) are judgement calls. For these we publish the rubric and a written reason for every country, so you can see exactly why a country got a 7 and not a 9.
Company pillar
| Criterion | Weight | Type | What we measure | How it becomes 0–10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tax on distributed profits | 25 | Formula | Corporate tax plus dividend withholding on €100,000 profit paid out to a non-resident owner. Transparent entities (US LLC) pay nothing at company level – the owner pays at home, so they get a neutral 5. | 10 × (1 − rate / 40), 0% = 10, 40% or more = 0 |
| Tax on reinvested profits | 10 | Formula | Tax while profits stay in the company (Estonia and Georgia: 0%). | 10 × (1 − rate / 35) |
| Running cost | 15 | Formula | Typical yearly cost to keep a small trading company compliant: registered office, accounting, tax filings, audit if mandatory, government fees. Excludes local staff and office rent. | under €1,500 = 10 · €3,000 = 8 · €6,000 = 6 · €10,000 = 4 · €20,000 = 2 · €30,000+ = 0 (linear in between) |
| Setup speed & remote formation | 10 | Formula | Typical working days from signed documents to a registered company. +1 point (max 10) if it can be done fully remotely. | 1 day = 10 · 5 = 8 · 10 = 6 · 20 = 4 · 40 = 2 · 60+ = 0, +1 if remote |
| Banking access | 15 | Rubric | How easy it is for a foreign-owned company to open and keep a business account (local bank or regulated EMI) that works for international payments. | 10 = remote, days, mainstream banks · 7 = in person, some weeks, doable · 4 = slow, picky, often needs local ties · 1 = very hard for foreigners |
| Reputation & treaty network | 15 | Formula | Number of double tax treaties in force, minus penalties for blacklists that make banks and tax offices nervous: EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions (Annex I), EU watchlist (Annex II), FATF grey list. | 90+ treaties = 10 · 70 = 9 · 50 = 8 · 30 = 6 · 10 = 4 · 0 = 2; −6 EU Annex I, −2 EU Annex II, −4 FATF grey list |
| Substance burden | 10 | Rubric | How much real presence (director, office, staff, board meetings) the company needs locally to be respected as tax resident there and to keep the bank happy. Higher score = lighter burden. | 10 = none beyond the owner running it · 7 = local director or virtual office usually enough · 4 = real office and local management expected · 1 = staff and premises required (e.g. free-zone licence rules) |
Residence pillar
| Criterion | Weight | Type | What we measure | How it becomes 0–10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal tax for a new resident | 25 | Formula | Effective tax a newly arrived resident pays on €100,000 of income from their own (foreign or local) company, using the best regime realistically available to an entrepreneur (non-dom, flat tax, territorial, special regime). Social security excluded. | 10 × (1 − rate / 45) |
| Residency access | 15 | Rubric | How realistic it is for a non-EU entrepreneur to get a residence permit that also gives tax residency: requirements, cost, time, approval odds. EU citizens usually have it easier – noted in the reason. | 10 = weeks, cheap, via own company or simple registration · 7 = a few months, moderate cost (e.g. D7/nomad visa) · 4 = demanding (high income, investment or interviews) · 1 = barely possible without a job offer or large investment |
| Minimum stay | 10 | Formula | Days per year you need to spend there to keep your permit and your tax residency (whichever is stricter, using the most flexible programme). | 0–30 days = 10 · 60 = 8 · 90 = 7 · 183 = 4 · 270+ = 2 |
| Cost of living | 12 | Formula | Numbeo Cost of Living Index (excl. rent, New York = 100) for the city most expats choose. | index 30 = 10 · 50 = 7 · 70 = 4 · 90+ = 1 (linear) |
| Safety | 10 | Formula | Numbeo Safety Index for the same city (0–100, higher is safer). | index / 10 |
| Rule of law & stability | 10 | Formula | World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators, Rule of Law percentile rank (0–100). Measures how predictable courts, contracts and property rights are. | percentile / 10 |
| English in daily life & business | 8 | Formula | EF English Proficiency Index score. Countries where English is an official or everyday business language count as 700. | 400 = 1 · 500 = 4 · 550 = 6 · 600 = 8 · 650+ = 10 |
| Mobility & long-term options | 10 | Rubric | What the residence gives you beyond the country: Schengen/EU access, permanent residence and citizenship path, passport strength of a future citizenship, dual citizenship allowed. | 10 = EU/Schengen, citizenship within ~5 years, dual allowed · 7 = strong regional access or fast PR · 4 = local residence only, long path · 1 = no path to permanence |
Profiles
A profile multiplies the default weights. You can fine-tune further with the sliders in the ranking.
| Profile | What changes |
|---|---|
| Founder, moving with the company | Default weights |
| Digital nomad / freelancer | Reinvest tax ×0.5 · Reputation ×0.6 · Substance ×1.5 · Cost ×1.5 · Speed ×1.3 · Min. stay ×2 · Cost of living ×1.6 · Access ×1.4 · Rule of law ×0.7 |
| Investor / wealthy family | Cost ×0.4 · Speed ×0.4 · Cost of living ×0.3 · Reputation ×1.6 · Rule of law ×2 · Safety ×1.6 · Mobility ×1.6 · Personal tax ×1.4 · Reinvest tax ×1.4 |
| Company only – I stay where I am | Personal tax ×0 · Access ×0 · Min. stay ×0 · Cost of living ×0 · Safety ×0 · Rule of law ×0 · English ×0 · Mobility ×0 |
What the index can’t do
- It’s not advice. Your passport, family, existing company and home-country exit rules can flip the result.
- Indices are averages. Numbeo reflects one expat city and crowd data; the World Bank measures a whole country.
- Tax changes. We re-check numbers at least twice a year and show the date on every page.
- Rubrics are opinions. Informed ones, written down and applied the same way to every country – but opinions.
Data notes
- Rule of law: since its 2025 revision the World Bank publishes Worldwide Governance Indicators as scores, not percentile ranks. We compute the percentile rank ourselves from the 2025 Rule of Law estimates across all 215 economies.
- Cost of living & safety: Numbeo city data for the city most expats choose; where Numbeo has no data (e.g. Vaduz) we use the nearest comparable city and say so on the country page.
- English: EF English Proficiency Index; countries where English is an official or everyday business language count as 700. Countries without an EF score use a neighbour as proxy (stated).
- Running costs and setup times are typical provider prices, not official fees – treat them as a realistic range.
- Pass-through entities (US LLC) pay no tax at company level; the owner is taxed at home. They get a neutral 5/10 on both company-tax criteria.
Found an error?
Tell us via the contact form – with a source if you have one. Corrections go live after we verify them, and the “checked” date updates.