Are low-income neighborhoods safe to retire overseas

In this report, we ask and answer the question, are low-income neighborhoods safe to retire overseas? We decided to live in one for a month to answer this question.

Qiang and I both grew up in small towns in middle-income neighborhoods, Qiang in Malaysia, and me in the USA. They were both typical small towns in neighborhoods built decades ago where the neighborhoods were not segregated by income.

That means we had both lower and higher-income families around us. This is different from the newest housing projects where all the homes in a neighborhood are within the same income brackets.

But in both of our small towns, there were other neighborhoods where almost all incomes in those neighborhoods were lower.

Neither of us had ever lived in a low-income neighborhood, where almost all families in that neighborhood were lower income. Those are not middle-income neighborhoods.

So, although I grew up in a middle-income neighborhood, I worked in a very rough part of town when I was in high school. In fact, a guy was shot in a bar across the street from my work. But I was never in that neighborhood late at night. I was always out before late at night.

Malaysia is a former British colony so only the police have guns. Malaysia is a much safer place for crime than the USA. Crime is not as common in Malaysia as the USA but you still have to have common sense.

When we decided to spend a month in Penang Malaysia, Qiang found a place on Airbnb that was in a low-income neighborhood but was also within walking distance of the colonial-era center of Georgetown.

So we decided to spend a month in the low-income neighborhood just to see if it was safe after all. In the USA, lower rents can mean more dangerous neighborhoods. So we wanted to see if that was true in Malaysia.

We are always talking about the low cost of living on this channel so we wanted to know if that affected safety in Malaysia. So we put our money where our mouth is and rented a flat for cheap in a low-income neighborhood.

Did we feel safe here?

Yes. We felt safe here. The people are lovely and the conveniences were also amazing.

Rent (Short Term): The rent was $410 USD per month plus Airbnb fees and taxes in December of 2024 That included electricity, air conditioning, water, and natural gas. That was for a 3 bedroom one bath, as we show you in the above video.

Rent (1 Year Lease): But if you decide to stay for a year or two, we found rents online for a furnished apartment in the same building in the range of $200 to $250 USD.

Facilities: We were really surprised not only by how much we enjoyed it but also by all the markets, restaurants, and other services in the community (right around the building). There are 3 buildings there, each with about 600 families.

Each building has 6 elevators, parking, and a closed caption video on every floor. They had local foods, a night market, public trans, and daycare. It was a self-contained community and had a real community feel to it.

Walkability: It was also walkable to our favorite part of Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia, the colonial-era old town. There were a bunch of great food choices, coffee shops, co-working spaces, nightlife, boutique shops, a few malls, and much more.

Experience: It was a great experience. The people living there are the salt of the earth with families just enjoying their lives together. We felt safe at all hours coming and going. So low income is not the end of the world. We will be more open-minded about these sorts of neighborhoods as we move forward through the world.

Conclusion: But as usual, make sure to do an exploratory visit to the exact neighborhood you are considering living in because not all neighborhoods in all countries are the same. Spend enough time there so you know by experience before signing any long-term lease. I would suggest a month or more before making any final decision.

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