Guatemala CityGuatemala
Guatemala City is a U.S. Foreign Service post in Guatemala, in the State Department's Western Hemisphere bureau, with a 15% hardship differential and 20% post allowance (COLA). The current U.S. travel advisory for Guatemala is Level 3, reconsider travel. It is a designated R&R post. Daily life runs on Spanish. Bidders will find 1 international school for mission families and summers to 82°F, winters to 54°F, ~185 rain days/yr. This post report brings together allowances, schools, safety, weather, flights, embassy holidays, and anonymous community reviews from Foreign Service families who have served in Guatemala City.
What stands out
How Guatemala City differs from the other 255 posts, worked out from the data on this page.
- In its favour: Mild year-round: 54°F to 82°F between the coldest and hottest months
- In its favour: About 5 hours to the US East Coast
- Worth knowing: Level 3 travel advisory: crime and terrorism
Against Washington, DC
The same measurements, taken the same way, for the city most bidders are leaving.
- Hottest month averages 82°F, 6° cooler than a Washington summer
- Coldest month averages lows of 54°F, 26° milder than a Washington winter
- Rain on 185 days a year, against 124 in Washington
- Everyday prices run about 57% below US levels
- About 22 unhealthy-air days a year, against 2 in Washington
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Climate & weather
Temperature range, F
Rain days
Air quality, monthly PM2.5 (ug/m3)
Green under 12 (good) · amber to 35 (moderate) · red above (unhealthy for sensitive groups)
Real data: Open-Meteo archive (2022-2024 daily, temperature, rain, daylight) and Open-Meteo air quality API (CAMS, hourly PM2.5 2022-2025), aggregated to monthly normals.
Public holidays 202613 national holidays
Real data: Nager holidays API. Local and religious observances vary; the embassy publishes the official combined holiday schedule.
Pay & allowances
Paycheck simulator
What Guatemala City's allowances actually do to your pay, estimate only
| Base salary | $100,000 |
| Hardship differential (15%)taxable, % of base | $15,000 |
| COLA (20%)non-taxable, % of spendable income | $9,700 |
| Estimated annual total | $124,700 |
Estimate only, for planning purposes; figures may not reflect the most recent DSSR updates. COLA is applied to spendable income (approximated here at 48.5% of salary, the official tables vary by salary and family size). Grade/step fills from the official Overseas Schedule (includes Overseas Comparability Pay); taxes and premium-pay caps are not modeled. Allowance rates: allowances.state.gov, fetched 2026-11-02. Verify current rates in the DSSR and with your HR office before making career decisions.
Community & mission
Community ratings COMMUNITY-REPORTED
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What do these categories mean?
- Housing
- Community average (1-5) for assigned housing: size, condition, commute, and how the housing pool compares to expectations. Housing type (government-leased, compound, apartments) is on each post page.
- School rating
- Community average (1-5) of how families rated the schools their kids actually attended: academics, support for arriving mid-year, special needs, and how happy the kids were. Reviewers' grade levels vary, read individual reviews for your kids' ages.
- Morale
- Community average (1-5) for overall post morale, the intangible sum of community, leadership, workload, and whether people would bid it again. Often the number seasoned bidders read first.
- Internet (community rating)
- How livable the internet actually felt (1-5): reliability and VPN-friendliness, not just headline speed. Can diverge from the measured Mbps, outages and throttling show up here first.
- Spouse / partner employment
- Community average (1-5) of how realistic it is for an accompanying spouse or partner (EFM) to work at this post. It reflects three paths: jobs inside the mission (EFM positions), local-economy work (depends on the bilateral work agreement and language), and remote work for a U.S. employer (depends on time zone and internet). 1 ≈ career pause likely · 5 ≈ multiple realistic options.
- Healthcare
- Community average (1-5) for healthcare at post: local care you would actually use, English-speaking providers, and how much falls back on regional medevac, a real factor for families and chronic conditions.
Foreign Service overlay
- Housing
- Family members working locally
- Bilateral work agreement: accredited spouses and dependents may seek work on the local economy in Guatemala.Status changes, and the HR officer at post has the final word. State's list ↗
- Language training
- Spanish is an FSI Category I language: about 30 weeks of full-time study to reach professional working proficiency.Applies to language-designated jobs; whether yours is one is in the bid list. FSI ↗
- Allowances source
- allowances.state.gov (public) · fetched 2026-11-02
Housing and EFM notes are crowdsourced from the community, never from internal systems.
Location
- Local time right now
- --:--:--
- Coordinates
- 14.63, -90.51
- Region
- Western Hemisphere
- Elevation
- 1,493 m (4,899 ft)
Life at post
The parts the fact sheet leaves out
Getting away
Nonstop routes for R&R, long weekends, and getting home · official R&R relief point: Miami, Florida
Cheapest weekend round trips · typical fares
Also nonstop
Family visiting? US passport holders enter visa-free, stays up to 90 days (Central America-4 agreement).
~$ = typical round-trip economy fare, refreshed monthly, plan with it, don't book with it. Routes fetched from Wikipedia (Airlines & destinations), 2026-11-01.
Health
- Malaria (CDC)
- Alta/Baja Verapaz, Escuintla, Izabal, Peten; prophylaxis recommended there
Security & context
- Official U.S. travel advisory
- Level 3: Reconsider Travel Read the full advisory ↗Risks the advisory names: crime and terrorism.Real data: travel.state.gov, fetched 2026-11-02
- Earthquake exposure
- High seismicity, 442 quakes of M5+ within 300 km since 2000.Real data: USGS earthquake catalog.
- What crime looks like
- Governance & daily freedom
- Relations with the US
Home & daily life
- Messaging apps
- No blocking measured: WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram connect normally in network tests from Guatemala.Measured by OONI volunteers over the last 60 days, country-wide. A network test, not a legal statement.
- Power & plugs
Plug type: A/B · 120V 60Hz , US plugs fit and US devices run as-is , outlets and voltage here match home.
- Household help
- Pets
- Quarantine: none
- International health certificate required; no quarantine or titer listed on APHIS page.
- Official import requirements for Guatemala (USDA APHIS) →
Getting around & fitting in
- Getting around
- Rules of the road (and the bar)
- Drives on the rightDriving age 16Drinking age 18Road deaths 22.9/100k (US ~14)
- Language
- Spanish
Tell the posts page what you speak to filter all posts by your languages. It is never shown to anyone.
LGBTQ+ travelers
Official State Dept guidance for Guatemala · page updated June 11, 2026
There are no legal restrictions on same-sex sexual relations, the provision of information or services to persons based on real or perceived sexual orientation, or the organization of events focused on sexual orientation in Guatemala. Anti-discrimination laws exist, but they do not specifically protect people based on sexual orientation. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons often face social discrimination and sometimes experience abuse from the police. Human rights groups report that police officers sometimes wait outside clubs and bars catering to lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons to demand money to avoid jail. Many victims do not report these incidents because they do not trust the judicial system and fear more harassment.
Same-sex spouse and MOH accreditation is decided post by post and is not published publicly. Community reviews are the best read on how it works here in practice, and glifaa (LGBTQ+ employees of foreign-affairs agencies) maintains member resources.
Money & prices
- Local currency
- Guatemalan quetzal · 7.64 GTQ/USD. Has held steady against the dollar over 24 months (+1% vs. USD). A weakening currency stretches a dollar salary further; a strengthening one quietly shrinks it.
- Local inflation
- 1.5% CPI inflation (2025). High inflation means posted prices age fast, and COLA reviews chase reality.
- Overall price level
- Local prices run about 43% of US prices overall (World Bank PPP, 2025). Imported and expat-favorite goods usually cost more than this average suggests.US 100%
Schools & reviews
Schools
Education allowance
The yearly maximum State reimburses per child. Office of Allowances, effective 11/01/2026.
- Grades K-5
- $21,350
- Grades 6-8
- $22,200
- Grades 9-11
- $22,450
- Grade 12
- $22,700
A higher away-from-post rate of $75,550 applies for grades 9 to 12. That is the rate that funds boarding school, and the Office generally sets it above the at-post rate only for grades it does not consider adequately served locally.
The Guatemala City directory is brand new. Served here? Pass along the pediatrician or dry cleaner the next family will need.
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Community reviews
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