How Is Life In Morocco? (an Honest Female Expat Review & FAQ) (2024)

Life in Morocco is such a controversial topic, and I’m hesitant to even write about it. Many Moroccans often want to leave Morocco because “being Moroccan” has a ton of cultural, financial, and global baggage. What does that mean? The Moroccan passport is weak, meaning travel is limited and getting harder, not easier, as time goes by. The economy is also very weak, coming in globally at 97th in the economic freedom index. Many Moroccans talk about how Morocco is a prison, it’s hell, it’s dehumanizing, there are no opportunities here.

But at the same time, Moroccans are fiercely defensive of their country. So anyone from outside of Morocco saying something that isn’t glowing praise (i.e., an expat like myself) is quickly met with plenty of anger and disdain.

You may wonder, “why do you have an opinion at all? Why do you need to say if you do or don’t like it?” Or my favorite, “why don’t you just leave?” But then people ask me how I feel about Morocco, and what should I say? “No comment?”

So, if you criticize Morocco, people get mad. If you praise Morocco, people think you’re privileged, isolated, or an idiot for thinking that it’s anything but a nightmare. Rinse and repeat forever.

Let’s go.

Income inequality is a massive issue in literally every country globally, but it’s extreme in Morocco. You’ll have highly wealthy people, but the majority are very poor. By “very poor” I mean making less than $200 USD a month on average. Some live on far less than that.

A lot of the controversial discourse around Morocco and the quality of life here is that outsiders and foreigners often never have to experience the level of poverty that the average Moroccan experiences. They will likely only ever encounter wealthy Moroccans or other foreigners. Living in cities like Casablanca and Rabat will expose you to the upper tier of Moroccan income earners.

I think this often gives people an inflated sense of life in Morocco, and they have rose-colored glasses about the conditions of “normal” people. It would be like if your idea of the United States was only based on Beverly Hills or Manhattan. It’s just an unrealistic view of what life is like for the majority.

If you have money, life in Morocco is quite comfortable. Things like rent, housekeepers, and dinners out are very inexpensive compared to places like the U.S. and Canada. We live in the middle of the city, have a car, and rarely spend more than $1200 per month (see our total expenses here).

That being said, it’s very difficult for the average Moroccan to “get ahead.” Though expenses are low, they add up quickly, and there’s a small fee or cost for everything, which adds up quicker than you realize. I could not fathom living on the average Moroccan salary, and I even had unrealistic expectations about how much things would cost when I moved here.

I’ve heard many times that Moroccans are some of the nicest people (especially to foreigners), and I think this is true, to a point. Some people are just genuinely inviting and friendly. But more often than not, in my experience, that friendliness is transactional. People will show you where to go… for a fee. They’ll help you, but at a cost. Or they’ll be nice to flirt or get your number.

As an American, I tend to be a very friendly, outgoing person. But that’s not normal in morocco. People don’t smile at each other, there aren’t warm pleasantries exchanged, and I tend to get glared at or ignored if I attempt to be friendly. I had to train myself to not automatically smile, nod, or greet people because that’s not how it is here.

I’ll never forget when we were at a park and a woman was trying to take a picture of what I assume was her husband and son. I offered to take a picture of all three of them, and the woman screamed at me. I guess the assumption was that I was trying to speak to her husband or something when I wasn’t. But it also just speaks to a culture of people not being so friendly towards one another.

So yeah. Many people say that Morocco is a friendly place, but that has not been my experience. Most people either stare at you or ignore you, especially as a foreigner. A lot of this will depend on if you’re in a city or a village. People will often leave you alone if you’re in, say, Casablanca. But if you’re in the village, it’s terribly uncomfortable how much people will stare.

Life in Morocco for women is another one of those issues that will vary wildly depending on where you are. However, generally across-the-board, women are approached, harassed, and otherwise bothered more in Morocco than in most places.

I rarely go anywhere outside without my husband because at least one person a day will come up to me for some reason or another. Sometimes it’s just for money, sometimes it’s to strike up a conversation, sometimes it’s just yelling to get my attention. And that’s even with my “don’t mess with me” face on (sunglasses, headphones, not making eye contact with anyone), and a big reason I’ve had to train myself to not automatically be friendly like I would be in the U.S., because people see it as an invitation to talk or ask for your number or money.

This is pretty much just normal life in Morocco. A lot of the responsibilities put on the women to avoid unwanted attention by dressing fully covered, wearing a wedding ring, and other preventative measures. Rarely do I see the blame being put on the men to act respectfully. When I talk about how frustrating this is, the typical response I get is, “what were you wearing?”, “boys will be boys!” and those vaguely sexist comments.

There are other frustrating roadblocks for women in Morocco too, like renting a hotel.

I consider myself a “digital nomad,” which means I leverage technology and the Internet to work online. Working as a digital nomad in Morocco isn’t bad once you get established. It took us several months to get our Internet activated, and there are very few options for Internet, so you’re pretty much stuck with whoever services your area. There are only three primary telecom providers in the country, so if the one that services your area isn’t doing its job, you’re absolutely out of luck.

That being said, once you have the fiber optic installed, it’s excellent. Ours is stable, rarely goes out, and I’ve had no issues despite video calling several times a week and doing some heavier editing type work. Unfortunately, the one thing that I don’t particularly like about working in Morocco is the coffee culture. Morocco has some completely amazing, adorable cafés with delicious coffee. However, almost every single coffee shop that I’ve ever found was entirely overrun by smokers.

For Moroccans, coffee shops are synonymous with smoking. Often men will only smoke coffee shops and not in the home. So if you plan to go to a café to get some work done, know that you’re going to be inundated with cigarette smoke. This won’t be an issue for some, but I have extreme reactions to cigarette smoke, so even working outdoors with chain-smokers all around me is pretty unbearable. It’s unfortunate because I would enjoy spending part of my workday at a café.

I’ve previously written an entire post on the pros and cons of life in Morocco, but I think it’s worth repeating here. There are a lot of benefits to living in morocco. It’s a beautiful country with diverse geography, fantastic food, and the pace of life is entirely incomparable to the United States. There are many things that can be very stressful, but if you have a good income and a good partner or friends to help you navigate the often tricky language, morocco can be a fantastic place to live.

In fact, my stress went down considerably when I moved from the United States to Morocco. This is partly because of the pace of life, which is much more relaxed. But also because there isn’t a “live to work” mentality. Many people who don’t have to work opt not to work, and there’s this idea of “why would I work if I don’t have to?” In the United States, your job is your identity. In Morocco, it’s just that: a job.

I would personally avoid living here as a single female. I struggle to navigate the culture whenever I’m apart from my husband, and if not for him I would have left almost immediately. There are just too many opportunities to be harassed, taken advantage of, or otherwise bothered. From what I’ve been told, even Moroccan single women often rely on male relatives in many ways to navigate society without as many problems.

Between the paternalistic nature of the culture and the difficulty of the language, I can’t imagine a single foreign or female wanting to live here for very long. There are definitely women who are foreigners who live here by themselves successfully, but I personally wouldn’t want to do it and I applaud them for making it work.

I get this question quite a bit for some reason. I personally don’t drink, and my husband is Muslim so he doesn’t drink. Technically you can, but I wouldn’t. I’ve heard some pretty horrific things about the club and drinking scene in Morocco.

The alcohol scene is often accompanied by heavy drug use and prostitution. Prostitution is quite prolific and exploitative and unregulated. Even if I did drink, I would certainly not drink here. Rarely do I see alcohol actually sold, though there are a few bars in my city. I just know personally I would never participate in that culture in Morocco.

Whether not somebody should move to Morocco will definitely depend on what they’re hoping to find in the community. If somebody is social and looking for easy friendships with other English speakers, definitely not. Maybe in the bigger cities, but foreigners and outsiders are not integrated easily into normal society throughout most of the country.

This largely depends on your personality. Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech are probably best if you like having an active social life. If you like slower beach life, Essaouira and Tangier are nice options. If you like a range of seasons and snow in the winter, Ifrane is a good choice.