When you dream about living in Mexico, you may think of beach resort towns like Playa del Carmen or the historic cities of Mexico City and Guadalajara. But if you ask us at Mexico News Daily, there’s one city you may not have thought of that definitely deserves to be on that list: Monterrey in the northern state of Nuevo León.

Surrounded by the Sierra Madre mountains, the gleaming, modern industrial city of Monterrey is a place defined more by ambition and industry rather than mass tourism. The city made it into international news a few years ago when Elon Musk announced he would open a Tesla gigafactory there, a plan that has since been put on hold due to US tariffs. But there were plenty of reasons Musk was interested in expanding into Monterrey.

Monterrey is the business capital of Mexico

The city calls itself “the business capital of Mexico,” and with good reason: it has a thriving aerospace, tech, biotech and automotive industry and several major companies are based there — along with a younger demographic of Mexicans who have moved there to take well-paying jobs at these companies. Driving this seemingly never-ending investment is Nuevo León’s affable young governor, Samuel García, who travels the world regularly to talk up Nuevo León as a base for Latin American expansion for U.S., Asian and European manufacturers and tech companies. 

Perhaps emblematic of Monterrey’s modern, ambitious vibe is the city’s Torre Obispado, the tallest skyscraper in all of Mexico. Not content with that status, Monterrey is also building the Torre Rise, which aims to become the tallest skyscraper in all of Latin America, featuring luxury condos, business offices, hotels, bars and restaurants.

Unlike Mexico’s older urban hubs, Monterrey doesn’t promote its history and tradition; its youthful vision is pointed firmly forward toward the future.

‘Dallas, but in Spanish’

The city’s economic success is partly due to its location near the U.S. border, which has also resulted in plenty of cross-pollination with the U.S., both economically and culturally. In Mexico, Monterrey has the reputation of being the most Americanized city in Mexico.

Culturally, it boasts a strong norteño identity, thanks to its proximity to Texas cities like Laredo and San Antonio, so it’s not unusual to see cowboy hats on Monterrey’s streets, and hear the norteño sounds of Los Tigres Del Norte and Ramón Ayala at parties. Many Monterrey natives have family in the U.S. and have spent extensive time there, which means a big demand for U.S.-style amenities and culture. The city’s young, well-educated population, if not fluent in English, tends to speak at least some. 

Thanks to Monterrey’s highly Americanized environment, it can be an appealing option for well-educated, younger workers from the U.S., who know Spanish, whose English can be a boon for international companies looking for workers who are fluent in the business world’s lingua franca.

Monterrey’s reputation for high-ranking universities also attracts young foreigners from the U.S. and other countries seeking to earn a less-expensive but still well-regarded university degree in an environment with plenty of good jobs. An undergraduate degree from even one of Mexico’s most prestigious, and most expensive, private universities, the Tec de Monterrey, can cost well under US $20,000 a year, significantly cheaper than in the U.S. At the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, a public university, international students can pay as little as US $1,000 in yearly tuition. 

Mexican-American Kata Lucia, a Mexican American engineering student at Tec de Monterrey, sees the city as a good option for Mexican-American students who want to connect with their roots in an environment that doesn’t feel entirely foreign. 

“Although I like to call Monterrey ‘Dallas, but in Spanish’ due to how Americanized it is, I’ve really fallen in love with the feeling it gives me,” she said. “It’s like being home in Texas, but also being in the unknown at the same time.”

A welcoming environment

Other expats in Monterrey we interviewed pointed to the warm sense of community they encountered there. Andrea Zavala, a local radio announcer for Monterrey’s Classic 106.9 FM and former Spanish immersion teacher in Ohio, highlights how kind the Monterrey community is towards outsiders, particularly to those with kids in the school system.

“There’s a WhatsApp group for each of our kids’ classrooms. The parents and kids from each class even meet up to celebrate Christmas, Halloween and Mexico’s Independence Day. They use anything as an excuse to get together,” she said. 

Also, she said, she encountered a “lot of support from the start.”

“If your kids need a ride or help with homework, parents from the community are there with a sincere and helping hand.”

After the gentrification protests in Mexico City last summer, a would-be foreign migrant to Monterrey might wonder if outsiders will be welcome. But since Monterrey doesn’t have many tourists or many temporary foreign residents, foreigners who settle in Monterrey are viewed more as new members of the community.

“I truly like how friendly the people are. Being from the southeast U.S., there are many similarities in the [two] culture[s]: greeting strangers, smiling, and making eye contact,” said April Bounds, an American who moved to Monterrey with her family last September. “The wealth inequality is stark here, but it’s important to remember that there are generally kind, hardworking people who are trying to get by like the rest of us.”

There are, of course, some challenges, especially if you don’t have a great command of Spanish, says Steen Kirby, an American expat who has lived in Monterrey for almost two years. Adapting to Monterrey also means adapting to life in a major urban center and all that comes with it, including sitting in rush-hour traffic jams.

But Kirby finds Monterrey to be a part of Mexico filled with unexpected gems. 

“There are companies like [outsourcers for] Tesla, Hyundai and Cemex here, so it makes for an interesting place to be in Mexico,” he says. “The skyscrapers and mountains also make for a wonderful backdrop to the city I call home.” 

Kirby also cites “the amenities and infrastructure in Monterrey, such as the fantastic malls and shopping plazas” and the phenomenal music scene Monterrey has compared to other parts of Mexico, with two major festivals a year — Tecate Pa’l Norte and Machaca Fest. These festivals draw artists like Karol G, J Balvin, 50 Cent, Blink 182, and Kings of Leon to the city as an easy stopover from southern U.S. cities. If you also include Festival San Lucas in the equation, a cultural event with more traditional noteño music, it makes for a year-round, music paradise for those who enjoy concerts. 

“But the biggest thing for me is how welcoming the norterños of Monterrey are towards people who are visibly not Mexican,” Kirby says. “I’ve lived in other parts of the north, like Tijuana, and felt less welcome there compared to being in Monterrey as a gringo.”

Stories like these demonstrate how foreigners can flourish in Monterrey, a rare middle ground between cultures where Americans, Mexicans, and virtually anyone who settles there can feel welcome. Maybe, with Monterrey set to host four World Cup games next June, others will start to fall in love with this unique gem in Mexico. 

What has been your experience in Monterrey? Let us know in the comments below.

Ian Ostroff is an indie author, journalist, and copywriter from Montreal, Canada. You can find his work in various outlets, including Map Happy and The Suburban. When he’s not writing, you can find Ian at the gym, a café, or anywhere within Mexico visiting family and friends.