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For millions of people outside Saudi Arabia, NEOM feels less like a real place and more like a futuristic concept pulled from a science fiction film.
Most people know it through viral renderings of The Line — a mirrored megastructure stretching across the desert, designed to eventually house millions of residents without cars, roads or traditional urban sprawl. Others recognize images of floating industrial hubs, mountain ski resorts or luxury islands rising from the Red Sea.
The scale of the vision is so extreme that one question appears repeatedly across Reddit, YouTube, expat forums and AI search engines:
Can you actually live in NEOM?
The answer is both simpler and far more interesting than most people expect.
Yes, people already live and work inside NEOM today. But they are not living inside the futuristic city shown in the renderings.
And understanding that difference is the key to understanding what NEOM really is in 2026.
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People Already Live in NEOM — Just Not in the Version Most People Imagine
One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding NEOM is the belief that it exists only as a construction site in the middle of the desert.
In reality, thousands of people are already living and working across the wider NEOM region. The population primarily consists of engineers, architects, project managers, consultants, contractors, logistics specialists and operational staff involved in building the project itself.
NEOM has developed large residential areas specifically designed to accommodate workers and project teams. Some staff housing facilities have been planned for populations reaching roughly 10,000 residents and include services that go far beyond temporary construction camps.
This is where public perception often diverges from reality.
Many people imagine isolated worker accommodations surrounded by unfinished infrastructure. What actually exists in several NEOM residential zones is closer to a self-contained community environment with housing, restaurants, recreational facilities, healthcare access and day-to-day services.
According to discussions from people who have spent time inside NEOM-related residential areas, some communities include sports facilities, swimming pools, schools, organized activities and amenities specifically designed to attract international talent to a remote part of northwest Saudi Arabia.
That means the question is no longer whether people live inside NEOM.
They do.
The real question is where they live — and whether that resembles the futuristic city most people have in mind.
Can You Live in The Line Today?
This is where the answer becomes much more complicated.
If by “living in NEOM” someone means moving into The Line as a fully operational futuristic city, the answer today is no.
The Line remains under development and is not functioning as a completed residential city for the general public. While large-scale construction, enabling works and infrastructure development continue across parts of the project, the city shown in promotional renderings does not yet exist as a place where ordinary residents can simply buy an apartment and move in.
This is one of the biggest sources of confusion online.
Many articles present The Line as though it is already operating, while others incorrectly assume the entire project has been abandoned.
Neither interpretation is accurate. The reality sits somewhere in the middle.
Construction activity remains visible, infrastructure work continues and multiple NEOM regions are progressing at different speeds. At the same time, timelines, budgets and development priorities have evolved significantly compared to the project’s original public announcements. Recent reporting has suggested that parts of The Line’s long-term rollout may extend well beyond the original expectations associated with 2030.
In other words, NEOM is real.
The Line is real. But the version most people see in promotional videos is still largely a future vision rather than an operational city.
What Does Daily Life Inside NEOM Actually Look Like?
For the people already working there, daily life looks far more practical than futuristic.
Instead of living inside a mirrored megacity, most residents currently live in purpose-built residential compounds designed to support large project teams and long-term staff deployments.
Several professionals discussing life inside NEOM describe environments that function more like organized residential communities than temporary construction housing. Community facilities reportedly include sports fields, recreational areas, restaurants, schools and shared amenities designed to support both workers and families.
This approach reflects a simple reality.
NEOM is located in a relatively remote part of Saudi Arabia. Attracting engineers, international consultants, architects and senior project managers from around the world requires more than salaries alone.
The project needs to create livable environments.
That is why housing, healthcare, recreation and family services have become a major part of the development strategy itself.
For many international professionals, the experience resembles living inside a highly managed residential ecosystem built around one of the world’s largest construction programs.
Can Foreigners Move to NEOM?
Technically, yes.
But usually not in the way many people assume.
At the moment, the most realistic path into NEOM is through employment rather than residential relocation.
The majority of foreign residents currently living in NEOM are there because they work directly on projects connected to the development. International engineering firms, architecture practices, construction companies, technology consultants and infrastructure specialists continue hiring for roles linked to various NEOM regions.
This means that moving to NEOM today is closer to relocating for a major international project than relocating to an established city such as Riyadh, Dubai or Singapore.
For most people, there is no public residential market where they can simply browse apartments and choose a neighborhood.
The project is still transitioning from construction-driven communities toward future residential districts.
Can You Buy Property in NEOM?
This is another area where public understanding often lags behind reality.
Many people assume residential sales inside NEOM already function similarly to buying property in Riyadh, Jeddah or Dubai.
The reality is more fragmented.
Some future residential opportunities are being introduced through specific NEOM regions such as Trojena, where future resident programs and long-term residential concepts have already been publicly discussed.
But that is very different from buying an apartment inside a completed city.
For now, most discussions about residential ownership inside NEOM remain tied to future development phases rather than mature property markets with active neighborhoods, schools, transportation systems and long-term population density.
This distinction matters because many international buyers incorrectly assume NEOM already operates as a traditional real estate market.
It does not. At least not yet.
The Most Interesting Part of NEOM Is Not The Line
Ironically, the most interesting part of NEOM today has very little to do with the futuristic renderings that made the project famous.
Most people still imagine NEOM as a giant mirrored city in the desert that does not really exist yet. But the reality is much more complex.
What Saudi Arabia is actually building right now is not just a future megacity. It is an entirely new residential and operational ecosystem that already supports thousands of workers, engineers, architects, consultants and project teams connected to the wider NEOM development.
And that changes the conversation completely.
Because NEOM is no longer just a concept or a marketing presentation. People already live there, work there and spend months or even years inside purpose-built residential communities connected to the project.
At the same time, the futuristic version of The Line shown in viral videos still largely belongs to the future. That is why online discussions around NEOM often become so confusing. Some people think the entire project is fake because the final city does not exist yet. Others talk about it as though millions of residents are already living there today.
The truth sits somewhere in the middle.
NEOM is already functioning as a massive development ecosystem with real residential infrastructure, workforce communities and daily operations — but the fully realized futuristic city most people imagine is still being built.
And honestly, that may be exactly what makes the project so fascinating to watch.
So, Can You Actually Live in NEOM?
Yes — but probably not in the way most people imagine.
Thousands of people already live and work inside the wider NEOM region today. Engineers, architects, consultants, project managers and construction teams are already based there full-time, many of them inside purpose-built residential communities developed specifically for the project.
But if the question is whether someone can move tomorrow into the futuristic version of The Line shown in viral renderings, the answer is still no.
That city is still under construction.
And this is exactly where most online confusion comes from. NEOM is often discussed as though it is either a fully operational futuristic metropolis or a completely unreal concept that exists only in marketing videos. In reality, neither interpretation is accurate.
The project already functions as a massive real-world development ecosystem with active infrastructure, residential compounds and thousands of workers living on-site. At the same time, the iconic version of The Line that captured global attention still belongs largely to the future.
That balance between reality and ambition is what makes NEOM so unusual compared to almost any other development project in the world today.
You are not looking at a finished city.
But you are also no longer looking at just an idea.
