City comparison
Cost of living in Istanbul vs Lisbon
One person needs about €963 a month in Istanbul and €1,874 in Lisbon, rent included — Istanbul is 95% cheaper overall.
Salary you'd need to keep the same lifestyle
Enter your current net monthly pay. We scale it by the full cost basket — rent, groceries, transport, utilities, eating out and internet.
To live in Lisbon the way you live in Istanbul on €3,000, you need
€5,838/ month net
95% more than today (+€2,838)
- Istanbul today
- Basket €963 · left over €2,037 (68%)
- Lisbon at the matched salary
- Basket €1,874 · left over €3,964 (68%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 128% over in Lisbon (tight) vs 166% in Istanbul. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this
🇹🇷 Istanbul
Enormous, cheap in euro terms, but inflation reprices everything every few months.
Monthly budget: €963
Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports
🇵🇹 Lisbon
Visa-friendly and well connected, but local salaries lag far behind expat-driven rents.
Monthly budget: €1,874
Sources: Statistics Portugal (INE) + Eurostat, HICP & house-rent statistics (2025) · 331 community reports
Should you move to Istanbul or Lisbon?
On salary, Lisbon pays more for tech roles (€2,400 versus €1,600 a month), so the money left over after costs is €637 in Istanbul at the top end.
Rent drives most of the gap: €550 in Istanbul against €1,300 in Lisbon. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores Istanbul at 70 and Lisbon at 83 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.