City comparison
Cost of living in Lisbon vs Athens
One person needs about €1,874 a month in Lisbon and €1,236 in Athens, rent included — Athens is 34% 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 Athens the way you live in Lisbon on €3,000, you need
€1,979/ month net
34% less than today (-€1,021)
- Lisbon today
- Basket €1,874 · left over €1,126 (38%)
- Athens at the matched salary
- Basket €1,236 · left over €743 (38%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 138% over in Athens (adequate) vs 128% in Lisbon. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this
🇵🇹 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
🇬🇷 Athens
Cheapest euro-zone big city here, with the widest gap between local pay and expat pay.
Monthly budget: €1,236
Sources: ELSTAT + Eurostat, HICP & household budget survey (2025) · 164 community reports
Should you move to Lisbon or Athens?
On salary, Lisbon pays more for tech roles (€2,400 versus €1,700 a month), so the money left over after costs is €526 in Lisbon at the top end.
Rent drives most of the gap: €1,300 in Lisbon against €700 in Athens. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores Lisbon at 83 and Athens at 71 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.