City comparison
Cost of living in Lisbon vs Berlin
One person needs about €1,874 a month in Lisbon and €2,258 in Berlin, rent included — Lisbon is 20% 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 Berlin the way you live in Lisbon on €3,000, you need
€3,615/ month net
20% more than today (+€615)
- Lisbon today
- Basket €1,874 · left over €1,126 (38%)
- Berlin at the matched salary
- Basket €2,258 · left over €1,357 (38%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 204% over in Berlin (strong) 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
🇩🇪 Berlin
Highest tech salaries on this list, offset by heating bills and a brutal rental market.
Monthly budget: €2,258
Sources: Destatis + Eurostat, HICP & Mietspiegel (2025) · 377 community reports
Should you move to Lisbon or Berlin?
On salary, Berlin pays more for tech roles (€4,600 versus €2,400 a month), so the money left over after costs is €2,342 in Berlin at the top end.
Rent drives most of the gap: €1,300 in Lisbon against €1,500 in Berlin. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores Lisbon at 83 and Berlin at 76 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.