Cost of Living Guide

City comparison

Cost of living in Porto vs Mexico City

One person needs about €1,526 a month in Porto and €1,284 in Mexico City, rent included — Mexico City is 16% cheaper overall.

🇵🇹
Porto
Portugal · 230K pop
vs
🇲🇽
Mexico City
Mexico · 9.2M pop
Monthly rent (1BR)
€1,000€850
15% cheaper
Groceries / mo
€270€260
4% cheaper
Eating out (meal)
€11€8
27% cheaper
Internet (100mbps)
€33€25
24% cheaper
Avg salary (tech)
€2,100€1,900
10% lower
Coworking / mo
€150€160
7% pricier
PortoMexico City
Rent€1,000€850
Groceries€270€260
Transport€40€25
Utilities€95€60

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 Mexico City the way you live in Porto on €3,000, you need

€2,524/ month net

16% less than today (-€476)

Porto today
Basket €1,526 · left over €1,474 (49%)
Mexico City at the matched salary
Basket €1,284 · left over €1,240 (49%)

Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 148% over in Mexico City (adequate) vs 138% in Porto. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this

🇵🇹 Porto

Lisbon's cheaper twin: same coast, same fibre, noticeably lower rent.

Monthly budget: €1,526

Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports

🇲🇽 Mexico City

Great food, US time zones, and rents rising quickly in Roma and Condesa.

Monthly budget: €1,284

Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports

Should you move to Porto or Mexico City?

On salary, Porto pays more for tech roles (€2,100 versus €1,900 a month), so the money left over after costs is €616 in Mexico City at the top end.

Rent drives most of the gap: €1,000 in Porto against €850 in Mexico City. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.

For remote workers, the nomad index scores Porto at 82 and Mexico City at 78 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.

More Porto comparisons

More Mexico City comparisons