City comparison
Cost of living in Rome vs Lisbon
One person needs about €1,777 a month in Rome and €1,874 in Lisbon, rent included — Rome is 5% 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 Rome on €3,000, you need
€3,164/ month net
5% more than today (+€164)
- Rome today
- Basket €1,777 · left over €1,223 (41%)
- Lisbon at the matched salary
- Basket €1,874 · left over €1,290 (41%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 128% over in Lisbon (tight) vs 129% in Rome. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this
🇮🇹 Rome
Cheap transport and cheap coffee; bureaucracy and low local wages are the trade-off.
Monthly budget: €1,777
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 Rome or Lisbon?
On salary, Lisbon pays more for tech roles (€2,400 versus €2,300 a month), so the money left over after costs is €526 in Lisbon at the top end.
Rent drives most of the gap: €1,150 in Rome against €1,300 in Lisbon. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores Rome at 72 and Lisbon at 83 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.