Cost of Living Guide

City comparison

Cost of living in Rome vs Porto

One person needs about €1,777 a month in Rome and €1,526 in Porto, rent included — Porto is 14% cheaper overall.

🇮🇹
Rome
Italy · 2.8M pop
vs
🇵🇹
Porto
Portugal · 230K pop
Monthly rent (1BR)
€1,150€1,000
13% cheaper
Groceries / mo
€300€270
10% cheaper
Eating out (meal)
€14€11
21% cheaper
Internet (100mbps)
€30€33
10% pricier
Avg salary (tech)
€2,300€2,100
9% lower
Coworking / mo
€180€150
17% cheaper
RomePorto
Rent€1,150€1,000
Groceries€300€270
Transport€35€40
Utilities€150€95

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

€2,576/ month net

14% less than today (-€424)

Rome today
Basket €1,777 · left over €1,223 (41%)
Porto at the matched salary
Basket €1,526 · left over €1,050 (41%)

Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 138% over in Porto (adequate) 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

🇵🇹 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

Should you move to Rome or Porto?

On salary, Rome pays more for tech roles (€2,300 versus €2,100 a month), so the money left over after costs is €574 in Porto at the top end.

Rent drives most of the gap: €1,150 in Rome against €1,000 in Porto. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.

For remote workers, the nomad index scores Rome at 72 and Porto at 82 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.

More Rome comparisons

More Porto comparisons