Cost of Living Guide

City comparison

Cost of living in Valencia vs Lisbon

One person needs about €1,489 a month in Valencia and €1,874 in Lisbon, rent included — Valencia is 26% cheaper overall.

🇪🇸
Valencia
Spain · 800K pop
vs
🇵🇹
Lisbon
Portugal · 545K pop
Monthly rent (1BR)
€950€1,300
37% pricier
Groceries / mo
€265€290
9% pricier
Eating out (meal)
€12€13
8% pricier
Internet (100mbps)
€30€35
17% pricier
Avg salary (tech)
€2,200€2,400
9% higher
Coworking / mo
€140€180
29% pricier
ValenciaLisbon
Rent€950€1,300
Groceries€265€290
Transport€50€40
Utilities€98€105

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 Valencia on €3,000, you need

€3,776/ month net

26% more than today (+€776)

Valencia today
Basket €1,489 · left over €1,511 (50%)
Lisbon at the matched salary
Basket €1,874 · left over €1,902 (50%)

Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 128% over in Lisbon (tight) vs 148% in Valencia. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this

🇪🇸 Valencia

Flat, cyclable and cheap for a coastal capital-grade city with real infrastructure.

Monthly budget: €1,489

Sources: INE Spain + Eurostat, HICP & provincial rent index (2025) · 198 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 Valencia or Lisbon?

On salary, Lisbon pays more for tech roles (€2,400 versus €2,200 a month), so the money left over after costs is €711 in Valencia at the top end.

Rent drives most of the gap: €950 in Valencia against €1,300 in Lisbon. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.

For remote workers, the nomad index scores Valencia at 79 and Lisbon at 83 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.

More Valencia comparisons

More Lisbon comparisons