Price it in your money
Tell me where you live now and what you spend a month, and every cost here becomes your number — the same life, priced country by country, in your own currency.
A guide, not a quote. I move your monthly spend by each country’s official price level (Eurostat and the World Bank, whole-economy, EU-27 = 100) — no exchange rates, so it stays in your own currency. But averages hide rent and the city you pick, and changing country is rarely a straight swap. Read these as the right ballpark, then price the real thing.
EU-27 = 100 · 2025. Living in Czechia runs about 11% cheaper than the EU average.
Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) / World Bank, 2025, CC BY 4.0. Whole-economy price level — country averages hide big regional and rent spread.
A €2,500 a month reference life runs about €2,240 a month here — roughly €26,880 a year, and a ×30 number near €806,000.
The reference life the calculators use, scaled by the index above — the same whole-economy figure, a guide not a quote.
Where in Europe
Continental — cold grey winters, warm summers.
a new-build asking price
in Prague — about €1,160/mo for 70 m²
a roof here, against the EU-27 average
In Czechia, buy prices are up 145% since 2015 (+10.4% last year); rents up 48% since 2015.
Read these as the shape, not the price. Housing is the most divergent cost in Europe, and a national average buries the thing that actually decides it — the city, the street, new-build against old. Treat it as a ballpark, then price the real place. Not property or mortgage advice.
Buy price and rent: Deloitte Property Index 2025 (14th ed., 2024 data). Level vs the EU: Eurostat comparative price level for housing (prc_ppp_ind, EU-27 = 100, 2024). Trend: Eurostat house price index and actual-rentals index (2015 = 100, 2025).
The rules that matter for an exit.
Hold shares or ETFs for more than three years and the gains are exempt from income tax — uncapped again since January 2026 (a cap applied in 2025 only; crypto keeps it). Years where your total sale proceeds stay under CZK 100,000 are tax-free regardless of holding period — proceeds, not profit.
Sell earlier and the gain joins your general income — 15%, rising to 23% in the top bracket.
Accumulating ETFs are taxed only at sale — and after the three-year test, not at all.
No wealth tax, no exit tax on individuals.
None — inheritances are income-tax-exempt for everyone, and gifts from close relatives are exempt too.
The exemption was capped one year (2025) and uncapped the next — the rule gets tinkered with. Confirm its current shape before a big sale.
Can you actually move here?
Hold an EU or EEA passport and the door isn't the question — freedom of movement covers the move itself. The clocks and the tax-residency rules below still run for you.
With your passport, skip the doors — the clocks and the tax-residency rules are what matter for you.
No EU passport means one of the doors on the left — each checked against the authority that issues it.
No passive-income purpose — the nomad programme is a fast-track for twelve nationalities of working IT professionals; the real doors are a trade licence you actually use, study or family.
Never a passive one — the 'investment' permit wants CZK 75 million and twenty new jobs, actively run.
permanent residency at 5 yrs · dual allowed · Czech at A2 for permanent residence; B1 + a civics exam for citizenship
in the calendar year, or a permanent home you intend to keep living in
Czechia hosts the self-employed, not the retired: the standard play is a trade licence with real activity, because no permit exists for living on a portfolio and the nomad programme is closed to all but a dozen nationalities of working IT professionals. The passport sits far out — roughly ten years for a non-EU national — though dual citizenship has been fine since 2014.
The nomad programme's nationality list keeps widening and the self-payer health premium rises each January (CZK 3,024/mo in 2026) — re-check both yearly.
Check it yourself: Immigration portal — long-term residence purposes · PwC — Czechia tax residence
Getting-in rules checked July 2026. They move faster than tax law — confirm the current rule with the authority before you plan a move around it. Education, not immigration advice.
A non-working temporary resident sits outside the public system until permanent residence — comprehensive commercial foreigner cover is mandatory until then (roughly CZK 1,300–2,300 a month, indicative); once inside with no income, the self-payer rate is CZK 3,024 a month (2026).
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- Do I pay capital gains tax in Czechia if I hold my ETFs for more than three years?
- No. Hold shares or ETFs for more than three years and the gains are exempt from income tax, uncapped again since January 2026 (a cap applied in 2025 only).
- How are gains taxed if I sell within three years?
- Sell earlier and the gain joins your general income, taxed at 15%, rising to 23% in the top bracket.
- Are accumulating ETFs taxed every year in Czechia?
- No. Accumulating ETFs are taxed only at sale, and after the three-year holding test, not at all.
- Is there a wealth tax or exit tax in Czechia?
- No wealth tax, and no exit tax on individuals.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Czechia?
- No passive-income purpose — the nomad programme is a fast-track for twelve nationalities of working IT professionals; the real doors are a trade licence you actually use, study or family. An EU or EEA passport skips the visa question entirely — freedom of movement covers the move itself. Confirm with the immigration authority — routes open and close.
- How long until a Czechia passport?
- 10 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with Czech at A2 for permanent residence; B1 + a civics exam for citizenship. Dual citizenship is allowed. Permanent residency usually comes at 5 years.
Run your own numbers.
The Exit Calculator
Years to your number, at your savings rate.
OpenWhere You Live
What an annual wealth tax does to the maths — illustrative, deliberately.
OpenThe Geoarbitrage Map
The same life, priced across 58 countries.
OpenThe whole system — wrappers, funds, withdrawal, the blank page — is in the guide: The European FIRE guide
None of this is tax or investment advice — it's education, kept deliberately at the level that survives fact-checking. Rules shift with every budget round; the specifics of your situation belong with a licensed adviser in your country. I'm happily not one.
This page was last verified against official sources on 8 July 2026. What's changed on the map
Know a figure here that’s wrong or out of date? Point me to the line and a source — every correction gets checked, and it’s how the map stays right.
Report a correctionBring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.
Ninety minutes, online, €600 — the Exit Audit included.