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.
Not in the Eurostat price series — and among the most expensive places to live anywhere, with French VAT at 20%.
Where in Europe
Mediterranean — mild winters, warm dry summers on the water.
The rules that matter for an exit.
No personal income tax, no capital gains tax, no tax on dividends or interest — a resident's investment returns simply aren't taxed here, and haven't been since 1869. The one hard exception: French nationals stay taxable by France under a 1963 treaty.
No wealth tax, no annual property tax, no residence tax. Inheritance and gifts are territorial and mild — 0% in the direct line, up to 16% to unrelated heirs, and only on assets sitting in Monaco.
There's no exit tax leaving Monaco — but there may well be one leaving wherever you are now, since France, Germany and others tax unrealised gains on the way out. And getting in is the real price: a bank deposit that starts around €500,000 and often runs far higher, a home in the world's dearest property market, a clean record — and, for non-Europeans, a French visa first. Monaco is in neither the EU nor the EEA.
Zero local tax doesn't reclaim tax withheld abroad: a global portfolio still loses the foreign withholding on its dividends, and Monaco has few treaties to soften it.
Only Monaco-situs assets are taxed, whatever your nationality: 0% for the direct line and spouses, 8% siblings, up to 16% unrelated.
Monaco publishes little in English and sits outside the usual tax databases, so treat the specifics as needing local confirmation — especially the current residency deposit, and, if you hold French nationality, your own position.
Can you actually move here?
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 official minimum — banks commonly ask for roughly €500k+ on deposit; that's bank practice, not law
No priced programme has ever existed — the money enters through the bank reference instead, with no published threshold.
permanent residency at 10 yrs · no dual, generally
for the tax-residence certificate; there's no income tax to trigger (French nationals excepted)
Monaco doesn't publish a price; the bank does. Residence runs on an apartment, a clean record and a banker's letter — and the sum behind that letter is whatever the bank wants to see, commonly upwards of half a million on deposit. The ten-year card is the real endpoint: naturalisation is a rarely-granted sovereign decision that costs you your old passport.
Keeping the permit: no statutory day-count for the permit; the tax-residence certificate wants 183 days or Monaco as your main stay
The bank deposit is the moving part — thresholds are bank practice, not law; confirm with two or three banks before planning. French citizens can't shed French tax by moving here (the 1963 treaty).
Check it yourself: MonServicePublic — applying for a residence permit · MonServicePublic — the tax-residence certificate
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.
Public cover is work-based only — the funds insure employees, the self-employed and their pensioners; an economically inactive newcomer has no public scheme to join and carries private cover.
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- Does Monaco tax income or capital gains?
- No — there's no personal income tax, no capital gains tax and no tax on dividends or interest, so a resident's investment returns simply aren't taxed, as has been the case since 1869. The one hard exception is French nationals, who stay taxable by France under a 1963 treaty.
- Does Monaco have a wealth tax?
- No — no wealth tax, no annual property tax and no residence tax. Inheritance and gifts are territorial and mild — 0% in the direct line, up to 16% to unrelated heirs, and only on assets sitting in Monaco.
- What does it take to become a resident of Monaco?
- Getting in is the real price: a bank deposit that starts around €500,000 and often runs far higher, a home in the world's dearest property market, a clean record — and, for non-Europeans, a French visa first, since Monaco is in neither the EU nor the EEA. Treat the specifics, especially the current residency deposit, as needing local confirmation.
- If income is untaxed in Monaco, does my global portfolio really pay nothing?
- Not quite — zero local tax doesn't reclaim tax withheld abroad, so a global portfolio still loses the foreign withholding on its dividends, and Monaco has few treaties to soften it. And while there's no exit tax leaving Monaco, there may well be one leaving wherever you are now.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Monaco?
- Yes — the door is the carte de séjour: show a Monaco home, a clean record, and a Monaco bank's attestation that you hold sufficient funds — non-EEA passports need a French long-stay visa first. The bar is no official minimum — banks commonly ask for roughly €500k+ on deposit; that's bank practice, not law. Rules like these move — confirm with the immigration authority before planning around them.
- How long until a Monaco passport?
- 10 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule. Dual citizenship is generally not allowed. Permanent residency usually comes at 10 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 9 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.