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 Portugal runs about 13% 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 €2,170 a month here — roughly €26,040 a year, and a ×30 number near €781,000.
The reference life the calculators use, scaled by the index above — the same whole-economy figure, a guide not a quote.
Where in Europe
Atlantic-Mediterranean — mild wet winters, long dry summers.
a new-build asking price
in Lisbon — about €1,270/mo for 70 m²
a roof here, against the EU-27 average
In Portugal, buy prices are up 164% since 2015 (+17.6% last year); rents up 36% 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.
Gains on shares and ETFs are taxed at a flat 28% — with a discount that grows the longer you've held: 10% of the gain excluded after two years, 20% after five, 30% after eight. Patience is literally priced in.
Sell inside a year while your income sits in the top bracket, and the gain is forced into progressive rates instead of the flat 28%.
None. Portugal has no net wealth tax on financial assets.
The NHR deal that drew a wave of FIRE expats closed to new applicants in 2024; its successor is much narrower. Treat any special regime as weather, not climate — confirm it in writing, close to the move.
No inheritance tax — a 10% stamp duty on gratuitous transfers stands in for it, and the spouse, descendants and ascendants are exempt even from that (0.8% extra rides on real estate).
This is where my own exit landed: Lisbon, April 2022 — the flight out was the day after I stopped trading.
The holding-period discounts are recent — verify their current shape before you count on them.
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.
pegged to the minimum wage — €920/mo for the main applicant (2026), +50% per additional adult
Open, funds-flavoured — €500k into investment funds (the property route was struck out in October 2023), with famously light presence: about seven days a year.
permanent residency at 5 yrs · dual allowed · A2 Portuguese + a culture and civics assessment (the 2026 law)
in any twelve months; or a home held here as your habitual residence on any day of that period
The D7 is still the benchmark passive-income door — the bar is only the minimum wage — but the passport just moved: the May 2026 nationality law doubled the clock to ten years (seven for EU and CPLP citizens), counted from the first residence card rather than the application. Files lodged before 19 May 2026 keep the old five. Permanent residence stays at five years, and dual citizenship is untouched.
Keeping the permit: absences over 6 consecutive months (or 8 interpolated) can cancel the permit
The 2026 nationality law is newly in force and a companion nationality-stripping decree is still before the Constitutional Court — the dust hasn't settled; re-check before planning a Portuguese clock.
Check it yourself: MFA visa portal — means of subsistence (D7) · PwC — Portugal 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.
Residence-based and generous: any legal resident registers at the local health centre for a user number — free of charge, working or not; standing user fees were abolished in 2022.
Private cover: the D7 application wants travel-grade cover until you're registered; a mid-tier private plan runs about €70–77 a month at 40 (2024 market comparison).
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- How are capital gains taxed in Portugal?
- Gains on shares and ETFs are taxed at a flat 28%, with a discount that grows the longer you have held: 10% of the gain excluded after two years, 20% after five and 30% after eight. These holding-period discounts are recent, so verify their current shape before you count on them.
- Are short-term investment gains taxed differently in Portugal?
- Yes. Sell inside a year while your income sits in the top bracket, and the gain is forced into progressive rates instead of the flat 28%.
- Is the NHR tax regime still available in Portugal?
- No. The NHR deal that drew a wave of FIRE expats closed to new applicants in 2024, and its successor is much narrower. Treat any special regime as weather, not climate — confirm it in writing, close to the move.
- Does Portugal have a wealth tax?
- No. Portugal has no net wealth tax on financial assets.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Portugal?
- Yes — the door is the D7 visa: the residence route for retirement or living on passive income — pensions, rents, dividends, royalties; no local job needed. The bar is pegged to the minimum wage — €920/mo for the main applicant (2026), +50% per additional adult. An EU or EEA passport skips the visa question entirely — freedom of movement covers the move itself. Rules like these move — confirm with the immigration authority before planning around them.
- How long until a Portugal passport?
- 10 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with A2 Portuguese + a culture and civics assessment (the 2026 law). 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.