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 Romania runs about 35% 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 €1,630 a month here — roughly €19,560 a year, and a ×30 number near €587,000.
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 winters, hot summers, a Black Sea coast.
new & older
in Bucharest — about €720/mo for 70 m²
a roof here, against the EU-27 average
In Romania, buy prices are up 65% since 2015 (+5.7% last year); rents up 56% 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.
Run the trade through a Romanian broker and gains are taxed lightly, by holding period: 3% past a year, 6% inside it, withheld and final. Through a foreign broker — the usual FIRE setup — there's no withholding; you self-declare and pay a flat 16%, whatever the holding. The 2026 budget doubled the local-broker rates and lifted the self-declared rate from 10%.
A 10% health contribution reaches investment income once your yearly total clears a threshold (around €4,900) — but it's charged on fixed income bands, not your actual gains, and caps out near €1,950 a year. A standing drag, but a bounded one.
Dividends jumped to 16% for 2026, up from 10%; interest stays at 10%.
No advance tax on an accumulating fund — tax falls only at sale. No wealth tax, and no exit tax on individuals leaving.
Effectively none for heirs — the only catch is 1% on estate real estate if the succession drags past two years.
The 2026 fiscal package moved a lot at once — dividends and self-declared gains to 16%, the health-levy bands — and Romania re-prices most years, so date-check before you act. One tail to know: a Romanian national who moves to a country with no tax treaty can stay taxable here on worldwide income for the year of departure and three more.
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 route — the nomad visa is the closest door and it wants active remote work (about 3× the average salary, ≈€5,500/mo in 2026).
Never a passive one — active business only; a €400,000 bonds-and-funds programme proposed in October 2025 is still before Parliament, not law.
permanent residency at 5 yrs · dual allowed · Romanian (≈B1) + documented integration
in any twelve months; domicile or a centre of vital interests also counts, with an arrival questionnaire to file
Romania has no door for savings: the nomad visa is the nearest thing, and it runs on active remote-work income, not a portfolio. The golden-visa bill floating since late 2025 would change that — but it isn't law, and this page doesn't price proposals. Once in: long-term residence at five years, a passport at eight (five if married to a Romanian), dual citizenship fine.
The proposed €400,000 residence-by-investment programme was still before Parliament as of mid-2026 — if it passes, this page changes.
Check it yourself: IGI — long-term residence · PwC — Romania 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 resident can opt into state cover by paying health contributions on a fixed base — about €480 a year at the 2026 minimum wage — though whether temporary-permit holders can enrol this way is worth confirming with CNAS.
Private cover: the nomad visa wants private cover of at least €30,000.
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 Romania?
- Through a Romanian broker, gains are taxed by holding period — 3% past a year, 6% inside it, withheld and final. Through a foreign broker (the usual FIRE setup) there is no withholding: you self-declare and pay a flat 16% whatever the holding period. The 2026 budget doubled the local-broker rates and lifted the self-declared rate from 10%.
- Does Romania tax dividends?
- Yes. Dividends jumped to 16% for 2026, up from 10%, while interest stays at 10%.
- Is there a health contribution on investment income in Romania?
- Yes. A 10% health contribution reaches investment income once your yearly total clears a threshold (around €4,900), but it is charged on fixed income bands rather than your actual gains and caps out near €1,950 a year — a standing drag, but a bounded one.
- Does Romania have a wealth tax or an exit tax?
- No. There is no wealth tax and no exit tax on individuals leaving, and there is no advance tax on an accumulating fund, so tax falls only at sale.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Romania?
- No passive-income route — the nomad visa is the closest door and it wants active remote work (about 3× the average salary, ≈€5,500/mo in 2026). 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 Romania passport?
- 8 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with Romanian (≈B1) + documented integration. 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 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.