Cost of Living in Lisbon, Portugal (2023)

When I moved to Lisbon in May, 2022 I set a budget of €2500/month.  2023 was my first full year.  Was I able to stay within my budget?  Read on to find out.

Portugal tops the “best places to live for a low cost of living” lists for expats digital nomads, which is among the lowest in Western Europe. You can enjoy a good quality of life in Portugal without breaking the bank compared to other European countries.

I've been diligent in keeping an expense log. My monthly categories are Monthly (which includes rent, rental insurance, bus pass and cleaning lady), Food, Eating Out, Household, Health, Entertainment and Miscellaneous.  You'll notice travel isn't covered in this topics, as I have a separate travel budget.

Monthly Expenses

Monthly expenses which includes rent, rental insurance, bus pass, utilities (electric, gas and water) and my weekly cleaning lady averaged €1441 per month. 

​I pay €1200 in monthly rent for a fully furnished apartment in one of the suburbs of Lisbon. 

My bus pass is €40/month and allows me to travel on all forms of public transportation (bus, metro, train, ferry, Justa lift, tram and funiculars) in the greater Lisbon area.

Food and Eating Out

My grocery store bill averaged €260/month (about €60/week for one person). I tend to eat pretty healthy and cook most of my meals.  I think food prices have gone up from when I first arrived

I go out to eat about 1-3 times per week and spent an average of €120/month.  Eat out in Lisbon is quite affordable.  I spend about €10-15 per meal.

Again this doesn't include food/restaurant meals while on travel.  Those goes in my Travel Budget.

​Check out some of my favorite meals in Lisbon.

Household Expenses

Household expenses includes everything from toilet paper, paper towels to new gadgets that I just had to have.  I'm trying to live more a minimalist lifestyle and not buy too many gadgets.  I spent and average of €35/month in this category.

Health Expenses

This was my second biggest category behind Monthly Expenses, spending on average €603/month but includes my monthly health insurance premium (currently €182/month up from €165/month my first year here), co-pays, GoFit gym membership (€38/month), and vitamins/prescriptions.

At first, I was shocked at how much it was on a monthly basis.  But then I realized that it is still much less than living in the United States where just my monthly insurance premium was $675/month. 

​I got new prescription glasses which cost €631. This is definitely more than I would have paid in the U.S. so lesson to me to get my glasses from one of the those online websites and have a friend bring them to me in the future. 

Entertainment Expenses

I'm not much of a night life person, so most of the expense in this category is museums and movies.  I spent on average about €18/month.

Miscellaneous Expenses

I spent an average of €148/month.  This category includes things like clothes, shoes, gifts, Uber rides, VPN, Google photos and anything else that doesn't fit in one of the other categories.

So how close was I to the €2500/month budget?

It was pretty close.  I spent on average €2605.96/month.  There were some unexpected costs this year - mainly in the health category - new prescription sunglasses (mentioned above) as well as a root canal (€275), prescription meds for Roseca.