Cost of living in Portugal vs USA

Hey everyone, it’s Ismail. Welcome back to *Europe Diary*. I’m an American living in Portugal. Since 2021, I’ve been blogging about travel guides and my life experiences here in Portugal as an expat. If that sounds good to you, please stay with us.

In today’s blog, I’m going to be covering the *Cost of Living in Portugal vs USA*. I’ll go over all of the major monthly expenses, including rent, food, and health insurance. Then, I’ll compare those individual expenses to what I would probably be spending each month on those same items if I were still living in the United States. I’m going to be covering each expense in both euros and dollars. Just keep in mind that currency exchange rates are fluctuating all the time, so depending on when you’re reading this blog, the value of each expense in dollars could be more or less depending on what the rate is when you’re reading this blog.

Lastly, if you find this blog valuable, please be sure to read it until the end and like it so that I know you’re enjoying this type of content and I can continue to make more of it in the future.

With that said, let’s go ahead and get started.

Rent

Let’s cover the biggest expense I have every month: rent. I live in a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in the Avenida Novas neighborhood of Lisbon. My apartment came furnished with all of the most important furniture, like a bed and couch, and it also came with the majority of the kitchen supplies that I needed—pots, pans, silverware, all of the basics. In this apartment building, we have 24/7 security, laundry downstairs, and every unit has a balcony. Also, this entire apartment building was completely renovated a couple of years ago, so all of the appliances are pretty much new.

In regards to the location of my apartment, Avenida Novas is considered one of the higher-end locations to live in within Lisbon. Because of this, it does fall on the more expensive side of things for Portuguese standards. So, what do I pay every month in rent? I pay 900 euros a month, which comes out to about 960 US dollars.

Utilities

The next category is utilities. For me, my utilities fall into three main categories. First of all, I have a Wi-Fi, TV, and SIM card package, then electricity and water. This is typical for most people in Portugal. Some people, in addition to those, will have gas. However, gas is not very common here because it can be quite pricey to have in your home. I will say though that the cost of an electricity bill each month can be pretty high here, especially if you’re the kind of person who has their air conditioning on all the time. Overall, the cost of electricity in Portugal is higher than in the United States and many other EU countries. So, what do I pay for utilities? Each month I pay about 45 euros for the Wi-Fi, TV, and SIM card package, an average of about 15 euros a month for water, and then an average of about 50 euros per month for electricity, which translates to about 47 dollars, 16 dollars, and 54 US dollars a month, respectively.

Groceries

Next is groceries. First of all, I want to say that I eat most of my meals at home. I go out for brunch, breakfast, lunch, or dinner a maximum of three times per week, but I would say two on average. So, I am eating most of my meals at home. So, what do I spend on groceries every month? I spend around 280 euros every month, which comes out to about 70 euros every single week. That equates to just under 300 US dollars every month.

Transportation

Let’s move on to transportation. To be honest, my primary mode of transportation here in Portugal is my feet. I’m lucky that I live in a location where pretty much all of my needs, plus the city center and all the major attractions of the city, are within walking distance of my house. I don’t have a car here in Portugal, and I don’t plan on having one anytime soon. So, if I’m not walking, I will usually take either the Metro or Uber. My first choice of public transportation is always the Metro. I use the Metro probably a couple of times a week. If the place I’m trying to get to is kind of isolated, it’s late at night, or I’m in a rush, I will take an Uber, which I probably take on average 2-3 times a week. In an average month, I’ll probably spend around 20 euros on the Metro and 20 euros on Uber, which comes out to about 42 US dollars per month.

Health Insurance

Next, let’s move on to health insurance, and this is a big one because I come from the United States and I’m self-employed. So, when I came to Portugal, I knew that health insurance would be one of the biggest money-saving opportunities for me here. I won’t get into the specifics of my healthcare plan because that can get a little bit complicated, but I will say that I have a hybrid medical and dental plan. It costs me 25 euros per month, which comes out to around 26 or 27 US dollars every month.

Gym and Personal Training

Let’s move on to the gym and personal training. Regarding the gym, I have a membership at what I would consider to be more of a boutique gym. It’s oriented towards classes and personal training versus the traditional type of gym where you have a bunch of free weights. If I had a membership at a more traditional gym here in Lisbon, I would certainly be saving money here. However, I just really love the place that I go to and the people there, so I splurge a little bit on this every month. So, what do I spend every month on the gym and personal training? I spend 230 euros per month, and I get unlimited classes and one session with my personal trainer every single week.

Fun

Finally, let’s move on to what I’m referring to as the “fun” category, and this includes everything from activities like renting a surfboard, going out to dinner, grabbing coffee every once in a while, getting my hair done every five weeks, buying a new outfit—you name it. While I do reserve some cash every single month for expenses related to fun, the great thing about living here in Portugal is that you can honestly go out almost every single evening or weekend and have a really great time without spending any money. For example, one thing that my friends and I like to do is pack food and take public transit to the nearby beach, where we just sit out and watch the sunset. There are so many things you can do here for free and still have a really great time. Additionally, when it comes to going out to eat, you can get the best, most amazing food. For example, really fresh traditional Portuguese seafood for very little money. Back when I was living in the Midwest, getting fresh seafood would have cost me like 50 to 100 dollars a plate, but here I’m spending 10-20 euros, which translates to about 12-22 dollars each time I go out. So, what do I spend in the fun category? Every month in Portugal, I spend about 200 euros, which comes out to around 214 US dollars.

Comparison with the USA (Chicago)

Now, let’s move on to the expenses I would most likely be paying if I were still living in the United States and see how they compare to living in Portugal. For the sake of this blog, I understand that the United States is a huge country, and depending on where you live, costs of living are going to vary significantly. But for the sake of this blog, the city I’m basing these monthly expenses on is Chicago, considering that’s the most recent large city that I lived in. With that said, here’s what I estimate I would be paying in monthly expenses if I were still living in Chicago:

– Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city center: about $2,000 a month
– Utilities, including my phone bill: around $200 a month
– Groceries: $350 a month
– Transportation, including a monthly transportation pass and Ubers every once in a while: around $150 a month
– Health insurance (using my old plan from when I was living in the United States): $351 a month
– Gym: $125 a month
– Fun category: $300 a month

That brings my monthly total to $3,376 a month.

 Conclusion

To conclude this blog, let’s calculate the difference in my monthly expenses between living in Portugal and living in the United States. The difference between my monthly expenses in the US and Portugal is $1,467 per month in savings. When you multiply that by 12, it comes out to $17,604 for the entire year. That’s what I save every year just on monthly expenses by living here in Portugal.

Alright everybody, that about does it for this blog. I hope you enjoyed it. Again, if you found it valuable, thank you guys so much for reading. I hope to see you back here on my blog next time.

Bye!