# Cost of Living



## DreamsofEurope (Sep 7, 2020)

Hello,

I am trying to get a rough idea of Cost of Living a couple might expect in the Silver Coast region of Portugal for each of these items in monthly terms in Euros.

- Electricity
- Water
- Heating
- Groceries
- Automobile Petrol
- Private Health Insurance
- Wifi
- Cell Phone

What about items such a Annual Property Taxes? 

What would one say is a safe Annual Budget for Living?

I am probably forgetting items here so if you see gaps in my list any and all assistance greatly appreciated.

Cheers.


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## Strontium (Sep 16, 2015)

Hi, Not enough information to work that out, ie petrol - how many Km a month and what consumption? 
Average wage here is about 900 euro a month (14 months a year) so obviously living like a local couple with one working you'd need about 13,000 pa. Does not include Private medical insurance but does include other things not on your list.


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## hktoportugal (Feb 25, 2019)

It all depends on type of house, age, your current spending habits etc. I have private insurance provided to me by my employer, for my wife I pay around 60 Euro a month, but that also depends on required coverage, age, preexisting conditions etc. 

For utilities that all really depends on the type of house (detached, townhouse, semi detached), how recent (i.e. isolated or not), volume of house, garden, type of cooling / heating etc etc. We live in a newly build house (energy efficiency A) and spend around 150 - 250 Euro a month on water, power, garbage collection etc. Water is substantial in summer (sprinklers) as we don't have a well. 

Internet, depends on package, we have high speed including TV etc for 35 euro a month and for cellphone around 15 euro a month.

Groceries we spend around 500 Euro a month, family of three, including wines. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But we don't shop for the "deals" i.e. we typically go to a supermarket once a week. 

As Strontium mentions, fuel costs are depending on your milage, type of car and type of fuel so you should do your own math. Some areas have toll gates which will add to your monthly car expenses. Also, cars are pretty expensive here.

Annual property tax is called IMI and that depends on municipality, value of the house.typically yearly around 0.8% of value established by the government (which is less then the actual value of the house)

Car insurance and annual road-tax depend again on type of car, age of the car, type of coverage etc. For my wife's car this is around 1.000 euro annually (she has a new, small car), for my car it is substantially more.

I wouldn't take the amount they earn in Portugal as a benchmark but rather your spending pattern. Also in my observation most Portuguese families have both the husband and wife working.


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