Cost of living comparison

Portugal

compared to

Iceland

Iceland vs. Portugal Cost of Living Summary

Iceland is 94.5% more expensive than Portugal overall.

Restaurants: pay 2.2 times more in Iceland
Groceries: pay 88.7% more in Iceland
Transportation: pay 46.4% more in Iceland
Housing: pay 2.0 times more in Iceland
Childcare: pay 2.1 times more in Iceland
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.5 times more in Iceland
Clothing: pay 84.8% more in Iceland

The cost of entertainment and sports, restaurants, childcare, housing, groceries, and clothing in Iceland are more expensive than in Portugal. Notably, entertainment and sports, restaurants, and childcare are significantly more expensive in Iceland.

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Iceland vs. Portugal Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Iceland instead of Portugal, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.2 times more for restaurants

	Portugal	Iceland
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$13.01 €11.58	$28.88 ISK3,499	+122.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.54 €8.49	$22.83 ISK2,767	+139.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.90 €1.69	$3.25 ISK393	+70.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.44 €1.28	$3.01 ISK365	+108.5%
Average			+120.6%

Portugal vs. Iceland - Cost of restaurants

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pay 88.7% more for groceries

	Portugal	Iceland
Bread 1 loaf	$1.56 €1.39	$3.55 ISK431	+128.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.65 €5.03	$10.11 ISK1,226	+79.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.09 €3.64	$7.79 ISK944	+90.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.28 €2.92	$6.92 ISK839	+111.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.42 €3.04	$11.01 ISK1,334	+222.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.02 €0.91	$1.43 ISK173	+39.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.65 €0.58	$1.23 ISK148	+88.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.83 €0.74	$1.42 ISK172	+70.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.09 €0.97	$2.60 ISK315	+138.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.79 €0.70	$1.71 ISK207	+117.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.87 €0.77	$0.76 ISK92	-12.8%
Average			+88.7%

Portugal vs. Iceland - Cost of groceries

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pay 46.4% more for transportation

	Portugal	Iceland
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.95 €7.08	$8.09 ISK980	+1.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$37.81 €33.65	$80.58 ISK9,765	+113.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$33,409.36 €29,735.53	$48,967.53 ISK6M	+46.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.87 €11.46	$26.24 ISK3,179	+103.8%
Average			+46.4%

Portugal vs. Iceland - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.0 times more for housing

	Portugal	Iceland
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$39.38 €35.05	$98.24 ISK11,905	+149.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$962.54 €856.70	$2,335.24 ISK283K	+142.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$770.06 €685.38	$1,824.40 ISK221K	+136.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$94.27 €83.91	$72.34 ISK8,766	-23.3%
Average			+102.5%

Portugal vs. Iceland - Cost of housing

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pay 2.1 times more for childcare

	Portugal	Iceland
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$491.62 €437.56	$833.66 ISK101K	+69.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,398.72 €9,255.23	$27,752.37 ISK3M	+166.9%
Average			+112.7%

Portugal vs. Iceland - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.5 times more for entertainment and sports

	Portugal	Iceland
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.77 €2.46	$11.37 ISK1,378	+310.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.05 €1.83	$5.90 ISK715	+187.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.15 €5.47	$13.85 ISK1,679	+125.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$43.95 €39.11	$83.64 ISK10,136	+90.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.25 €7.34	$17.92 ISK2,171	+117.3%
Average			+153.4%

Portugal vs. Iceland - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 84.8% more for clothing

	Portugal	Iceland
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$80.47 €71.62	$134.47 ISK16,295	+67.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$37.54 €33.41	$63.25 ISK7,664	+68.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$86.61 €77.08	$159.03 ISK19,271	+83.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$105.16 €93.60	$237.19 ISK28,742	+125.5%
Average			+84.8%

Portugal vs. Iceland - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Portugal vs. Iceland

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Iceland?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Make 3.1 times more money in Iceland

Size Comparison · See true size

Portugal is around the same size as Iceland.

Moving from Portugal to Iceland · OECD 2023

391 people moved from Portugal to Iceland.

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