Cost of living comparison

Romania

compared to

Portugal

Portugal vs. Romania Cost of Living Summary

Portugal is 58.1% more expensive than Romania overall.

Restaurants: pay 24.3% more in Portugal
Groceries: pay 39.2% more in Portugal
Transportation: pay 37.3% more in Portugal
Housing: pay 2.3 times more in Portugal
Childcare: pay 21.9% more in Portugal
Entertainment and Sports: pay 9.2% more in Portugal
Clothing: pay 17.4% more in Portugal

The cost of housing, groceries, transportation, restaurants, childcare, and clothing in Portugal are more expensive than in Romania. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in Portugal.

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Portugal vs. Romania Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 24.3% more for restaurants

	Romania	Portugal
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$9.82 RON46.44	$13.01 €11.58	+32.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.22 RON34.13	$9.54 €8.49	+32.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.87 RON8.86	$1.90 €1.69	+1.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.57 RON7.43	$1.44 €1.28	-8.1%
Average			+24.3%

Romania vs. Portugal - Cost of restaurants

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pay 39.2% more for groceries

	Romania	Portugal
Bread 1 loaf	$1.10 RON5.19	$1.56 €1.39	+41.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.76 RON17.78	$5.65 €5.03	+50.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.36 RON25.36	$4.09 €3.64	-23.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.91 RON13.77	$3.28 €2.92	+12.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.69 RON12.72	$3.42 €3.04	+27.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.51 RON2.42	$1.02 €0.91	+100.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.67 RON3.18	$0.65 €0.58	-3.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.65 RON3.08	$0.83 €0.74	+27.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.89 RON4.19	$1.09 €0.97	+23.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.35 RON1.66	$0.79 €0.70	+123.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.36 RON1.70	$0.87 €0.77	+141.0%
Average			+39.2%

Romania vs. Portugal - Cost of groceries

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pay 37.3% more for transportation

	Romania	Portugal
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.55 RON30.98	$7.95 €7.08	+21.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$23.38 RON110.58	$37.81 €33.65	+61.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,083.66 RON128K	$33,409.36 €29,735.53	+23.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.64 RON31.43	$12.87 €11.46	+93.8%
Average			+37.3%

Romania vs. Portugal - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.3 times more for housing

	Romania	Portugal
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$8.56 RON40.50	$39.38 €35.05	+360.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$371.73 RON1,758.50	$962.54 €856.70	+158.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$281.26 RON1,330.53	$770.06 €685.38	+173.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$107.14 RON506.84	$94.27 €83.91	-12.0%
Average			+131.8%

Romania vs. Portugal - Cost of housing

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pay 21.9% more for childcare

	Romania	Portugal
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$482.75 RON2,283.68	$491.62 €437.56	+1.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$7,125.14 RON33,706.19	$10,398.72 €9,255.23	+45.9%
Average			+21.9%

Romania vs. Portugal - Cost of childcare

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pay 9.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Romania	Portugal
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.18 RON10.31	$2.77 €2.46	+27.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.45 RON11.57	$2.05 €1.83	-16.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.71 RON27.03	$6.15 €5.47	+7.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$38.73 RON183.19	$43.95 €39.11	+13.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.13 RON33.75	$8.25 €7.34	+15.6%
Average			+9.2%

Romania vs. Portugal - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 17.4% more for clothing

	Romania	Portugal
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$62.00 RON293.30	$80.47 €71.62	+29.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$35.53 RON168.09	$37.54 €33.41	+5.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$77.18 RON365.11	$86.61 €77.08	+12.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$85.19 RON402.98	$105.16 €93.60	+23.4%
Average			+17.4%

Romania vs. Portugal - 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: Romania vs. Portugal

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 20 statistics

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Size Comparison · See true size

Romania is about 2.6 times bigger than Portugal.

Moving from Romania to Portugal · OECD 2023

1,255 people moved from Romania to Portugal.

City Size Comparison · See true size

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