Living on €1,500–€3,000 a Month in European Capitals
“Is €2,000 a month enough to live in Berlin?” “Can I live in Lisbon on €1,500?” The honest answer starts with rent, because rent is the biggest and least flexible cost. This page shows, for every European capital we cover, how much of a monthly take-home budget a good-quality 1-bedroom flat would take, using Eurostat’s official rent figures.
The key line is Eurostat’s 40% housing-cost overburden line: when housing takes more than 40% of disposable income, a household is counted as overburdened. Cities are sorted from the smallest to the largest budget needed to stay under that line.
| City | 1-bed rent / month | Rent share on 1,500 a month | Rent share on 2,000 a month | Rent share on 3,000 a month | Net budget for rent under 40% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sofia | €650 | 43% | 33% | 22% | €1,630 |
| Tallinn | €720 | 48% | 36% | 24% | €1,800 |
| Nicosia | €750 | 50% | 38% | 25% | €1,880 |
| Vilnius | €830 | 55% | 42% | 28% | €2,080 |
| Warsaw | €840 | 56% | 42% | 28% | €2,100 |
| Riga | €870 | 58% | 44% | 29% | €2,180 |
| Bratislava | €910 | 61% | 46% | 30% | €2,280 |
| Budapest | €910 | 61% | 46% | 30% | €2,280 |
| Ljubljana | €950 | 63% | 48% | 32% | €2,380 |
| Valletta | €1,050 | 70% | 53% | 35% | €2,630 |
| Zagreb | €1,050 | 70% | 53% | 35% | €2,630 |
| Athens | €1,150 | 77% | 58% | 38% | €2,880 |
| Brussels | €1,150 | 77% | 58% | 38% | €2,880 |
| Helsinki | €1,150 | 77% | 58% | 38% | €2,880 |
| Prague | €1,250 | 83% | 63% | 42% | €3,130 |
| Vienna | €1,250 | 83% | 63% | 42% | €3,130 |
| Madrid | €1,300 | 87% | 65% | 43% | €3,250 |
| Rome | €1,300 | 87% | 65% | 43% | €3,250 |
| Berlin | €1,350 | 90% | 68% | 45% | €3,380 |
| Lisbon | €1,400 | 93% | 70% | 47% | €3,500 |
| Paris | €1,550 | 103% | 78% | 52% | €3,880 |
| Copenhagen | €1,800 | 120% | 90% | 60% | €4,500 |
| Luxembourg | €1,900 | 127% | 95% | 63% | €4,750 |
| Dublin | €2,000 | 133% | 100% | 67% | €5,000 |
| London | £2,000 | 133% | 100% | 67% | £5,000 |
| Oslo | €2,000 | 133% | 100% | 67% | €5,000 |
| Stockholm | €2,100 | 140% | 105% | 70% | €5,250 |
Amounts are in euros, except London in pounds sterling. Rent: Eurostat, good-quality 1-bedroom flat. Shares above 40% are over Eurostat's housing-cost overburden line.
How to use this table
- Find your monthly take-home pay (after tax). If the rent share in your column is under 30%, a 1-bedroom flat of your own is comfortable. 30% to 40% is possible but tight. Over 40% is above Eurostat’s overburden line; the common options are sharing a flat, renting a smaller or older home, or living further from the centre.
- Rents are for a good-quality 1-bedroom flat and do not include utilities, so your real housing cost will be somewhat higher.
- Everything else (food, transport, insurance, leisure) has to come out of what is left. Each city page shows the official price level so you can judge how far that money goes.
For the exact take-home pay needed in each city, see salary needed to live in European capitals. If you are moving on a digital nomad visa, compare these budgets with the official visa income requirements. To see how much of a gross salary you keep after tax in each country, use our table of average salary after tax in Europe. How every figure is collected is explained in our methodology.
General information based on official statistics. Not financial or tax advice.